Fic: 30x30 {11} 'Written All Before', Shosanna & Fredrick

[piecesofalice]

Last week, I was eaten by a large monster with several gapped teeth and large reddish eyes. No joke! No bad excuse!*

_{* this may be a joke and/or bad excuse for being so damn busy.}

ELEVEN
"Written All Before"
Inglourious Basterds (Shosanna Dreyfus & Fredrick Zoller)



11. Written All Before
Inglourious Basterds-verse, 11th September 2009

---

There's a beautiful irony to the entire process. The end, justified by the means, her red dress touching scarlet on a floor she'd probably have swept yesterday; his white jacket against a ladybird-coloured mess, and it's beautiful.


Because she's certain she knew this is How It Would End, from the moment he gave her Romeo and Juliet overtones as she stood on a ladder, slightly dizzy, and watched her family die again and again and again.


Because she's certain he'd probably go after the bastard responsible, string Landa up in any other time or any other place - but still, he shot her with the veracity of his image up on the screen and the poetry of everything and something not written by WIlliam Shakespeare.


Nothing is enough, she felt. Her breath shallow as his fluttered alongside - and she'd be damned if she died before him.


---

Fin.

---


RE: Shosanna and Zoller. I'm not entirely sure I 'ship them in the traditional sense, mainly because I don't. Except I do. Except I don't.

QT is very good at making awfully nasty characters into sympathetic human beings, which he did extremely well with Zoller. There's something juvenile and naive about him, a reall gung-ho war hero who's not entirely sure why or what he did exactly. And QT is very good about slamming home that the characters he's just made you kind-of-reluctantly like, aren't nice people by any stretch of the imagination.

And that's probably why they intrigued me, as a set - they reflected a lot in each other, because, really, they were two people who, in any other world, would probably be okay with each other. Their circumstance and overwhelming sense of duty made them so tragic, it's almost epic.

(And Marcel was awesome)

(And Mélanie Laurent and Daniel Brühl are <3)

(And whatever, they're characters in a QT film, their main motivations are probably CANDY and MORE CANDY)



I shouldn't admit this was written to Mika's new album, should I? MOOD KILLER

Comments

[theonlytwin.livejournal.com]

woah.

that was like getting punched. in a good way?

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

That's kind of how I feel about them, full stop. Have you seen the film? It's pretty conflicting, but amazing, but conflicting, but amazing...

[theonlytwin.livejournal.com]

i went to the big shebang movie premier where qt hisself got up on stage and talked about how amazing australia and australians were. it was the kind of crowd that laughed at all the french and german new wave references, but also the stabbings! i then presented a seminar on him and his emotional grey area characters (stuntman mike cries like a little girl, vince reads novels, hans landa let shoshanna live) and his crazy awesome music (the hugo stiglitz theme tune was stolen from 1970's blaxploitation film slaughter, bowie bowie bowie for shoshanna's warpaint, and oh yes steeler's wheel) under the pretense of film studies. oh, university. you are too damn dopey to give up.

in conclusion, yes.

[suspiriorum.livejournal.com]

I love this; it's brief and heavy enough to leave an impact.

That scene was Tarantino's favorite out of the entire film, what he refers to as "a Romeo and Juliet shootout at a movie premiere."

What I love about QT's writing (other than creating such amazing women characters) is that nothing is ever black and white; he wants the viewers to feel conflicted about situations and characters and refuses to make it easy for us.

[beerbad.livejournal.com]

First of all, I loved this. Beautiful. <3 I'm glad you found the community to post this in, hopefully we'll see more from you! :)

I'm not entirely sure I 'ship them in the traditional sense, mainly because I don't. Except I do. Except I don't.

ITA. In terms of "real" 'shipping, I feel like I'm more on the Shoshanna/Marcel train because they are oh so sweet together. That being said, I find the dynamic between Shoshanna and Fredrick to be so damn interesting. Which of course means all I want is to read about them having lots of really disturbing semi-hate!sex with each other. ;)

their main motivations are probably CANDY and MORE CANDY

LMFAO. Hee!

[suspiriorum.livejournal.com]

The versatility of Shosanna/Fredrick is one aspect of the pairing that I adore; there's both film canon to explore and endless AU possiblities.

Also, QT has got to stop encouraging me with all of his "I ♥ the projection booth scene! Also, did I mention they're Romeo and Juliet?"

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

See, to me, that's a good crowd. All I had was a couple eating Grill'd so loudly I was about to go Hugo Stiglitz on their asses. Was that in Sydney?

Heeeeyyyy one of my first major essays was on QT's use of music and the feminine ideal. UNIVERSITY RULZ! Do you have a copy of your seminar laying around?

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

Yes! I just have gone through the whole of un_amico with much joy, and read the Romeo and Juliet quote. It's fantastic, because it's just an indication of how QT pieces together these intricate characters and relationships that you see more and more in with every viewing. (I need to see it again, dammit!)

