How is Inglorious Basterds post-modern?

Throughout the course of watching Inglorious Basterds (2009, Tarentino) it seems there are many elements incorporated by Tarantino that could be most definitely considered 'post-modern'. Although the film's actual setting is throughout the period of World War 2 (1939-1946) the genre of the film itself slips in and out of many categories due to its exaggerated comical moment, many dispensed war elements and additionally the Mise en scene used periodically throughout which is in fact a contrasting factor to the actual war itself. The opening scene of the piece itself reflects and supports strongly the idea of the film being postmodern. We see the addition of yellow subtitles as the film opens; the yellow text used throughout the story is in fact the use of intertextuality as the text itself has been used previously by Hugo Stiglitz. Theorist Claude Levi-Strauss suggested and used the concept of bricolage which outlines the fact that texts are created based upon other text using a range of process, such as here by Tarantino and addition. In relation to the subtitles, this leads me onto another post-modern element that seems to be a running film for the duration. The opening of the film is introduced with 'Once upon a time... This is the use of the fairytale references that are subtly incorporated by Tarantino. We see this theme slipping in and out of scenes, for example after the Tavern scene, we see a close up of Hans Landa clasping one heeled shoe from the pair that belonged to Bridget Von Hammersmark after her appearance in the tavern scene. Adding to this, a piece textual references of Tarantino's own comes into play here which is the incorporation of his fetish of feet. The single shoe left behind of course references to the fairy tale Cinderella. Broadening on this theme, we see the film setting ending in a fresh looking forest which shows the Basterds somewhat 'winning' which could be considered as a fairy tale ending with the 'good guys' winning and it resolving in happiness. Also, in this very last scene, we see Aldo Raine and Hans Landa after battling through many events and catastrophes during the film and can't help but notice that they maintain the immaculately clean image that we see when we are first introduced to the characters. Additionally, we may not consider Inglorious Basterds a true war film due to the elimination of a soldiers dishevelled, unwashed appearance that we would perhaps be likely to see in another War film such as Saving Private Ryan. The cleanliness of the setting and characters used by Tarantino reminds us that the film is nothing but a piece of non-fiction. Expanding on the fact that piece is but just a film, Tarantino introduces his common tactic of using set reflective camera shots to simply remind his viewers that they are watching nothing but a film, and this could be considered a highly post modern thing to do. The set is revealed immediately in the first scene of the film when we see Hans Landa scanning the floor boards from a birds eye view, revealing the open ceiling which was shot previously as closed. Later on in the film the set is shown through an over head shot of Shoshanna which follows her running out of a room, but revealing the door frame. Next, looking back to the first scene, as it comes to a close, we see Hans Landa's silhouette located in the middle of the door frame, whilst the audience view him from behind. Considered the most 'iconic' scenes of all time, this comes from the use of intertextuality by Tarantino from 'The Searches' (1956). Continuing the post modern elements we see throughout Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds, the soundtrack to the film is one which can be describe as post modern itself. We hear a piece from David Bowie's 'Cat People' appear in the film, alongside music that has been taken from a Spaghetti

Western film. The film was 1966's 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' which Clint Eastwood features as the star role. Using the idea of the Spaghetti Western, Tarantino also mimicked many shots used within 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly' in Inglorious Basterds which is simply portraying the style of Sergio Leonne. For example, in the tavern scene within Inglorious Basterds we see a shot of the bar tenders hand on a gun which is a stylistic feature of western that Tarantino has made good use of. We also see music from Blaxsploitation used. Music such as this was commonly used for films with an audience from an urban background. For example, Tarantino has made references to the Blaxsploitation within the film by taking using intertextuality from the 1971 film 'Shaft'. Widening this, the vet scene of which we see Bridget Von Hammersmark being 'treated' by Aldo, is a common feature of a 'gangster' or 'urban' film. This highlights Tarantino's expertise of crossing genres throughout his films which does in fact create post modernism. The music itself does not appear to be the reasoning as to why it is post modern, but due to the variety eras the soundtrack varies to and from. The music itself highlights the hyper real logic of the film, for example, the fact that 'death' simply just happens. Expanding on this, the moment at which Shoshanna is killed by 'Frederick' an extremely romantic piece of music is used, alongside of the slow motion editing used by Tarintino which makes the death seem somewhat peaceful and highlights the 'love' factor between the two, rather than the death itself. We see a film premiere take place, which shows a film being watched. The use of a film within a film could be classed as a post modern feature on its own. Nations Pride (the film within I.B) uses one of the most memorable scenes in film which is the 'Pram Scene' which is a clear intertextual reference to Odessa's Step Sequence which is present in the film Battleship Potemkin. This simply shows a mother losing her pram which continues to manoeuvre its way down a numerous number of steps. This scene has been incorporated and adapted for many modern texts as well as incorporated into Inglorious Basterds, for example we see the brand Kelloggs, using the piece to create a much more modern advertisement but the intertextuality is still present. Alongside this, a soldier is bluntly shot in the eye during the showing of Nations Pride, which is another reference to Battleship Potemkin. The war film from 1968 called Where Eagles Dare seems to be one that did influences Tarantino on the creation of the Inglorious Basterds storyline. During 'Where Eagles Dare' the Nazi death count is something that features heavily, as something we see used in Inglorious Basterds. Similarly, the little effect it seems to have on the surrounding characters in both films is something that has been used by Tarantino. This also relates to the hypereality of death in Inglorious Basterds, whereas if the genre of the film was in fact war, we may see death meaning a lot more to men and characters in the film as in Saving Private Ryan. Tarantino's use of actors and cultural references is a big factor of Inglorious Basterds. The use of a diverse cast which does feature many recognisable faces and big names within the industry is something that the late 60's film 'The Dirty Dozen' also had. The Dirty Dozen uses many famous faces but all with very different backgrounds likewise as in Inglorious Basterds. The Dirty Dozen has appeared to have a big influence on Tarantino's choice of cast as the mix of characters once again questions whether the film itself is post-modern. References that feature in the 'war' film and have been incorporated by Tarantino are ones such as Max Linder, Leni Riefenstahl and G.W Patst. It has been said and is shown in many of Tarantino's films that he is a big fan of popular culture and at this point, we see it being displayed. The use of these pop culture references mean that he is using the

process of addition to piece is own text together. This is similar to all of the above points which relate to the idea of intertextuality by Tarantino which could possibly be the reasoning behind the questioning of 'is Inglorious Basterds post modern?'