Postmodernism and Music

Postmodernism and Music

Inglourious Basterds Essay

In What ways can Inglourious Basterds be Considered Postmodern?

Inglourious Basterds has many postmodern elements in it throughout the film. The film was made under the genre of ‘war films’ however, Tarrantino added his own flare to the film and with all of the postmodern elements it can be questioned whether or not this is even similar to traditional war films. In comparison to the typical war film, Saving Private Ryan, which contains bloody battles, non-stop action and a real sense of desperation, Inglourious Basterds shows a glamorised side to war with characters like Bridget Von Hammersmark it also shows  fewer characters and less battle scenes. Unusual conventions like the voiceovers, the yellow subtitles and the public information film are all just some of the postmodern aspects of this film that help it to challenge the expectations of war films.

In chapter one of the film, we see the opening straight away incorporates postmodern elements; the scenery looks very similar to what we would imagine in a fairytale story with the starting ‘Once upon a time...’. It also links to the opening of the musical ‘The Sound of Music’ as we see huge open fields in pleasant settings with bright colours that immediately make the audience think that this is a clam place to be. However, we can see this is about the change with the arrival of Hans Llander – The Jew Hunter.

Music is one of the main postmodern things that is present during the entirety of the film. Spaghetti Western style music appears at many points during the film like when Shoshanna is arranging the letters at the cinema and when Hans Lander arrives during the first scene as well as cropping up at many other points. Spaghetti Western films typically have a standoff at the end between the main characters and as this also happens is Inglourious Basterds maybe that’s a reason why Tarrantino chose to use this unexpected type of music. A different type of music is also used when some of the characters are introduced into the film and also just at random points. This type of music was taken from blaxploitation films which were made in the 80’s to target an African/American audience from urban backgrounds. Again, this is not the type of music we would perhaps associate with a ‘war film’ and yet it somehow works, adding a postmodern element. The music sets the tone well, but differently to expected. Older war films may not have had as much music in them and to refer to Saving Private Ryan again, that has many more sound effects as opposed to music. During the scene where Shoshanna is getting ready for the premiere, a David Bowie track is played. This was a very postmodern thing for Tarrantino to do as the song wasn’t released until the 80’s and this film was set in war time 40’s, yet it still works well and fits the scene purposefully.  

Another postmodern thing that Inglourious Basterds has is that it contains many intertextual links to other films. As well as the link in the opening to The Sound of Music as previously mentioned, it also contains references and associations to other films such as 'Where Eagles Dare.' This film was one that was said to be good to watch 'in preparation' for Inglourious Basterds. It contains a Nazi death count scene which is replicated during 'Nations Pride' when Frederic Zoller is killing the Jews. This shows a blurring of real and fantasy, which is a constant theme through Inglourious Basterds also and this is a hyper real element. Another link to this older war film was the fact that most of the soldiers look immaculate even after killing many people and this is similar to Aldo Raine's appearance in the final scenes. The Tavern scene in the film is one of the only major battle scenes apart from the one at the cinema and it links very closely to spaghetti western films, especially the finale of 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.' This links because the tension before the shoot out builds up for a long time and the audience are left on the edge of their seats wondering who will shoot first and when it will happen. This intertextual element works well in this scene and contributes to what makes it a postmodern film. Another reference that Tarrantino made to another film was from 'Odessea Steps' the image of the pram rolling down the stairs and when the person is shot in the eye are both replicated in Nations Pride and this works within the context so it may not be obvious that it is an intertextual convention. Tarrantino chooses his intertextual elements wisely so they work effectively within the story creating a post modern film. 

One of the main postmodern elements in this film is the 'film within a film,' 'Nations Pride.' Nations Pride is very much like a more stereotypical war film although some parts of it do seem somewhat unrealistic. Nations Pride is black and white the whole way through and this is something that we would expect a war film to be and because of the time that it was supposed to have been shown in. It is much more biased than Inglourious Basterds because it is very much in support of Germany the whole way through whereas the bias point of view changes throughout Inglourious Basterds. Another difference is that it is grittier and has less stylised killings than Inglourious Basterds. A similarity between the two is that they both have many unrealistic parts. In Nation's Pride it seems impossible for one man to be able to kill all of those people and Frederic seems very calm throughout. Inglourious Basterds is considered unrealistic as it is hyper real throughout the entirety for several reasons, such as Hitler dying, the basterds so easily entering the premiere and the musical soundtrack. Again, this postmodern element is done subtly so that it works effectively within the main film.

