Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds

This provocative and unique anthology analyzes Quentin Tarantino's controversial Inglourious Basterds in the contexts of cinema, cultural, gender, and historical studies. The film and its ideology is dissected by a range of scholars and writers who take on the director's manipulation of metacinema, Nazisploitation, ethnic stereotyping, gender roles, allohistoricism, geopolitics, philosophy, language, and memory.
In this collection, the eroticism of the club-swinging and avenging "Bear Jew," the dashed heroism of the "role-playing" French and German females, the patriotic fools and pawns, the amoral yokel, Lieutenant Aldo Raine, and the cosmopolitan, but psychopathic Colonel Landa, are understood for their true functions in what has become an iconoclastic pop-culture phenomenon and one of the classics of early twenty-first century American cinema. Additionally, the book examines the use of "foreign" languages (subverting English and image), the allegory of Austria's identity in the war, and the particularly French and German cinematic influences, such as R. W. Fassbinder's realignment of the German woman's film and the iconic image of the German film star in Inglourious Basterds.

Robert von Dassanowsky is Professor of German and Film, and Carnegie/CASE Professor of the Year (Colorado) at U Colorado, Colorado Springs. Publications include Austrian Cinema: A History; Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America (ed); New Austrian Film (ed. w/ Oliver Speck) and Hofmannsthal's "Der Schwierige" (ed. w/Martin Liebscher). He is also an independent film producer.

Introduction: Locating Mr. Tarantino or, Who's Afraid of Metacinema? Robert von Dassanowsky 1) The Grand Illousion Srikanth Srinivasan 2) Exploding Cinema, Exploding Hollywood: Inglourious Basterds and the Problems of Cinematic Convention Imke Meyer 3) A Slight Duplication of Efforts: Redundancy and the Excessive Camera in Inglourious Basterds Chris Fujiwara 4) Inglourious Music: Revenge, Reflexivity and Morricone as Muse in Ingloruious Basterds Lisa Coulthard 5) Lulu's Menorah: Seeing and Nazi-ing Justin Vicari 6) Vengeful Violence: Inglourious Basterds, Allohistory, and the Inversion of Victims and Perpetrators Michael D. Richardson 7) Inglourious Basterds and the Gender of Revenge Heidi Schlipphacke 8) Reels of Justice: Inglourious Basterds, The Sorrow and the Pity and Jewish Revenge Fantasies Eric Kligerman 9) 'Fire!' in a Crowded Theater: Liquidating History in Inglourious Basterds Sharon Willis 10) Is Tarantino serious? The Twofold Image of the Auteur and the State of Exception Oliver C. Speck 11) Disruptive Violence as Means to Create a Space for Reflection: Thoughts on Tarantino's Attempts at Audience Irritation Alexander D. Ornella 12) Counterfactuals, Quantum Physics and Cruel Monsters in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds William Brown 13) "What shall the history books read?" The Debate over Inglourious Basterds and the Limits of Representation Todd Herzog Notes on Contributors Index