I (FINALLY) saw Inglourious Basterds. It was really gooood. but bloody. I mean, i was expecting the bloody so it wasn't as bad, but because I kept expecting the bloody, I was constantly in fetal position all stressed out and shit. Brad Pitt was pretty hilarious (when he busted out with his Italian- dear jesus, I could not keep it together), and I was pleasantly surprised by Diane Kruger whose only work I'd seen before was Troy (not so good). I never realized how German she actually looked because I think I was distracted by her cloud of wavy, light blond hair, but with her darker coif and '40s starlet makeup, her German features really stood out. Which is to say... she was less "pretty," but also a lot more interesting looking! I liked it.
(spoiler alert)
This may sound terrible, but I actually wanted the Jewish girl Shoshanna (who I thought was really pretty in a weird, plain way) and the German soldier Frederick to get together at some point! Imagine how much more complicated and torturous it would've been if they actually hooked up and THEN she killed him (and vice versa)? So many torn emotions, so much psychological distress! :). Ummm oh yeah and I might have also wanted this to happen just because I thought he was actually cute for her...! Like LOOK I'm sorry. Yes, I realize he was a Nazi soldier who killed 300 people in 3 days, but he was also incredibly sweet and felt guilty about his killings (at least during the screening). Doesn't that deserve a littttle "aww?" No? Am I the only filthy whore who sympathizes with the Nazi piece of shit? Hahaha. You wouldn't be the only one to be disgusted with me. After the movie (my housemate and I were pretty much in shock because of all the fucking horrible dying that happened in the last 15 minutes), I turned to my housemate and half-jokingly said "aw, and I thought they were kinda cute for each other!" to lighten the mood, and she gave me the most ghastly stare, like how could I even utter such an atrocious thought! so I just laughed it off and shut up. :/ My twisted fantasies must stay in my own head. or my blog.
yayyy!
so I'm not trying to romanticize mass murderers and whatnot. I just think it's important to see everybody as human, no matter how fucked up they are (or how much they've fucked up). I'm not saying they should be babied and let off the hook, but that they should still be treated with a certain level of respect (varying upon circumstances, but always still provided).
One of the things that made me really uncomfortable about the big movie theater ending was the level of hate I felt as the two Jewish soldiers mercilessly shot into the group of trapped and burning Nazi leaders and their wives. As justified as it may have been, it didn't sit right with me.
I couldn't tell if we were supposed to be caught up with the fervor, cheering them on just like the Germans had been doing while they were watching their military propaganda film, or if we were supposed to be aghast at all of it.
Then I saw an interview with Eli Roth, who played the "Bear Jew," and when asked about this scene, he responded gleefully, saying that filming it was an awesome experience because it fulfilled his every revenge fantasy. and I felt truly nauseous.
Maybe it's because I'm not Jewish or any other ethnic or social group that suffered under the Third Reich, but I don't think it's okay to glamorize any kind of extreme violence and hatred, even towards a group of Nazis. They were still people with families, histories, and identities beyond their political group (which is why I think I felt this sensitive little Frederick character was a welcome change). I think we as a society have been trained to just associate ANYTHING Nazi related as wholly vile- and I think that's because people don't want to accept that regular "good" humans (i.e. themselves) are capable of such horrendous acts. (This is why I thought that maybe Tarantino was trying to send the message that all of us have that monster within us. Perhaps that one idiotic actor just messed it up for me.)
As a Korean, I guess the people I feel the most similar resentment towards is the Japanese military during the first half of the 20th century. (Actually, the things they did in Asia were eerily similar to what Hitler did in Europe. Why haven't you heard about them? Because the American public education system doesn't give a shit about anything not concerning the West.) I mean, I grew up hearing stories about the despicable things the Japanese did in Korea from my grandmother, who was scarred enough to carry her animosity towards them across the Pacific and over a period of more than fifty years. And then I got older and watched and read horrible first-hand accounts from Japanese soldiers about their own atrocities. Straight from their mouths and from their own writings! They were terrifying stories- gory, humiliating, and tragic. Stories that brought much more grounding and reality to the tales I'd heard dozens of times as a little kid. Stories that made me choked up thinking about the tough life my little grandma had been born into, and that my proud grandfather endured. I love both of them to death and my blood boils thinking about the injustices they suffered under their colonizers.
But do I wish to have the opportunity to gun down hundreds of pre-liberation Japanese military officers and their families in cold blood, even in a fake scenario? No! That would not make me feel better, and it would not change anything besides make me more embittered. And this refusal does NOT make me a traitor, a fainthearted softy, or a passive loser.
Truthfully, hearing the soldiers recounting their stories (~50 years later), I was shocked to find myself feeling sorry and embarrassed for many of them. They seemed so completely normal. They were loving grandfathers and hard workers I could pass by on the street and be fondly reminded of my own grandparents. They were ashamed for what they had partaken in (which is why they agreed to do the interviews) and owned up to it.
I guess I haven't experienced the pleasure of being inundated with award winning films and works of literature about the evil Japanese from the perspective of the oppressed Koreans, so they've never been programmed into my system as soulless caricatures who all deserved to die.
One hateful nationalistic statement should not beget another hateful nationalistic statement. Fueled by extreme insecurity or extravagant arrogance, they only lead to false feelings of superiority and victory, and in the end reveal all parties to be the self-centered, narrow-minded brats that they are.
I'm not trying to be preachy. God knows I'm nowhere near this state of idealism. If someone smacked me or "disrespected" me, my first instinct would most likely be to smack them back even harder or cuss them out. However, I know that that's all my pride talking and acting. My hope is that one day I can be the kind of person who can automatically brush those feelings aside, try to understand the scope of the situation past my own personal issues, and isolate and exterminate that anger before I propagate it.
...
How the hell did a simple movie post turn into this lengthy diatribe of verbal diarrhea?!!! Ugh, this is what happens when I try to explain myself...
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