The Projection box scene is another that is full of postmodernism and one of the main scenes in the whole film. To start, the music at this point when Frederic is walking up adds tension and is more traditional war like music. The fact that Shoshanna is wearing red; a colour of evil, and that Frederic is wearing white; a colour of good, is also very postmodern as Shoshanna is in fact playing the hero and Frederic the villain. The music played when Shoshanna had shot Frederic is very contrapuntal as the music itself is quite pleasant, tuneful and uplifting to listen to, however we are hearing this music whilst the characters are shooting each other. This is something strange to do although it does work very well and seems normal. Another example of postmodernism in this scene is when both characters are laying on the floor dead, as this looks like something we would expect to see in 'Romeo and Juliet. as this is also a love story of sorts however perhaps more of unrequited love. When Shoshanna is shot and the scene switches to slow motion, this is effective because it makes the scene seem more tragic and as she is seen as a good character it makes the audience 'feel' it more. We then see that the final thing she see's before dying is Frederic so she will never know whether or not her plan worked.

The flamboyancy of some of the main characters in Inglourious Basterds could also be considered to be somewhat postmodern. Aldo Raine is a definite stereotypical American hillbilly type of character and the way in which he acts and conducts himself can be often humorous even though he is supposed to be the leader of the Basterds and perhaps the serious one. Hans Lander is a very clever character and has been given the nickname, The Jew Hunter. This name suits him well as he is quick off the mark and seems to be aware of everything going on around him so that he knows who is who and what they are up to, the audience could question whether Hans is very much an exaggeration of what German Colonel’s were like. Archie Hicox isn’t in the film for very long but he still seems a notable character, he comes across as a stereotypical Englishman in the way that Americans imagine them to be anyway. His accent is very noticeable and he seems to think that he should be in charge; a very opposite character to that of Aldo Raine. Brigitte Von Hammersmark is also a very stereotypical character from what we would have imagined an actress to be at that time; she is well spoken, attractive and with an expensive taste. However, the role of her character is not necessarily what we would have expected her to be. The role of Hitler in this film is an exaggerated version of the way in which we stereotypically imagine him to be.  The final character to refer to would be The Bear Jew, as he is very much not like the war like type of character we would imagine and the scene in the first chapter where he beats a soldier with his weapon seem quite unrealistic, although the obscurity of the character does add something to the scene. All of these characters stand out as having seemingly postmodern parts to them.

Referring back to an earlier point made, yellow subtitles are used at various points in the film. Yellow is commonly known to be Tarrantino’s favourite film and for him to use this colour as the one for the subtitles in a postmodern thing for him to do. Similarly, in the scene with Hans Lander and Brigitte Von Hammersmark where he makes references to her foot, we can also associate this with Tarrantino as he is famously known for having a sort of ‘fettish’ for feet and this theme crops up in most of his films. Also, the public information film about nitrate films is something unusual that we don’t often come across in films and so Tarrantino obviously chose this postmodern way of telling the audience some of the facts. With reference to the first chapter being set out like a fairytale, the last scene is also set in a forest and this can seem somewhat fairytale like and also gives us a link back to the beginning, emphasising that it is the end of the film.

In conclusion, I would consider Inglourious Basterds to be a very postmodern film in many ways. In my opinion, Tarrantino directs his films to be this way and does is subtly but effectively.

Creativity

                                                     What is Creativity?

Definitions of Creativity
Originality - I think I have used originality in my AS and A2 coursework to a certain extent although it is quite hard to use a lot of originality as I took influences and inspiration from similar pieces of work that were already out there. My A2 work was probably slightly more original than my AS as we took a slightly different stance on our video than most common ones.

Imagination - I tried to use my imagination as much as I could throughout both my AS and A2 coursework processes. I took inspiration from other work and similar texts and then tried to make them more suited to my audiences and their purposes by using my imagination in this way. I think I could have been more imaginative in both pieces of coursework and perhaps added more or changed parts to improve them.

