10
15 jojoKAiinm
Although (because?) superhero films make a lot of money, they're not culturally prestigious and generally get passed over hy the Oscars. However, stung by accusations of racism, the Academy finally offered some overdue recognition to nonwhite superhero film Black Panther, which won three Oscars in 2018.' Given that the Academy was becoming more open to nonwhite filmmakers, it could be seen as a canny move on Waiti-ti's part to produce a film starring children, aimed at a broad audience, with an unambiguous moral message addressing a historically significant event (like the Holocaust), and release it in "Oscar season," (that is, late in the year).' Waititi's films have been male-oriented, but here was a chance to court a broader audience with an adaptation of a book recommended by his mother.' In fact, Waititi had written Jojo Rabbit earlier, but it had languished until the success of Thar lent him the opportunity to make the film.4
Jojo Rabbit was a PR coup. The film's 2020 Oscar win (for best adapted screenplay) seemed to consolidate a new era of Hollywood recognition for ethnic diversity, complementing the Korean Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019) becoming the first foreign language film to win best film. In his acceptance speech, Waititi dedicated his win to "all the Indigenous kids all over the world who want to do art and dance and write stories."5 In a world increasingly blighted by racism and intolerance, surely it's important, Waititi suggests, "to educate our kids about tolerance and continue to remind ourselves that there's no place in this world for hate."' And the best way to do that is to go and see his latest movie, the themes of which arc, In act ulent 01 design, ideally positioned for a I'S film industry seeking to distance itscll from present I IS government policies. If Waititi's statement above seems pl.ititudiiious In Ins stand.mis, we should
06181327
2i4 itioninoA
h Mii umr in animiie Sinn? 215
bear in mind that publicity for this film was carefully orchestrated, given its potentially controversial theme and the adverse reactions of some critics."
Satire
1 want to focus on the term "anti-hate satire" that was used to characterize and market the film." Satire is (usually) comic, which fits my focus, but also implies something more current, political, and edgy than comedy.'' I low far is this true of }ojo> Or is the term merely a marketing ploy, as one reviewer suggested: "Loudly calling a movie an 'anti-hate satire' strikes me as caution masquerading as boldness, in the marketing department at least."'" Adding a sheen of political relevance to a sentimental story can be viewed as the ideal recipe for Oscar success: "It's this year's model of Nazi Oscar-bait showmanship: Life Is Beautiful' made with attitude."" On the other side of this argument is the contemporary rise in far-right extremism, exemplified in NZ by the Christchurch mosque shootings on March 15, 2019, when a white Australian terrorist, Brenton Tarrant, killed.fifty-one Muslim people in a racially and religiously motivated attack," described by New Zealand prime minister |acinda Ardern as an "extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence."' There is also global concern at the number of democratically elected governments with nationalistic, right-wing agendas, such as Donald Trump's in the US. Trumps autocratic, populist style of demagogucry has been compared to that of Hitler." In this sense, an anti-fascist satire might seem timely. However, calling it an "anti-hate satire" suggests condemnation less of a political movement than of a type of rhetoric. "Hate speech" is defined in NZ law by the Human Rights Act 1993 as publishing or distributing "threatening, abusive, or insulting... matter or words likely to excite hostility against or bring into contempt any group of persons ... on the ground of the colour, race, or ethnic or national origins of that group of persons."'' Such a law could potentially be used against anyone, irrespective of their politics or ethnicity. The vagueness of "anti-hate" led one reviewer to suggest that "|T]he actual target of )ojo Rabbit' isn't really the haters, it's those who would presume to hate the haters."'6 In other words, the movie is aimed at an apolitical mainstream, its message that "there's good and bad in everyone."
The method of satire, however, is precisely to ridicule a social group or person: "For all the satirist's high-minded aims, he (sic) works with tools—the lash, the pointed pen, the flaying knife—that inflict pain."'" "Othering is the essence of satire and humor."'* Some might say that satire is different from hate speech in that it uses the weapons of wit—irony and double entendre. However, irony and double entendre are also used by alt-right groups, who have appropriated "innocent" signs such as the curled finger "okay" sign, so that viewers can no longer know if the sign is used naively or knowingly (a probable example of the latter was Brenton Tarrant's use of it in a court appearance in April 2019)."'
