in what ways can Inglorious Basterds and Fight Club be considered postmodern?

Inglorious Basterds

Inglorious Basterds was produced by Quentin Tarantino and is a historically inaccurate film of WW2. There are many postmodern elements used by Tarantino in this film which add a clever twist to it.
A huge part of the film which is postmodern is the way it is so different to a real account of WW2. Elements such as the fact Hitler is murdered (in comparison to real life where he committed suicide) is very controversial as in a War film you would not expect a director to make such a huge change to real life. Also, the whole idea of the Basterds is obviously made up. The mix of fact and fiction in this film is what makes such a big impact on the audience and is probably what made it such a successful film. Brad Pitt, the 'lead Basterd' so to speak, is in charge of a group of men who are seeking revenge on the Nazis/German soldiers to get justice for the Jews. Unlike in real history, Pitt demans 100 scalps from each of his men, which is inaccurate in many ways- the main reason being men were shot in the war and generally not scalped after.
Another clear element of postmodernism is the music. Even though the film is set in the 40's, the non-diegetic music has been incorporated from all sorts of genres and eras. A lot of the music is from Spaghettti Westerns such as tracks in "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". At one point when Shoshanna is doing her hair and makeup, we even hear a David Bowey track which we was obviously not released in the 40's. Although this music is completely mixing up the genre of the film and the music, the music however does work and you never find yourself wondering why a certain track has been used.
Another scene that you would never expect to see in any film is the bit where we see Shoshanna in her cinema walking from room to room. This scene has been done in a birds-eye view which shows that the cinema is of course a film set. This is breaking all the rules of films - to allow the audience to break put of escapism and through into reality and remember that it is all made up. This 'self reflexity' has been carefully planned by Tarantino and instead of questioning why he did it you feel like it actually works for the film.
In Inglorious Basterds we also witness alot of intertexuality. The doorway scene at the start of the film involving Hans Landa watching Shoshanna running off into the distance is similar to the scene done in 'The Searchers'. Furthermore, the scene when the soldier gets shot in the eye is intertexuality from the film 'Nations Pride'. The scene when the Basterds are in the bar with a Nazi soldier is also significant. When things start to get heated we see a shotgun behind the bar with the bartender slowly reaching for it and placing his hand on the trigger. This is similar to many Westerns where keeping a gun with you behind the bar was a common thing to do. This Western influence also compliments the odd bit of Western music we also hear throughout the film. Furthermore, there are many clues that this film is by Tarantino. Firstly, the bold yellow writing which flashes up is a clear 'Tarantino colour' - state Kill Bill. Also, we see Hans Landa take Bridgets' shoe - this reflects Tarantinos' foot fettish which we see in many of his films (such as the opening to Pulp Fiction).
One clear postmodern element throughout the film is the opening and the way the film is seperated up. The 'Once upon a time' opening straight leaves an enigma code with the audience as you then question the validity of this war films storyline. Also, the way it is split up into chapters is an unlikely way of making the film. The way Inglorious Basterds is made is like it is making a new reality, as an audience we become absorbed and accept this new reality, and actually by the end of it, believe it.'

Fight Club

Fight Club is a successful film directed by David Fincher starring Brad Pitt and Ed Norton. Once again, this film uses many postmodern elements which has contributed to its huge success.
Firstly, the obvious point to be made would be the narration over the top of the film. The narrator fills in extra detail and any gaps in our knowledge as we go along. However, we do start to doubt this narrator as we find he has no name for the first 2/3 of the film. This anonymity makes us feel distant from the narrator and wonder what he is hiding from us and why - another enigma code to draw the audience in and keep watching.
The fact Ed Norton plays a man with no name for the majority of the film is a very rare thing to watch in the film, however you dont find yourself dwelling on it until near the end. This postmodern element keeps us in suspense and makes the character far more interesting to watch.
Also, if you watch closely at the start and at the very end the director has included some subliminal elements which you would miss with a blink of an eye. When we first meet Ed Norton, we see various flashes of what appears to be another person. This person is ghost like and reflects Eds' desireable self who is played by Brad Pitt. This character however does not come into it fully until Ed has completely gone mad and then Brad Pitt is suddenly there fully and not as just a ghost like figure. At this point as an audience we now believe that there is the nameless character and Tyler Durden. This is pieced together at the end when we realise they are both Tyler - this clever twist is postmodern in the way it keeps a secret from the audience. Normally as the audience we look on as a 3rd person and can see many of the storylines developing within films.
There is also a postmodern examination of masculinity. The film starts with men looking weak and vulnerable but then progresses as Fight Club and Project Mayhem are formed. By rebelling in such a way Tyler starts to get his masculinity back as he is not conforming to society and doing the everyday 'norms'. This aspect is very strange as we then discover later on that obviously Tyler is mentally not right which makes us question the men in the film as why would anyone follow or be influenced by a lunatic? This suggests that the men are desperate at this point and will accept help off anyone who will help them rebel and become their ideal selfs. This is shown through the way they all seem content and happy with what they are doing to society- even though they are actually destroying it through vandalism and harming eachother through fighting. The organisation is fascistic in the way by the end of it they are wearing uniforms,having homework, having the same haircuts etc. These factors make Tyler look like some sort of dictator who believes he can help society -when infact all he has created is a group of men who are unhappy with who they are and influenced them to fight and cause mayhem.
To continue, there is also a clear intertexual reference in the scene at the end where Tyler meets Marla in the cafe. On the marquee outside is a cinema advertising 'Seven Years in Tibet' - this poor film by Pitt was a flop and is humerous that they have decided to place that film in the shot.

