Brutality In Tarantino's Films

Our inclination for sadistic violence towards culturally- hated acts creates a mob mentality in society and, is subconsciously imbedded within our psyche. Tarantino’s films, Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained explore this idea through the use of revenge as a plot device which his characters extract without any moral implications. Tarantino conveys this through his own ‘hyper reality’, where revised versions of historical events such as WW2 Nazi Germany and slavery in America act as a backdrop to the action seen on screen. Through his unique auteur style of gratuitous violence and cinematography, Tarantino forces us as the audience to reflect on both a personal and societal level on how we view violence and brutality in the media and in

Basterds convey this through the final movie premiere scene, which the Nazis, including the likes of Hitler and Goebbels, are watching the propaganda film, Nation’s Pride. However, the revenge plot comes into play as both the Basterds group and Shosanna extract revenge and vengeance for the atrocities of the Nazis whilst they’re inside the cinema. Tarantino is able to create a clear change in atmosphere within this scene through the use of numerous techniques such as diegetic and non-diegetic sound in combination with shot types and lighting. Firstly, Tarantino portrays the beginning of the scene through the perspective of the Nazis, where the diegetic sound of the crowd laughing and cheering is heard over the images of Nation’s Pride being played on screen. Tarantino also deploys various cuts and close ups of Hitler throughout as we see Hitler sadistically laugh and applaud at the death of the enemies in the propaganda film. He congratulates Goebbels for his masterpiece, who is also moved at his work which is highlighted through the use of dialogue, “Thank you, my Fuhrer, thank you”. However, the cheering of the crowd comes to a halt when Shosanna appears on screen, indicating to us a change in atmosphere. The ghostly appearance of Shosanna symbolises and alludes to that of the Holocaust, but in

This is prominently seen in Basterds Bear Jew scene, where the Basterds group interrogate a group of captured German soldiers. In this scene, the combination of both dialogue, camera shots and diegetic sound is used to convey the role reversal of the 'good' Basterds and 'bad' Nazis. Tarantino conveys the Basterds to carry sadistic traits through the use of dialogue, "Watching Donny (Bear Jew) beat Nazis to death is the closet thing we get to going to the movies." This is juxtaposed with the polite mannerisms of captured German solider Ratchman who "respectively refuses" to give away the locations of German soldiers. Once again the use of shot types are used in conjunction with dialogue and sound, where the use of an extreme close up of Ratchman’s Iron Cross is conveyed coincided with his explanation that he got it for “bravery” as well as the heroic non- diegetic soundtrack being played over top. The scene overall gives little to no emotional satisfaction for us as the audience as we see the ‘good guys’ (Basterds) admit to enthrallment of hunting and killing Nazis in profligate ways, and the ‘bad’ German soldier Ratchman facing death heroically and seems to be not adherently evil. Although as an audience we recognise the reversal, we still root for the Basterds in their quest for vengeance, even at whatever