The object of satire should be contemporary, but parallels between historic and contemporary fascism are implicit in lojo, the closest being the opening montage of Nazi crowds usieg-heil"-ing Hitler to the strains of the Beatles' German-language version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand."1' But Beatlemania is hardly contemporary, so the equation of pop music fans with Nazis seems more amusing than pointed. In contrast, another recent "Nazi comedy," the German-language Look Who's Back! (David Wnendt, 201s) placed a miraculously revived Hitler in present-day Germany, which made the link between periods more compelling. A further aspect of satire is that while it paints with broad strokes, using stereotyping to present complex realities, its targets must be believable: "Satire ... is a rhetorical means to the production of difference in the face of a potentially compromising similarity, not the articulation of differences already securely in place."' Satire must convince audiences of their potential culpability—for example, in Look Who's Rack, crowds mobbing Hitler to get a "selfie" do not seem far removed from contemporary behavior. There is nothing like this in lojo. Nevertheless, Waititi notes, "1 experienced a certain level of prejudice growing up as a Maori lew," and parallels have been drawn between postcolonial trauma of indigenous peoples and the Holocaust." US anti-Semitism was satirized in a 2004 South Park episode about Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). In the episode, Stan and Kenny ask Mel Gibson for their money back, not because the film was anti-Semitic but because it was "a crappy film." This mixing of moral and aesthetic standards is something that Waititi has perpetuated in the marketing of lojo.
2i6 MOMMfUIM
WIOJO UHI1 AN ANII-HAIi SttlW 217
Critical Reception
Waititi has suggested the film had been "divisive" on account of its subject matter, Nazism, implying that controversy had arisen from the film's bold confrontation of racism and hate speech. "1 never wanted to make something that was very easy, because for me, if it's too easy, then what's the point? . . . People say. Oh, it's divisive,' but where 1 come from, 'divisive' is not a swear word. It's a means to create discussion."11 However, the film's reviews suggest that the controversy was not over the film's subject matter but its artistic merit. Most reviewers didn't question the film's ostensible aims, but rather its success in achieving them: "the finished film . . . although clearly sincere in its intentions, is neither sharp nor funny enough to cut to the heart of its subject matter"; "If the premise is risky, the execution is depress-ingly not so."14
According to many reviewers, the intcrtextuality that features in all of Waititi's films seems to function here as a substitute for diegetic reality rather than an enhancement of it. Waititi's knowledge of Nazism seems based largely on fiction. He even suggests himself, perhaps flippantly, but pertinently in the light of the present argument, that "1 didn't do any research. 1 didn't ba'se him on anything I'd seen about Hitler before. I just made him a version of myself that happened to have a bad haircut and a shitty little mustache. And a mediocre German accent."1' The casting of Jojo as a small, blond-haired, blue-eyed boy recalls, some reviewers point out, the protagonist Oskar of Volker Schlöndorff's The Tin Drum (1979), another film about Nazism set primarily in Germany leading up to and including WWII.1" The difference is that Oskar, a stunted child-man, is a mute witness to the horrors of Nazism and war, while Jojo is a conventional protagonist who renounces politics, somewhat predictably, for love. Intcrtextuality is also implicit in the characterization of the film as "the first hipster Nazi comedy," implying a (self-consciously) anachronistic approach, with Waititi playing a "stylized goof-head version of Adolf Hitler, who speaks in aggressive anachronisms (That was intense? Tm stressed out!' 'Correctamundo!' That was a complete bust!' 'So, how's it all going with that Jew thing upstairs?'), sounding like a petulant mean-girl version of the Führer."17 Similarly, another review suggests that Jojo's Germanv:
looks like a theme park reproduction, and its inhabitants are like costumed cartoon mascots (Sam Rockwell and Rebel Wilson are Hitler Youth leaders, Stephen Merchant a Raiders of the Lost Ark-esqac Gestapo agent). Jojo's antisemitic beliefs are all cod-Borat non-sequiturs—at one point, he asks Elsa where "the Jew Queen lays her eggs"—while Waititi's Hitler won't feel particular^ outrageous to anyone who remembers the pure, deranged gusto of Dick Shawn's similar turn in The Producers 52 years ago.'"
Jay Nilsson notes, "During the 1990s irony became a source of contention in American culture. For some it came to be defined—in opposition to honesty and sincerity—as apolitical, as synonymous with apathy, and as an expression of moral relativism."1 Implicit here is the characterization of hipster youth irony as universal, and hence meaningless—hence Jojo's ironies are both too broad and too crude to offer genuine critique.