Inglourious Basterds - Postmodern Elements

In inglourious basterds there are verious postmodern elements which is typical of quentin tarantino.
Firstly, the music. in a war film you would expect to find old fashioned music from the era it is set or if not modern music conducted to sound old. however, in i.b, tarantino uses modern music. for example, in one scene he plays a david bowey song. although the song works for the scene of shosanna doing her hair and makeup, yet clearlly wasnt released in that time era.
also, the way tarantino uses music from spaghetti westerns is strange. this is odd as you wouldnt expect cowboy like music in a war film because it is completely mixing two genres. yet in the woods scene it does work.
Furthermore, the way the film starts with 'once upon a time' and is split into chapters is post modern. in a war film you would maybe expect it to be split up into dates/years, yet not chapters with that opening line. this implies it is a fairy tale and all made up. which in the most it is, yet the idea is that you believe this happened during WW2.
another element is the way in the first scene where the colonel goes to the house where the man is hiding the jews under the floorboads, you can notice that the backdrops are actually painted. this is strange as you would expect them to just film in a place where the backdrops work, rather than painting them yourself.
To continue, tarantino also gets the basterds to 'scalp' the people they kill. this would not of happened in WW2, so mixing two different time periods together and entwining different ways of killing makes the film different and gets the audience to think about what really happened back in the war.
In the scene where we see soshonna walking around her cinema, it turns into a birds eye view so you can see that it is all just a set and not a real building. this is postmodern as you would NEVER expect a film director to allow the audience to recognise that it is all a set as it gets rid of the authenticity of the film and almost spoils it for the audience as they then are placed back into reality of knowing the film is just a film. however, when you are watching i.b you dont really pay much attention to it, and it almost skips your mind of what youve just witnessed. its only a little while after when i really noticed it and couldnt believe what tarantino had done on such a huge film.
Another scene where postmodernism is used is where there is a split screen of a man trying to get a nitrate film onto a bus. this is strange as this is a modern thing to do (to split screen) and the whole film is based on old fashioned war.

Postmodernism Theories

john fiske.

a scene only makes sence when put into context with others we have seen. for example, a car chase scene only makes sence because of what we have saw on tv etc as we are not likely to of been in a car chase ourselves. the viewer of this car chase then decodes it.

jacques derrida.

made sence of the way commentators of 9/11 could only describe it like something 'from a film'. (the day after tomorrow.)

so... if we encounter a real life genre experience, the decoding process becomes confused.

in relation to inglorious basterds.

because now there are little people alive who experience WW2, when we watch inglorious basterds we decode it from other films and documentaries we have seen to make sence of it.

gerard genette.

transtextuality -

1. intertextuality

2. architextuality

3. metatextuality

4. hypotextuality

in relation to inglorious basterds.

- the big bold cartoon like lettering of the basterds names is in yellow which links to kill bill

- The Searchers final scene featuring John Ford, he stands in a doorway so you can see his silhouette which links to the scene in inglorious basterds when the captain is watching the jew run away in the doorway.

- can see that inglorious basterds is just one big set when he does a birds eye view of the cinema

WW2 timeline

1939

•Hitler invades Poland on 1 September. Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later.

