Transforming Cultural Memory: Inglorius Basterds (2009)

Abstract

Inglourious Basterds (2009) stands out as an example to the unusual storytelling techniques which have been used by Quentin Tarantino in recent years. It can be classified as Historiographic Metafiction with a postmodern perspective. The film's narrative bends the historical narratives and social traumas ingrained in cultural memories. This study has shown that Tarantino's films are not just a pastiche where the director collaged the concepts, events, and motifs selected from the cinematic history. Instead, Tarantino's films challenge audience's cultural memory, knowledge of history, and ways of seeing them. I think they are metafictions that first reveal the conventional methods of remembering before developing an alternative to these kinds of narratives. In this metafiction, memory is more than just a burden of the past, but rather a tool used to reshape the present.