Inspiration - For my AS coursework I took inspiration from current music magazines and then focused in more on music magazines aimed at my target audience. Similarly for my A2 work, I took inspiration from music videos from a similar music genre to the song we chose. Inspiration was the key thing that helped me come up with ideas as it helped me to see what conventions I liked or didn't like and what things I thought would be effective on my coursework.

Ingenuity - When I came across problems in my work I tried to show ingenuity to overcome them. The main problem I had in my AS coursework was when my memory stick broke the day before the final hand in. I made the big mistake of not backing up all of my work but luckily I had saved half of it onto my laptop at home so I could just use my memory to redo it. On the positive side, this helped me to be more ingenious for my A2 work as I made sure that I always backed up my work and had more than 1 copy of it saved all the time.

Inventiveness - In the same case of originality, I believe my work was inventive up to a certain point but it is hard to create something that is completely your own idea without taking aspects from other things.

Resourcefulness - When using resources for both of my pieces of coursework it was sometimes hard. I mainly used the Internet to get inspiration or magazines (for the AS work). Sometimes I found it difficult to get the resources I needed especially for my AS work as I only had a cheapish camera which wasn't great quality and this may have effected the overall outcome of it. However I just used the best of the resources that I had.

Creativeness - I was quite creative during the production process of my AS and A2 coursework but perhaps more so during the A2 work. We tried to produce a video that was slightly different by putting our own creative slants on the work and in some cases this worked  but in others I don't think they paid off. However, sometimes it is worth taking a creative risk as it can be successful some of the time.

Vision - During the making process of both pieces of my coursework my vision of how I thought they would turned out was constantly changing. This was due to several factors, sometimes because it wasn't possible for me to use the programmes or equipment or in the case of the music video we realised some things would be too difficult with the amount of filming time and resources that we had. However, it is important to have a vision as it gave me a guideline of how I wanted my work to turn out and it's something to aim for.

Innovation - It was hard to be innovative in terms of these pieces of coursework. As previously mentioned, I took a lot of my ideas and inspiration from similar texts already available and this means it can often be difficult to think of and introduce new ideas in the same way that it is difficult to be completely original.


How Creative Do You Think You Have Been And What Has Prevented You From Being More Creative?
On the whole and taking all the definitions of creativity into account I think that I have been quite creative. Although, there has been some limitations and some ways in which if I look back now I feel that I could have been more creative and used some of my own ideas more. I would say that the only thing that really prevented me from being more creative was the equipment we had to use as it could often be limited and some of the programmes we used weren't as advanced as they could have been to help with the creativity side of things.


Has a set menu of tasks made it easier to be creative or would you have preferred a free choice on what you could make? Were you pinned down too much by the task, or did it free you up to be creative within the boundaries of the task?

Personally, I think a set task was definitely a good decision as it was much easier to be creative because there was just one idea to focus on whereas if we were given a free choice then I would have found it difficult to pick a good idea for my coursework as I'd have probably spent most of my time choosing which task to do.
I don't feel that I was pinned down at all in either of my pieces of coursework as I could have been as creative or not creative as I wanted to be within the boundaries of the task. For example, in the case of the music magazine, there is so many different types of music, target markets and magazines already out there that it meant there was plenty of inspiration that enabled me to be creative in my own way.

Ideas and Theories

Quotes and Their Meanings

•  "A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" (Jones 1993) I think this quote means that creativity is something that everyone is capable of and we need to be creative in many situations. I do agree with this quote because I think everyone can be creative but perhaps some just more than others.

• "The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" (Bentley 1997) This quote, in my opinion, refers to the point made that new things that are created are simply reinvented versions of similar old things and nothing can be completely 'original.' I also agree with this quote as anything new that is made must have some sort of previous influence.

• "Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty into the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation." (Csikszentmihalyi 1996) I don't fully understand this quote but I would say that it means that creativity doesn't come from one person but that it comes from a variety of elements and influences. I agree with this quote for similar reasons to the quote above.

• "There is no absolute judgement [on creativity] All judgements are comparisons of one thing with another." (Donald Larning) I think this quote is true as to me it means that anything judged on creativity has to be compared to something else similar. Therefore, something could appear very creative or not at all creative depending on what it is compared to, meaning that it is hard to judge a level of creativity.