1940

•Rationing starts in the UK.
•German 'Blitzkrieg' overwhelms Belgium, Holland and France.
•Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Britain.
•British Expeditionary Force evacuated from Dunkirk.
•British victory in Battle of Britain forces Hitler to postpone invasion plans.

1941

•Hitler begins Operation Barbarossa - the invasion of Russia.
•The Blitz continues against Britain's major cities.
•Allies take Tobruk in North Africa, and resist German attacks.
•Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the US enters the war.

1942

•Germany suffers setbacks at Stalingrad and El Alamein.
•Singapore falls to the Japanese in February - around 25,000 prisoners taken.
•American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War.
•Mass murder of Jewish people at Auschwitz begins.

1943

•Surrender at Stalingrad marks Germany's first major defeat.
•Allied victory in North Africa enables invasion of Italy to be launched.
•Italy surrenders, but Germany takes over the battle.
•British and Indian forces fight Japanese in Burma.

1944

•Allies land at Anzio and bomb monastery at Monte Cassino.
•Soviet offensive gathers pace in Eastern Europe.
•D Day: The Allied invasion of France. Paris is liberated in August.
•Guam liberated by the US Okinawa, and Iwo Jima bombed.

1945

•Auschwitz liberated by Soviet troops.
•Russians reach Berlin: Hitler commits suicide and Germany surrenders on 7 May.
•Truman becomes President of the US on Roosevelt's death, and Attlee replaces Churchill.
•After atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrenders on 14 August.

Music In Inglourious Basterds

this is the soundtrack used in Inglorious Basterds, it is made up of 22 songs!


■ The Green Leaves of Summer – Nick Perito – From the movie The Alamo
■ The Verdict – Ennio Morricone – From the movie The Big Gundown
■ L’incontro Con La Figlia – Ennio Morricone – From the movie The Return of Ringo
■ White Lightning – Charles Bernstein – From the movie White Lightning
■ Il Mercenario (Reprisa) - Ennio Morricone – From the movie Il Mercenario
■ Slaughter - Billy Preston – From the movie Slaughter
■ Algiers, November 1954 – Ennio Morricone & Gillo Pontecorvo – From the movie The Battle of Algiers
■ The Surrender (La resa) – Ennio Morricone – From the movie The Big Gundown
■ One Silver Dollar (Un Dollaro Bucato) – Gianni Ferrio – From the movie Blood for a Silver Dollar
■ Bath Attack – Charles Bernstein – From the movie The Entity
■ Davon geht die Welt nicht unter – Zarah Leander – From the movie Die große Liebe
■ The Man With The Big Sombrero – June Havoc – From the movie Hi Diddle Diddle
■ Ich wollt ich wär ein Huhn – Lilian Harvey and Willy Fritsch – From the movie Glückskinder
■ Main Theme From Dark of the Sun – Jacques Loussier – From the movie Dark of the Sun
■ Cat People (Putting Out Fire) – David Bowie – From the movie Cat People
■ Mystic and Severe – Ennio Morricone – From the movie Death Rides a Horse
■ The Devil’s Rumble – Mike Curb and The Arrows – From the movie Devil’s Angels
■ Zulus – Elmer Bernstein – From the movie Zulu Dawn
■ Tiger Tank – Lalo Schifrin – From the movie Kelly’s Heroes
■ Un Amico – Ennio Morricone – From the movie Revolver
■ Eastern Condors – Sherman Chow Gam – Cheung – From the movie Eastern Condors
■ Rabbia e Tarantella – Ennio Morricone – From the movie Allonsanfàn

Inglourious Basterds

Rotten Tomatoes -88%

Some positive comments -
Simply Tarantino's best. A very intelligent script that combines war movie elements with some pointed observations about violence in movies and in society.
Tarantino's visual style and flare for the fantasy make for an intriguing and colorful World War II drama.
This is filmmaking at its bravest, and whether Tarantino is a genius or a fool, he does nothing by accident.

Some negative comments -
It's these fine sequences that can make you truly regret Tarantino's snarky, in-joke impulses, not to mention his arrogant -- perhaps even dangerous -- lack of concern with the story's moral dimensions.
Its biggest flaw, though, for those who care about such things, may be its moral attitude. That might seem a stodgy thing to bring up in the context of a Quentin Tarantino movie, but it takes such center stage that it needs to be examined.
One basterd of a movie... Who wants to hear Quentin Tarantino dialogue in a foreign language, thus having to read it?