Another reason alleged by Waititi for the film's controversy is its comic treatment of Nazism—but as suggested above, Nazis have been screen comedy fodder since Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940).'" A BBC TV Smith & Jones sketch from 1989 displays many of the Nazi stereotypes from Waititi's film, prefiguring Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell) almost exactly.'' Many reviewers suggest that the film's comic tone is incongruous, forced, or superficial: a "smug surface-level audacity" in a film "that employs a repetitive wink as it proudly trots out its central gimmick, recasting Hitler as a buffoonish imaginary friend for maximum lols":
There is no suggestion that anything on screen remotely impinges on the real world: Nazism and the Holocaust specifically are presented as goofy can-you-cver-bclieve-they-went-fbr-this-rubbish? one-offs. As satire it's a dismal dereliction of duty; as comedy, a one-note joke that wears out fast."
The comedy, rather than satirically reinforcing the message, almost seems to exist separately from the more serious part of the film. Critics commented on the film's "uneven" tone and awkward mixture of humor and sentiment." One possibility would be to read this as camp (as in Hunt for the Wilderpeople), but in a satire the expectation is that humor should
2i«  IH OFIHHAUI
IS    14#fir4N 4N1MA1E SATIIE? 219
reinforce rather than detract from the central theme. One reviewer suggests that "Waititi is not, at his core, a satirist. A comic filmmaker with some serious ideas, sure, hut that isn't really the same thing as satire."" Indeed. Waititi's feature films tend, in his self-referential fashion, to poke-fun at themselves rather than at an external target. Parody (which takes aesthetics as its ohject) is more Waititi's style than satire." Satire is often marked by a strong moral tone, condemning particular social groups or personages—not something particularly apparent in Waititi's mostly affable ocuvre. )ojo Rabbit, in contrast, has been accused of didacticism.1*
Reverse Racism
However, Waititi has previously used satire in his nonfilmic work, and usually the subject is racism. "Give Nothing to Racism," the NZ Human Rights Commission TV' advertisement he fronted in 2017, and "Drive By," a Flight of the Conchords episode he wrote and directed in 2007, share with fojo Rabbit the satiric device of role reversal, in this case a nonwhite person playing a racist, a device used in a modified form in Chaplin's The Creat Dictator.*' Another precedent is African American comedian Dave Chap-pelle's 2004 skit about a blind white supremacist, Clayton Bigsby—the joke being that he was played by Chappelle himself.1" Despite the whole Conchords series being set in New York, Waititi avoids African American race discourse, alluding to it by a joke:
Dave: You're [i.e., New Zealanders are] pretty much the most
hated people in America right now. Jemaine: What about black people? Dave: They don't like you either.
Waititi partly depoliticizes the issue by playing down links to blackness. An Indian fruit stall owner named Sinjay (Aziz Ansari) refuses to serve the Conchords because they are New Zealanders. Much humor derives from the fact that the Conchords are so unassertive ("New Zealanders all mumble, I cant understand you!" is one of Sinjay's taunts) that they are frequently confused with people from other English-speaking countries, which their American friend Dave conflates with "the redcoats, the oppressors." Deliverance comes when Sinjay oversteps: Too bad
New Zealanders are a bunch of cocky a-holes descended from criminals and retarded monkeys ... riding round on your kangaroos all day." Bret replies: "You're thinking of Australians." Sinjay eventually apologizes for having confused them with other white people (of course, white racists commonly confuse nonwhite ethnicities; ironically, Clement is Maori). Situating the series in the US means that the Conchords experience a "crisis of identity" as their national identity is no longer transparent or self-assured. They experience a mild version of "otherness," though nothing like the kind of racism directed toward, say, African Americans."
In the second example, "Give Nothing to Racism," Waititi fronts the public service advertisement himself, drawing on his (real) status as 2017 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year. Black-and-white film, a suit (for most of the advertisement), a rigid posture, use of direct address, and classical music all add further gravitas to his appeal: Tm calling on... my fellow Kiwis to support a very important cause. Racism Ipausc] needs your help to survive. You may not be in a position to give much to racism ... you don't have to be a full-on racist, just being a tiny bit racist is enough . .." The advertisement parodies a charity appeal, asking the audience to give "just a little" to racism. Like the Conchords example, the humor of the text is based on a nonwhite person apparently being racist. Identifying the audience as "my fellow Kiwis" suggests that Waititi thinks the joke is one that New Zealanders will get, but the subtext is that Waititi is serious, because he really does think that "Kiwis" are racist. The term "Kiwi" is often identified with the dominant ethnic group—Pakeha.4" NZ Labour MPTamati Coffey recently compared news coverage of Waititi's Oscars win with another article in which a Maori filmmaker was sued. Waititi was described as Kiwi, the filmmaker as Maori. Coffey stated, "Negative stories involving Maori call the person out for being Maori. If the individual attains success, Maori are escalated to 'Kiwi.'"4'
The "Give Nothing to Racism" commercial is clearly satirical, but is Waititi satirizing institutional racism or institutional anti-racism? No one uses the term "racism" more than anti-racists, and after a while its repetition starts to sound parodic. On the other hand, white supremacist groups also claim to be victims of racism." The ambiguity of Waititi's performance strongly suggests the trickster. This takes us back to the definition of comic play as an action that negates conventional meaning. The problem about the trickster is that you can't tell what he or she means. In
z2o  tit Of TM TMU
is jojo umí Mumvunrnw «i
"Give Nothing to Racism" TV advertisement for Human Rights Commission (NZ), featuring Taika Waititi, 2017.
