Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is one of my favorite movies and I enjoyed the opportunity to watch it again. However watching it with my scholarly eyes proved a bit difficult. It’s hard to pull apart and analyze something you enjoy so much, but that doesn’t mean I won’t attempt to!
Though not apparent to me the first time around, Inglorious Basterds is a meta film that goes beyond commentary on the violence of World War II to comment on film and entertainment. Similar to our last film, Caché, Tarantino utilizes the social and political climate of a point in history (in this case, World War II) in order to convey a message about how we perceive violence in entertainment. Though ironic that this message comes from a very violent film, the setting grounds the film in an era when the people of the world were becoming desensitized to the horrendous acts of war. In the film, the meta aspects focus on a new feature film directed by Hitler’s right hand that is set for a very important premiere that will be attended by many of the top people in Hitler’s cabinet. This event is being used as an opportunity to take out the high ranking officials with explosives and by burning down the theatre. As people gather to watch a film focused around the accomplishments of a war hero, they meet a terrible fate.
A very key character in this commentary is the war hero who starred in this film about his own accomplishments. At the premiere, though he is supposed to be happy and celebrating his feat, he shows a clear discomfort with having to relive his battles in the movie . While the camera glances around the room at all the happy faces of the patrons enjoying the movie, it begs to question how could people in a time of war enjoy watching such violence as a form of entertainment? It brings to light the darker side of humanity and what constitutes proper entertainment.
Jojo's Findings in Film 
Jojo,
This post is nicely focused on the meta aspects of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. On the one hand, Tarantino’s commentary emerges at a simple level of plot: we have characters who are film stars (Frederick and Bridget von Hammersmark), and many actual filmmakers are referred to throughout the film (Pabst, Riefenstahl, etc.). Moreover, a good portion of the film, including the climactic scene, is set at a movie theater, and we see the theater’s owner, Shoshana, and her friend Marcel create a film. On a perhaps deeper level, however, Tarantino is exploring the relationship between violence on film and actual violence. As you point out, we are supposed to be disturbed when we watch the Nazis’ reaction to the exceptionally violent film starring Frederick. And yet, isn’t that what we, too, are doing? When we watch–and likely cheer for–the destruction of the Nazis in the climactic scene, what separates us from the Nazis we were disturbed by just a few scenes ago? These are complicated questions that I look forward to discussing in class.
Good post,
MT
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