Hollywood is incomplete without the contributions of Quentin Tarantino. His genius has given us films like Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, Django Unchained etc. However today, we are not here exactly to celebrate his cinematic achievements. Instead, we’ll look into how he twists history in his own way, to suit thw workings of his cinematic universe.
We shall thus, look into some of his films and their revisionist portrayal of historical events.
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS: American Jews make Hitler Rest in Pieces (debut of the Tarantino Revisionist History)
You may or may not be a History Buff, but one thing we all surely know is that Hitler wasn’t murdered by a bunch of American rednecks. Tarantino’s film however shows this.
With this movie, he established the fact that history in his movies, is shaped by what he wants. Inglorious Basterds traces the journey of a bunch of former Nazi P.O.Vs and other Jews against the Nazi regime. Their aim is to kill Adolf Hitler and end the Nazi regime. On the way, they encounter a British agent masquerading as a German general as well.
Throughout this movie, we’re given the idea that Tarantino’s history is way different than ours. We see the “Basterds” gunning down Hitler into pieces, Hitler as well as Goebbels and the Nazis burning alive in a theater full of dignitaries and much more.
Yes, there was a a British commando force of largely Jewish exiles from Germany and eastern Europe who were dubbed by Winston Churchill as X-Troop, but they’re no way close to the Basterds. One familiarity with the Basterds was that each who joined the mission had a terrible backstory of leaving behind friends and family with the Gestapo and wanted to get revenge.
However, Tarantino’s Basterds were more inclined towards killing Nazis and getting their Nazi scalps. Unlike them, the X-Troops never focused on killing and they definitely did not kill Hitler. In Tarantino’s universe though, the Basterds didn’t wait for D-Day and neither they did for the end of the war. They ended the Nazi regime with blood , guts and bullets.
DJANGO UNCHAINED: Freed Negro Decimates Plantation Owners
History has its share of unsung heroes, who fought the establishment to win their freedoms. Out of them, many were those who helped in freeing Afro-Americans from slave labor. If we look at this, Christoph Waltz’s character in this film is that kind of that character.
However, the plantations, slave culture and the racist American South is the most historically accurate this film can be. The rest of the movie is Tarantino’s wet dream, about how American history should be in his own mind. In his universe, a white German frees a Negro and makes him a hitman. Consequently, this negro goes on to Take names and Kick ass.
In fact, thanks to his freed status, this man gets to dine, pay and roam with the white plantation owners. Tarantino’s fetish for blood filled violence also makes its way into this universe. This freed Negro and his German associate end up shooting an oppressive plantation owner in cold blood and evn filling his whole house with bullet holes.
If that wasn’t enough, he rigs their mansion with explosives and watches them burn, while performs tricks on his horse and rides off with his lover. Clearly, History doesn’t name freed Negro who single-handedly wrecked havoc on the oppressive south.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD: Sharon Tate Survives & instead, the Manson Family is Massacred
This brings us to Tarantino’s latest venture, which also happens to be a period piece; kind of. This one deals with a more modern day massacre. Tarantino’s film does have a massacre, just not in ways we expected.
Now in real life, we know what the massacre was. Charles Manson and his hippie associates stormed LA’s Cielo Drive on 9th August 1969 and murdered Sharon Tate in cold blood. She was an up and coming star who was pregnant at that time. Additionally, all her friends she was partying with also faced brutal deaths. The Tate-LaBianca murders/Manson Murders are still considered one of the darkest days in Hollywood history.
However in Tarantino’s universe, there’s no place for a dark ending. Since the get go, he made it clear that this film only is set in the background of a real life incident Otherwise, it’s a fictional story of an actor (Leornadi di Caprio) and stuntman (Brad Pitt) who’re gradually becoming obsolete. In fact, Pitt’s fictional character can even give Bruce Lee a run for his money.
Thus, it’s clear that Tarantino won’t let Sharon die. So, the Mansons do come to Cielo Drive, but do not go to Tate and Roman Polanski’s house. Instead, they plan on murdering Rick Dalton (Leornado). Fortunately, they bump into his stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad), who end up dismantling the Mansons. Instead of Sharon and her friends, its the Mansons who’s blood is spilled. It’s them who are on the receiving end of a brutual assault. As far as Sharon is concerned, she continues to relax in her pregnancy. Additionally, she’s now got new friends in the form of Dalton and Booth. The party continues!!!!!!!
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