contrast, Chappelle's character is racist toward blacks, so the evidence of the absurdity of his stance is irrefutable, highlighting the problem with reverse racism as used by Waititi: if you choose to ignore the irony, it can simply look like black people being racist to whites.
In Jojo Rabbit, Waititi is also playing a racist. As noted above, however, he makes little attempt to play Hitler realistically; it's a buffbonish parody. Another point of difference from the above examples is that New Zealanders are not the focus—Waititi is venturing into unfamiliar territory, and this could affect the success of his satire. A lack of familiarity with the source material could affect the quality of the film, and other Pasifika/NZ directors have adapted more easily to working with European stories and settings (Toa Fraser's Dean Spanley [2008J, for example).
Jojo in Relation to Waititi's Other Films
Waititi is playing a father figure to a boy character, as he did in Boy. In terms of "comedian comedy," the Hitler character is also a comic performance that is in places (like the opening scene of the film) played directly to camera (via a mirror), and )ojo is also involved in this direct address. This coin cut 1011 breaks the fourth wall and throws the fictional
premise of the film into relief (the risk is that it also trivializes the subject matter of the film, which could be counterproductive if the film is a satire). It opens a fantasy space (as in Boy) which the father-son duo share and cocreate to some degree. Notably, though, Boy's father is also a real character, which opens up narrative possibilities (interactions with other characters, for example) lacking here because of Hitler's im.1gm.11 \ status. The narrative of both films is to some degree about the child becoming disillusioned with the father figure. However, Boy also features an intermediary figure—child/man Michael Jackson, through whom the character differences are mediated and to some degree resolved. There is no third party in fojo. Boy's ambiguous resolution has the effect of validating the child's perspective; we come to sec the world as he does, to some degree. But in jojo, the narrative follows a more traditional trajectory of disillusioning Jojo with Nazism and teaching him (through love) how to be an adult. In effect, the satire's message is that only some blue-eyed, blond children are stupid enough to believe in Nazism. Or adult caricatures, as all the Nazi characters are. "Caricature has traditionally appealed to a broad audience (unlike satire) because of its relatively simple techniques, and a typical form of caricature is constructed as overstated satirical representations of people's character, looks, and behavior."4' Thus the satire is ineffective, as it does not implicate the audience enough for them to feel culpable.
The use of a child's perspective (another Waititi leitmotif) in a film about Nazism is nothing new—the Holocaust's horror is such that it can be represented only by someone who does not understand it, as in The Tin Drum, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Mark Herman, 2008), and Life Is Beautiful (Roberto Benigni, 1997). Such a device could be satirical—Menippean satire can feature the picaresque adventures of an everyman character, whose gullibility and incomprehension of the outlandish scenes he or she witnesses heightens audience awareness of their incongruity, as in Gullivers Travels, for example." The Tin Drum and, to some degree. Life is Beautiful fit this model. Look Who's Back also pairs Hitler with a series of child-men or women who are oblivious to the main character's evil potential. For this device to be effective, evil has to be believable, but in lojo, none of the Nazis are sufficiently threatening.