• "Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production." I completely disagree with this quote as I in fact believe the opposite of it. I think that advances in technology has allowed for more creativity as it is now easier to be creative in a more complex way.

• "A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity." I don't really agree with this quote as I am the sort of person who would prefer to have an idea planned out before I start work on it, and I think that more creative elements can be added as the production process progresses. However, if it isn't possible to change the plans then the quote could be true.

• "Media producers can learn nothing from studying the conventions of old texts." I disagree with this quote as I think that new ideas can only be thought up from looking at other, older texts. I think that old texts will help us to understand where new ideas have come from and so it is important to study conventions from those texts too.

• The creation of bringing something new into existence - "This particular understanding of creativity involves the physical making of something, leading to some form of communication, expression or revelation." (David Gauntlett) I am not entirely sure of what this quote means but I think it is referring to the point that creativity always creates something new.

• "If creativity is not inherent in human mental powers and is, in fact, social and situational, then technological developments may well be linked to advances in the creativity of individual users." (Banaji, Burn and Buckingham, 2006). I think that this quote makes sense and I do agree with it to a certain extent. I think that everyone can be creative, even if its just a little bit, and technology does help with this. However, I also think that in the cases of the most creative people it must just be part of them to be so creative.

The two quotes that I agree with most are; "The making of the new and the re arranging of the old" and  "A process needed for problem solving...not a special gift enjoyed by a few but a common ability possessed by most people" I can apply the first quote to my coursework over the whole two years as all of my ideas came from inspiration that I found. I took ideas and tried to use some of my own creativity to add to and change old ideas and make new ideas. I caa apply the second quote to my coursework as problem solving was a key piece of creativity that I needed throughout the whole production process of both pieces of work. I came across several problems which involved me rethinking or altering ideas and therefore me being more creative.

The two quotes that I disagree with are: "Technology has taken all the creativity out of media production." and "A project that is too well planned lacks opportunities for spontaneity and creativity." In terms of my own pieces of coursework, I disagree with the first quote because I feel that without technology I wouldn't have been able to be anyway near as creative as I was. I also think that if more technology was available then I would have been able to be more creative. I disagree with the second quote because personally I felt that planning helped me to be more creative as I knew what I had to do in order to achieve the end product that I wanted to.

Creativity-Theory and Exercises

Creativity

Are we living in a postmodern world?

We frequently hear it said that ‘we are living in a postmodern world.’ Are we? How do we know? And how is postmodernism as a theoretical perspective applicable to Media Studies?

Where do we start? How about some definitions? George Ritzer (1996) suggested that postmodernism usually refers to a cultural movement – postmodernist cultural products such as architecture, art, music, films, TV, adverts etc.

 Ritzer also suggested that postmodern culture is signified by the following:

• The breakdown of the distinction between high culture and mass culture. Think: drama about Dame Margot Fonteyn, a famous prima ballerina, on BBC4.

• The breakdown of barriers between genres and styles. Think: Shaun of the Dead a rom-com-zom.

• Mixing up of time, space and narrative. Think Pulp Fiction or The Mighty Boosh.

• Emphasis on style rather than content. Think: Girls Aloud.

• The blurring of the distinction between representation and reality. Think, Katie Price or Celebrity Big Brother.

The French theorist Baudrillard argues that contemporary society increasingly reflects the media; that the surface image becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish from the reality. Think about all the times you have heard an actor on a soap-opera say, that when they are out and about, people refer to them by their character’s name. Look at The Sun’s website and search stories on Nicholas Hoult when he was in Skins: he is predominantly written about as though he is ‘Tony’, his character in Skins.

Key terms

Among all the theoretical writing on postmodernism (and you might like to look up George Ritzer, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Frederic Jameson and Dominic Strinati), there are a few key terms that you’ll find it useful to know. These terms can form the basis of analysis when looking at a text from a postmodern perspective:

• intertextuality – one media text referring to another

• parody – mocking something in an original way

• pastiche – a stylistic mask, a form of self-conscious imitation

• homage – imitation from a respectful standpoint

• bricolage – mixing up and using different genres and styles

• simulacra – simulations or copies that are replacing ‘real’ artefacts

• hyperreality – a situation where images cease to be rooted in reality

• fragmentation – used frequently to describe most aspects of society, often in relation to identity
 
This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 32, April 2010.

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