Back broke and dancing because you're here beside me.

[pellnell]

Oh hey, guys, aquidis has finally seen Inglourious Basterds, and just like I predicted, some of the first words out of her mouth were, "I don't know how you can ship it."

Why I Ship It: The Bear Jew/The Little Man

Comments

[aquidis]

Holy wall of text, batman. I will read it in the morning.

[pellnell]

I went a little crazy, but I'm glad I expressed it, if only for the purposes of understanding my own interest in the ship.

[aquidis]

Perhaps you should look into ship_manifesto?

[pellnell]

That place kind of scares me. I think I might link people from 100_scalps and operation_kino here for *discussion* though.

[anonymous]

I know exactly what you mean, and (For once in my life, it seems) agree completely on every level. Personally, I feel that there really isn't that much more to add or discuss now, even though that was kind of the whole point in posting their psychological profiles and your own stance on their hypothetical relationship here. Oh dear.

Anyway, did Utivich actually start to cry in the back of the van with Aldo in the present version? I thought that was a deleted scene. I mean, I remember him sounding worried and asking on the whereabouts of Omar and, of course, Donny, but I don't recall him crying. I could be wrong though. I've only watched it twice, where you've watched it eight times, you lucky dog, you :P.

OH MORMON JOHNNY.

[anonymous]

Oh, and I just wanted to add that I really enjoy your work in Inglourious Basterds fanfiction. Your stories are probably some of my absolute favourites.

/End unnecessary compliment to already soppy post now/

:P

[pellnell]

Thanks! I'm kind of addicted to writing them, so it's nice to know they're being enjoyed.

[pellnell]

I definitely think he was crying. The rest of the scene descriptions in the script directly reference him crying, and his voice in the final film makes it sound like he was. It's hard to be 100% sure since we can't see his face.

[aquidis]

So maybe that's why I ship it, because under the veneer of stoic and detached violence, they're both real people with real emotions and desires, probably the most realistic of the Basterds.

Okay. I'm to a point where I understand the underlying framework of why you ship it--that your canon is based on more than just what's presented in the movie (and I've gotta say--I love how Tarantino is so meticulous in building his scripts, that the larger-than-life arc is supported by all the necessary shoring and mortar), and that Donny and Smitty are real people behind the Basterds persona.

But aside from their humanity and the party they play in the Jewish mythos, what is it about these two characters in particular that makes you ship them? I'm still not understanding that--to me it seems like you're almost manufacturing chemistry. I guess, I don't get how you get from watching the movie, where they don't interact, to shipping them, even with the backstory. Do they have a scene together in the script?

And regarding Donny: Yes, he's

[pellnell]

I think what I love about them, on some level, is the desperation, like that these people are all they have, and, knowing my own human experiences, I could not get through four years with a tight-knit group of people without the possibility for those interactions

[aquidis]

I would like to read the script--can I borrow it from you sometime?

My biggest question is: what was the first moment you shipped them? When did you say "Oh, I wonder how Donny and Smitty would interact with each other?"

[pellnell]

Sure thing. There's a lot of backstory about Donny and Frederick that was cut from the film.

I think I sort of shipped them after the first time I watched the movie, more in a superficial way because I hadn't really thought about them within a human context. I was definitely more interested in Aldo/Donny at first. But, reading the script a couple days later, the scene that clinched it for me is when Smitty's crying in the truck, and it's not seen as being any less manly because it's his genuine reaction, and I think all of Donny's violence and talk is genuine reaction as well. At that point, I just really wanted to know how the two of them would work together, how they would relate to one another because on some levels, they're so fundamentally different, and on others, they're similar.

[violent_aki]

I ship Donny/Smitty like it's my fucking job, but I often wonder WHY we do it, considering they have little to no interaction in the film itself. I appreciated this essay, and you summed it up quite nicely.

I'm intrigued on your knowledge of character backstory, though, such as:

B. J. Novak has said that Smitty was recruited while working as a put-upon foreign correspondent in England, and that his reasoning for joining up was that he wanted to get in touch with his Jewish heritage.

and:

Though I love Gerold, the secretly-angry son from the second-largest deli in Hartford, and I can appreciate Kagan (for his country bumpkin interest) and Omar (mainly for his ability to keep cool under pressure and the fluidity of his interaction with Donny)Where did you find all this out? Interviews, or is it just fanon? I'm really curious now! I'd love to learn more about it. (Man, just when you think you know it all

[pellnell]

Oh, I totally do too. Thanks!

Most of it was taken from interviews with the cast, which I regard as canon. There's some great information in the August Esquire interviews with B. J. Novak, Samm Levine, and Paul Rust. A lot of the backstory for Smitty came from Novak's A. V. Club interview, which is where he mentions his character being an "abused" journalist before joining the Basterds. Gerold's history came from Esquire and some other magazine interview, including a lot of information about him being gun-crazy (check out the shot of him running and shooting in the teaser trailer). I haven't seen too much on Kagan or Omar, maybe because the actors are less well-known. I was hoping to hear something possibly Basterds-related on the DVD of Rust's movie, I Love You, Beth Cooper, but there's just a groovy video of him making peanut butter toast

[pellnell]

I'm not sure if this is the same version I've got (the published version), but there's one here. It's supposed to be the last draft.