All of Waititi's films up to this point (with the possible exception of l:.agle vs Shark) have been male comedies. In contrast, this film could
222
I'i i: hi
engage with Waititi's maternal Jewishness, and indeed he has stated, "My film is a love letter to my mother and to all single mothers" (which could also relate to his spouse, Chelsea Winstanley, from whom he has apparently been separated for some time).4* But Waititi is on unfamiliar ground, with two major female characters and a love story (another narrative mostly absent from his oeuvre).,<' So how do these characters and scenarios fit into the comic narrative? Jojo's mother (Scarlett Johansson) and Elsa, the Jewish fugitive (Thomasin McKenzie) may have some funny lines and scenes, but they are basically serious characters in a conventional narrative: Jojo learns to transfer his childish love of his mother into his adult love of Elsa, a device made less credible by the obvious maturity gap between the two leads (although consistent with Waititi's usual characterization of male-female relations). It's hard for any character to cast off the childish connotations of a name like Jojo. As )ojo becomes more involved with Elsa, Hitler and the cast of funny Nazis fade into the background and romantic melodrama takes over, introducing the uneasy tension between comedy and sentiment noted by reviewers. Melodrama is also arguably the genre most implacably opposed to satire, further blunting the intended message. Such lines as Rosic's "They'll never win. That is the power you have—as long as there is someone alive somewhere, then they lose. They didn't get you yesterday, or today. Make tomorrow the same" typify the platitudes of the second half of the film, which ends with a Rilke quote as far from satire as one could imagine: "Let everything happen to you/ Beauty and terror/ No feeling is final/ Just keep going."
However, the two female leads give strong performances, and this arguably has the effect of broadening the film's appeal, which would have helped its Oscar chances. Elsa and Rosie are continuous with women in Waititi's other films—they're both "ball-busters," literally in Rosie's case, when she floors Captain Klenzendorf with a knee to the groin. Waititi's women are often the "real" men: a scene where Rosie blacks up her neck and chin to look like stubble and delivers a stinging rebuke to JOJO in the persona of his father is one of the most striking in the film. Elsa also uses fear, intimidation, and wit to put Jojo in his place:
Jojo: Tell me everything about the Jewish race. Eisa: Ok.iv. We're like von l>nt human. Done.
\sio}otmiu\n\u-msmvv 223
The film also develops the relationship between Elsa and Rosie, culminating in an exchange where Rosie rhapsodizes about being a woman, her speech culminating in the following lines: "You'll go to Morocco, take up lovers and make them suffer, look a tiger in the eye and learn to trust without fear. That's what it is to be a woman." Given that Rosie is to some degree modeled on Waititi's mother, how much can we read into "look a tiger in the eye," as presumably she must have looked Taika in the eye on many occasions? Equally, Waititi might have felt that confronting his mother (clearly a formidable woman, going by his many comments about her and the characterization of Elsie and women in general in his films) was also eyeing a tiger.
Failed Camp?
Almost every Waititi film has a camp aspect to it, from Sakaar in Thor: Ragnarok, to antipodean camp in Wilderpeoplc, to men dressing as vampires in Shadows, as their favorite animal in l-ugle vs Shark, and as Michael Jackson in Hoy. In ]o)o Rabbit, Waititi tries to make Nazis camp, but arguably it doesn't work. It's not that Nazis can't be made camp—as "Springtime for Hitler" shows. It's just that in most Nazi comedies, the Nazis are either at least partly mctafictional (that is, there are characters playing or impersonating Nazis within the diegesis, as in To Be or Not To Be [Ernst Lubitsch, 1942], Ihe Producers [Mel Brooks, 1967), and The Great Dictator) or else they are fish out of water (as in Look Who's Back). These strategics put a protective layer of irony around the evil characters—either they arc being mixed up with people dressed as Nazis, or they are aberrations. But in jojo, the Nazis are literally Nazis. The Hitler character is imaginary, but he's also Hitler. This lack of a fictive element, or a containment strategy, makes it hard for a critical audience to reconcile the conventional wisdom of Nazi evil with the buffoons we see on screen. Of course, we see evidence of their evil—the death of Frau Betzler. for example. But this feels as if it belongs in a different movie to the one with the Nazis in it. The only time the two worlds come together, in my opinion, is the above-mentioned incident when Frau Betzler "blacks herself up" as Herr Betzler (a German soldier) and berates Jojo. This is the one genuinely threatening moment in the film. It's because Waititi understands scary women. It's also, ironic.illv, .1 moment of bush camp, because it features
"4
tit qmhiiaika
Frau Betzler (Scarlett Johansson) as drag king in /o/o Rabbit (2019).
a drag king, a woman impersonating a man. It's not funny, but it is arguably more convincing than the japery of the rest of the film.
lojo is basically a film of two halves, with a broadly comic opening transitioning somewhat awkwardly into a melodramatic love story. Neither of these halves is particularly satirical—in the first part, the Nazis are too much like caricatures, and in the second half, the comic tone mostly dissolves into sentiment. A satire should make people reexamine their own lives and behavior. However, the film has been popular, and its awards success has raised Waititi's profile. Its message of tolerance for other cultures, however cloyingly expressed, seems timely in contemporary US, where Californian liberalism and Trump authoritarian populism are increasingly at odds.* It seems improbable that this standoff will result in a stream of anti-Trump satire, however, as Hollywood cannot afford to alienate US audiences, so/070 s indirect satire-lite fits the bill perfectly for the time being. Is there something that Waititi can learn from the film's torrid reception? Perhaps that the opinions of film critics are not very consequential.
