Caitlin Prather Prof. Cooper Comp 1 30 October 2014 {insert title here} Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds is an adventure, war, drama film that explores nazi-occupied France during World War II. A young jewish girl, Shosanna Dreyfus, and her family seek refuge underneath the floorboards of a home. Colonel Hans Landa, finds them here and slaughters her family. Scarcely escaping with her life, Shosanna plans revenge on the Germans. A group called “The Basterds” hear of a large event in which a majority of Nazi officers will attend and create a plan to destroy the Germans. Rob Epstein’s The Times of Harvey Milk is a documentary that explores the life of Harvey Milk who becomes the first gay supervisor and pushes for equal rights for gays and lesbians. 2009s Inglorious Basterds is an example of a wish-fulfillment documentary, while The Times of Harvey Milk exhibits characteristics of a social representation documentary. Inglorious Basterds is a wish-fulfillment film, …show more content…
Another characteristic of a wish-fulfillment documentary, according to Nichols is that, “They make the stuff of the imagination concrete— visible and audible” (2). Hitler actually died by committing suicide. However, in Inglorious Basterds Hitler is brutally shot over and over. Something that was once only ever thought of has now become “concrete—visible and audible” . Also, the “Basterds” have many different ways of killing Nazis. One is committed by the Bear Jew who smashes in the Nazi’s heads using a baseball bat. Another is the carving of a swastika on the forehead of a Nazi. If they let one go, the “basterds” will carve a swastika on their head so that they are forever marked and known by all what they have done and were a part of. Because Tarantino shows the ability to explore a world with “infinite possibilities," Inglorious Basterds is an example of a wish-fulfillment