The pre-cursor to the screening room scene - Fredrick being so conflicted and going up to the projection room, the indications of some sort of reluctance on his part and on hers, when she leans over him after shooting - just kills me. Ugh. There is so much going on, I just love it. Love it!

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

Aww, danke. I think I may be spending too much time plotting AUs or inbetween-scenes to be healthy ;)

I feel like I'm more on the Shoshanna/Marcel train

I agree with this, totally. There's tragedy in Marcel and Shosanna's pairing, but it sort of falls aside when we're shown the intricacies of Shosanna and Fredrick. There's layers upon layers there.

And yeah, I'm totally there for the hate-sex. Bring it on! ;)

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

YES, AUs. I love me some AU action. _{I shan't write Mélanie Laurent and Daniel Brühl RPF, I shan't!}

[theonlytwin.livejournal.com]

it was an awesome crowd, and yes, it was at the glittery capitol theatre in sydney. man, i loathe people who make noise during movies, i get really snobby and crazy. if you had gone stiglitzian, i would have provided your backing track.

i think i slightly deleted the seminar notes because i was so sick of it. what i have left is my notes and a zip file of music and images. it was a joint project, so me and my partner dressed up in the requisite reservoir dogs outfits, started at the end, interrupted each other a bunch and threw candy ears into the audience. i could give you my speech notes?

[suspiriorum.livejournal.com]

I figured that Romeo and Juliet was what QT was going for upon my first viewing of IB, but I wasn't certain; all I knew was that Shosanna/Fredrick hit me particularly hard. It took going through the script and his quote to confirm what I felt and so by my third viewing, I saw the tragedy, but immense beauty as well.

Love, Tarantino-style is never so simple.

And I'm glad you enjoy un_amico, as I was at first apprehensive about starting it because I feared being pelted with e-stones.

[suspiriorum.livejournal.com]

I've never written fanfic before, but they're giving me too many ideas to ignore.

un_amico will gladly accept Mélanie/Daniel RPF, too. Perhaps I should update the comm rules to include that?

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

See, I was getting all cranky and my roomie couldn't hear them so she thought I was crazy so I got cranky about that, then some guy laughed WAY TOO LOUD and...yeah. We saw 500 Days of Summer last night and there were about four people. That's how it should be.

I would love to read them - only if you don't mind, though. I know my speech notes are the most bizarre things ever (and retro, due to my not being in uni for three years). I bought the Basterds screenplay today, so that's my lunchies reading tomoz.

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

I remember being so intrigued, then getting sort of cranky at Marcel's existence, despite liking him a lot. That's when I knew I'd was a gonner. ;) They were just this hyper-interesting sidenote to the film, I can't get them out of my brain. So I'm pretty damn happy you started the comm! (If anyone pelts with e-stones, I'll go Stiglitz on their asses.)

I bought the screenplay today, so I'll have a paw through and see if there's any tibits for the comm. Although I'd imagine it's basically the same script you posted exerpts from the other day.

(I need an icon, stat!)

[suspiriorum.livejournal.com]

Face-fisting opponents is always appreciated, just be sure to have Hugo's happy face while you do so.

I almost think that dismissing Marcel from the Shosanna/Fredrick equation is what QT was going for, otherwise he would've been more fleshed out. It's like in Kill Bill when the Bride is getting married; we see that she has friends and a nice man in her life, but it's her dynamic with Bill that interests us. The conflict Shosanna would feel over Marcel and Fredrick would be interesting explore, because as much as I love Shosanna/Fredrick, leaving Marcel or mourning his death would not be easy.

If you need an icon, you can use any of mine, as well as many others that have been posted in both basterds and operation_kino.

[piecesofalice.livejournal.com]

I find myself thinking of an AU where Shosanna and Fredrick got out, somehow, and dealing with the finality of what just happened, and Marcel dying. Then I feel really bad for Marcel! (I really need to just stop worrying about freakin' Marcel and embrace the Shosanna/Fredrick whole)

I was reading the script today, and I really, truly hope the part where Fredrick compares her to his sisters is on the DVDs. It's so telling, and makes his outburst in the projection room make more sense - the idea of being abandoned, almost, the pop psychology of the youngest child growing up without parents - ugh, I just love it.

[suspiriorum.livejournal.com]

That particular AU situation is one I think of frequently, as well. Except I never really warmed to Marcel, partly because I was on the Shosanna/Fredrick train before even seeing the film, due to a promo picture of them I found on imdb.

And a big YES to all of that. Besides his sisters, Shosanna is the only genuine person Fredrick has known (and desired) since he enlisted and so to be rejected ruined him.

[tehprincessj.livejournal.com]

This is lovely. <3