CONCLUSION
So far, Waititi's Hollywood sojourn can be deemed a success. Both Thor. Ragnarok and lojo Rabbit have been popular, Ragnarok was critically well reviewed, and )ojo won an Oscar.' Waititi's latest coup is cowrit-ing and directing the next Star Wars movie/ As with Marvel, there's a policy of using "hot" directors to keep the franchise fresh. Both Marvel and Star Wars are owned by Disney, who bought LucasFilm in 2012. Disney has followed the three George Lucas-directed prequels of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode 11: Attack of the Clones (2002), and Episode III: Revenge of the Silh (200s) with another trilogy of sequels: Episode VII: The Eorce Awakens ().). Abrams, 2015), Episode VIII: The Last ledi (Rian Johnston, 2017), and Episode IX: The Rise ofSkywalker (). J. Abrams, 2019). Many fans and critics were disappointed with the Lucas-directed prequels, and the director's tinkering with the first three films.' As one fan put it, "Has he fulfilled his destiny or destroyed his legacy?"-1 The phrase "the Lucas Effect" sums up Lucas's huge influence on contemporary film, for good or ill, with some arguing that control can destroy creativity, as discussed in the documentary The People vs George Lucas (Alexandre Phillipe, 20io).s
The Disney takeover could be seen as a new start, and The Eorce Awakens was generally liked by fans and critics/' balancing new elements (a female heroine, a bit more casting diversity) with familiarity (reappearances of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill, and a plot lifted straight out of the first Star Wars film [A Mew Hope, George Lucas, 1977))-However, the next installment, The Last ledi, although critically praised and reasonably successful, attracted the wrath of conservative fans, who objected to the film's "progressivism," including its casting diversity and the irreverent treatment of some of the stalwarts (in particular Luke Sky-walker)." Director Rian Johnson reportedly commented, "If someone's responding to diversity negatively, fuck em," in response to fans who "whine about 'SJWs' [Social Justice Warriors] and take issue with the movie having women and people of color in lead roles."" Another analysis made comparison with Gamergate and the backlash to the all-women
28ft NOTES TO LHArift ID
NOW 10 CMflK 10 287
43 Adrian Acu, Time to Work for a Living: The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Organized Superhero," journal of Popular Film & Television 44, no. 4 (2016): 195-205.
44 Bruce Babington, A History of the ,VZ Fiction Feature Film, (New York: Manchester University Press, 2007), 9.
45 Thomas Elsacsser, "The Global Author: Control, Creative Constraints, and Performative Self-Contradiction," in The Global Auteur: The Politics of Authorship in 21st Century Cinema, cd. Scung-hoon Jeong and Jercmi Szaniawski (New York: Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2017), 21-41.
Chapter 10
1 Aja Romano, "The Academy's new member class is a big step for diversity. But there's a long way to go," Vox, June 27, 2018, www.vox
.com/latcst-news/20i8/6/27/i75074i8/thc-academy-membership-2oi8 -diversity.
2 Rachel Yang, "The adorable young fojo Rabbit stars just stole everyone's hearts on Oscars red carpet," F.ntertainment Weekly, February 9, 2020, ew.com/oscars/2020/02/09/jojo-rabbit-stars-oscars-red -carpet/.
3 Richard Meadows, "Well-heeled traveller loves Palmy," Stuff, August 4, 2011, www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/ncws/5387369/Well -hccled-traveller-lovcs-Palmy; the book is Christine Leuncns's Caging Skies (Auckland: Random 1 louse New Zealand, 2008).
4 Mark Salisbury, 'I low Taika Waititi made '|ojo Rabbit': 'I le didn't wait for anyone to give him permission,'" ScreenDaily, January 4, 2020, www.scrcendaily.com/features/how-taika-waititi-made-jojo-rabbit -he-didnt-wait-for-anyone-to-give-him-permission/5i459i9.article.
5 Charlotte Graham-McLay, "'We can make it here": Taika Waititi urges on Indigenous talent after Oscar win," The Guardian, February 10. 2020.www.thcguardian.com/nlm/2020/fcb/io/taika-waititi-first -maori-oscars-2020-indigenous-ncw-zcaland.
6 Emily Burack, "'|ojo Rabbit' doesn't glorify Nazis, but is a lesson in how hate is taught," Times of Israel, October 19, 2019, www
timesonsracl.com/jojo-rabbit-doesnt-glorify-nazis-but-is-a-lesson-in -how-hate-is-taught/.
