Joseph Goebbels Clubbed Foot:
The effect of a mutation on human psyche and Nazi Germany as Demonstrated in Inglorious Basterds.
His right foot bent slightly inward. He limped through the halls of grade school with a metal brace, yet as an adult the only signs of deformities were in his constant craving for outside reinforcement. Joseph Goebbels’ pursuit for women has been analyzed as compensation for his youth spent as an outcast. His pursuit of women went hand in hand with his strive to become prominent in the film industry, as Quentin Tarantino demonstrated in Inglorious Basterds.
Goebbels’ mistress Francesca Mondino is a young attractive woman in contrast to Goebbels aging face and body. With out Goebbels’ status, Mondino would have no attraction to Goebbels, and he desperately needs her attraction in order to prove that he is more than his braced youth. Tarantino’s short clip of Goebbels “f**king Francesca doggy-style” shows that this interest in women was purely a conquest. This reinforces the idea that Goebbels needed the relationship to show that he was better than a young attractive human. In the clip, Goebbels looms over Francesca with out making eye contact, and even goes as far to have her demeaned to an animal when the script describes her screams as “animal-like.”
― Joseph Goebbels
Goebbels need for reinforcement also explains his deep loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Hitler did not simply give Goebbels the title of Minister of Propaganda. In order to increase his own power, Hitler often assigned two people similar jobs that constantly overlapped and would create discord in the work place by giving each person contradicting orders. Joseph Goebbels had to beat out Reich press chief Otto Dietrich, and it may have been the competion with Dietrich that made Goebbels desire the approval of Hitler so much. During the premier of Nations Pride, Goebbels sheds a tear when he finally gains the approval of Hitler as the Furher compliments, “extraordinary, Joseph, simply extraordinary. This is your finest film yet” (Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds). But this appreciation was seldom found for the true Joseph Goebbels, and he had to work tirelessly in order to be satisfied with his own success. Goebbels quickly became an expert in Propaganda and he once said that he had realized that it “works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.” He took advantage of Machiavelli’s theory of “Better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” By demonstrating both the power and the honor of Germany, Goebbels managed to do both.
Tarantino illustrated Goebbels’ talent in the mock movie Nations Pride, directed by the character Joseph Goebbels. Nations Pride takes advantage of many of Goebbels techniques such as the fact that the Nazi soldier in the film takes refuge in what General Kchovlanskey calls “one of the oldest and most treasured of all the historically important structures still standing in Italy,” and kills 250 enemies after carving the Nazi symbol into its wood. When the soldier carves the Nazi symbol into a historical tower, it is relayed to us that Nazism itself is leaving its mark on history and greatness. Goebbels techniques are seen also in the dehumanizing of the opposing army; as the soldiers beneath the tower tumble and fall, the lives mean nothing. The only thing that draws the attention to the number of lives lost is the excessive amount of shells flooding the floor of the tower that appear to be more of a point system than symbols of lives.
Despite Goebbels love for media, he controlled it excessively. He required all members of the film industry to join the Reich Film Chamber so that anyone with views opposing the regime were silenced. He promoted films with a Nazi slant because as he once said, “it would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.” Goebbels tried to increase his reach by urging manufactures to produce inexpensive home receivers and had them placed in public areas, factories, and schools. As Albert Speer put it, “through technical devices like the radio and loudspeaker, 80 million people were deprived of independent thought.”
Tarantino demonstrated this desire for control with his use of film in Inglorious Basterds. In a deleted scene, Goebbels stated that he outlawed film criticism. Perhaps this was partly in fear to have himself spoken poorly of, but as a whole we can tell that clearly this man desired ultimate control over what every citizen sees in Nazi Germany. By outlawing criticism, it is assumed that every film produced is up to parr due to it having to be passed through Goebbels selective guidelines. In the same deleted scene, Goebbels is shocked to find that Shosanna has no recent German films and only shows classics. Shosanna convinces him that this is due to her audience being of an older generation, but we all know that she is a Jew that once saw her entire family murdered by a notorious “rat” hunter. However, Shosanna does not have to hide in the dark for her entire life. When Shosanna is given the opportunity to screen the premier of Nations Pride, she decides to create a film to show the Nazi leaders before burning down her cinema about who she truly is and how she truly feels about the beliefs and actions of Nazi Germany. In demonstration of the tight control of the film industry, she has to threaten a filmmaker that “you either do what the f**k we tell you to, or I’ll bury this ax in your collaborating skull” in order to get her film processed. With the showing of her film, Goebbels censorship is halted, and someone with a new message for Germany speaks up (Quentin Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds).
It is no surprise that Tarantino focused so eminently on the film industry during the Nazi regime. As a film lover since youth that grew up surrounded by thousands of films at a time, the idea of censoring a film must have bewildered him. Yet Tarantino’s and Goebbels’ understanding of the power of film are aligned. However, Tarantino’s passion for film comes not from the desire to control, it comes from a love to make movies and shock and electrify audiences. This allows Tarantino to write not for a desired outcome to be loved or feared. By doing so, Tarantino is able to write freely and naturally earns respect and loyalty from the audience. Rod Taylor described Tarantino as a director who is passionately involved with the actors and does small things to get the audience exhilarated. Whether this be a strange non-diagetic sound clip of Stealers Wheel “Stuck in the Middle With You” while cutting someones ear off, or David Bowie’s “Cat People” while a woman prepares herself to decimate the leaders of Nazi Germany, Quentin Tarantino himself challenges the norm.
Goebbels outgrew his deformed foot and his leg brace, but his youth forever haunted him. He constantly feared that he was lesser, and in order to convince himself that he was not, he looked for the approval of others. His pursuit of young attractive women was in hopes approval of Hitler was in hopes to put himself, a once deformed outcast, in the same league as the dictator of Nazi Germany. His censorship of the entire media and film industry was to prove that he was powerful enough to have such an influence. However, this pursuit for more and desire for reinforcement is endless. No matter how much you have, you will never have enough if your satisfaction comes from outside sources: you must find acceptance with-in for true happiness. Deep down, Goebbels never believed that he was enough, and this self-consciousness led to a propaganda mastermind manipulating thousands into following a murderous leader and the massacre of approximately six million Jews.