7 "'Buries the awful truth': Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit finds critics divided," Stuff, September 10, 2019, www.stufT.co.nz/entertainnient/ film/115665624/buries-the-awful truth-taika-waititis-jojo-rabbit-finds -critics-divided.
8 Alissa Wilkinson, Zack Beauchamp, and Allegra Frank, Taika Waititi's anti-hate satire' Jojo Rabbit is up for Best Picture. Should it win?," Vox, January 23, 2020, www.vox.eom/culture/2020/1/23/21076770/jojo -rabbit-bcst-picture-oscars-2020-win-lose.
9 Dustin Griffin, Satire: A Critical Reproduction (l^xington: University Press of Kentucky, 1994), 2.
10 David Khrlich, "'Jojo Rabbit' Is 'Kasy Listening' Cinema: Critics Debate the Success of Taika Waititi's 'Anti-1 late' Satire." IndieWire, October 28, 2019, w\vw.indiewirc.com/gallcry/critics
debate-Jojo-rabbit/207ba5cd-a2e2-4dic-a542-5548faa2i5i6 -vpc_jojo_rabbit_trailcr_desk_thumb-oo_ot_39_oo-stillooi/.
11 Owen Glicberman, "Film Review: 'Jojo Rabbit,'" Variety, September 8. 2019, variety.com/2019/film/reviews/jojo-rabbit-review-taiki-waititi -1203328083/.
12 Patrick Kingsley, "New Zealand Massacre I lighlights Global Reach of White Extremism," New York Times, March 15, 2019, www.nytimes .com/2019/03/15/world/asia/christchurch-mass-shooting-cxtremism .html.
13 "Jacinda Ardern on the Christchurch shooting: 'One of New Zealand's darkest days,'" Tht Guardian, March 15, 2019, www.thcguardian.com/ world/20i9/mar/i5/onc-of-ncw-zealands-darkcst-days-jacinda-ardern -rcsponds-to-christchurch-shooting.
14 "Get all of these monkeys the hell out of our country—now! Heil Donald Trump," quoted in David Neiwert, Alt-America: The Rise of the Radical Right in the Age of Trump (New York: Verso, 2017), 8.
15 1 luman Rights Act 1993, New Zealand Legislation, accessed February 5, 202t, www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0082/latest/ DLM304643.html?search=sw_096bc8ed8i90i539 threatening%2c +abusive%2c+or+insulting_25_se&p=i&sr=o.
16 Richard Brody, "Springtime for Nazis: How the Satire Of'Jojo Rabbit' Backfires," New Yorker, October 22, 2019, www.ncwyorker.com/ culture/the-front-row/springtime-for-nazis-how-the-satirc-ot |o)i> -rabbit-backfires.
288 Mm io CMrw 10
Norn 10 ourm io ^
17 Griffin, Satire, 27.
18 Massih Zekavat, Satire, Humor and the Construction of Identities (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2017), 9.
19 "New Zealand mosque massacre suspect Brcnton Tarrant flashes 'white power' sign in court, as PM lacinda Ardern vows 'gun laws will change," South China Morning Post, March 16, 2019, www.scmp.com/ news/asia/australasia/article/5001967/ncw-zealand-mosque-massacre -suspcct-brcnton-tarrant-faces; Poppy Noor, "How the alt-right co-opted the OK hand sign to fool the media," 77ie Guardian, October 3, 2019, wwvv.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/oj/ok-sign-gesture -emoji-rightwing-alt-right.
20 |ohn T. Gilmorc, Satire (Florence: Routledge, 2017), 5-6.
21 Fredric V. Bogcl, The Difference Satire Makes (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001), 42.
22 Burack, "')ojo Rabbit' doesn't glorify' Nazis"; Allen Meek, "Postcolonial Trauma, Child Abuse, Genocide, and Journalism in New Zealand,"
in Fourth Lye: Maori Media in Aotearoa Sew Zealand, ed. Brendan Hokowhitu and Vijay Devadas (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2013), 25-41.
23 Charlotte Graham-McLay, Taika Waititi says Jojo Rabbit's six Oscar nominations vindicate risks of making 'divisive' film," The Guardian, January 13, 2020, www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jan/14/jojo-rabbit -director-taika-waititi-wears-criticism-of-divisive-nazi-parody-as -badge-of-honour.
24 Mark Kermode, "Jojo Rabbit review—down the rabbit hole with I litler," The Guardian, January 14, 2020, www.theguardian.com/film/2020/ jan/05/jojo-rabbit-rcview-taika-waititi-hitler-scarlctt-johansson-sam -rockwell; Brian Tallerico, "Jojo Rabbit," RogerEhert.com, October 18, 2019, www.rogercbert.com/reviews/jojo-rabbit-movic-revicw-2019.
2s Burack, "'Jojo Rabbit' doesn't glorify Nazis."
26 Peter Bradshaw, "Jojo Rabbit review—Taika Waititi's 1 litler comedy is intensely unfunny," The Guardian, December 20, 2019, www .theguardian.com/film/2019/dec/20/jojo-rabbit-review-taika-waititi -hitler-comedy; Armond White, "Jojo Rabbit Mocks Other People's Fanaticism," NationalRexiew, October 16, 2019, www.nationalrevicw com/2019/io/movie-review-jojo-rabbit-hitler-satire strained -childish/.
27 Gliebcrman,"Film Review: Jojo Rabbit."
28 Robbie Collin, "Jojo Rabbit, review: this feeble, one-note Nazi comedy fails to land a single meaningful blow." Daily Telegraph, February 2, 2020, www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2019/10/05/jojo-rabbit-review -feeble-one-note-nazi-comedy-fails-land-single/.
29 Johan Nilsson, American Film Satire in the 1990s: Hollywxwd Subversion (London, Palgravc Macmillan, 2013), 9.
30 Andrea Mendcll, "Why Jojo Rabbit's Taika Waititi didn't study I litler before playing him," USA Today, October 21, 2019, www.usatoday .com/story/cntertainmcnt/movies/2019/10/21/taika-waititi-defends -jojo-rabbit-cxplains-his-goofy-hitler/4035233002/; Steve Rose, "Taika Waititi: 'You don't want to be directing kids with a swastika on your arm," The Guardian, December 26, 2019, www.theguardian.com/film/ 20i9/dec/26/taika-waititi-flight-of-the-conchords-thor-ragnarok-jojo
-rabbit-nazi-dictator.
31 Smith & Jones, "Nazi Generals," Series 5, Episode 5, YouTube, accessed May 11, 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_Z6t\7cQmM.
32 Benjamin l>ce,"Jojo Rabbit review—Scarlett Johansson lifts smug Hitler comedy," The Guardian. September 9. 2019. www.thcguardian.com/ film/20i9/sep/o9/jojo-rabbit-review-scarlett-johansson-lifts-smug -hitler-comedy; Collin, "Jojo Rabbit, review."
33 Mark Kermode, "Jojo Rabbit review ..."; Joyce Slaton, review of Jojo Rabbit, accessed February 6, 2021, www.commonsensemedia.org/ movie-review s/jojo-rabbit.
34 F.hrlich, "'Jojo Rabbit' Is 'Easy Listening' Cinema."
35 Nilsson, American Film Satire in the 1990s, 8. 3(> Brody, "Springtime for Nazis."
37 Gilmore, Satire, 12.
38 Aaryn L. Green and Annulla Linders, "The Impact of Comedy on Racial and Ethnic Discourse," Sociological Inquiry 86, no. 2 (2016): 245.
39 Stuart 1 lall, "The Question of Cultural Identity," in Modernity: An Intro duction to Modern Societies, cd. Stuart Hall, David Held. Don 1 lubert, and Kenneth Thompson (London: Blackwell, 1996). 596.615.
40 Chris Sibley. Carla Houkamau, and William 1 loverd, "Ethnic Group labels and lntcrgroup Attitudes in New Zealand: Naming Preferences Predict Distinct lngroupand Outgroup Biases," Analyses of Social Issues & Public Policy 11, no. 1 (December 2011): 201-20; Paul Callister,
29o NOmiOCONUIMON
NOUS 10 CONCl'JSION 291
"Seeking an Ethnic Identity: Is New Zcalander' a Valid Ethnic Category?" Sew Zealand Population Review 30, nos. 1-2 (2004): 5-22.
41 Zane Small, "labour MP Tamati Coffey hits out at NZ media for calling Taika Waititi a 'Kiwi' filmmaker," Sewshub, February II, 2020, www .ncwshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/02/labour-mp-t-mati-corfey-hits -out-at-nz-media-for-calling-taika-waititi-a-kiwi-filmmaker.html.
42 Mitch Berbrier, ""Hie Victim Ideology of White Supremacists and White Separatists in The United States," Sociological Focus 33, no. 2 (2000): 175-91.
43 Nilsson. American Film Satire in the 1990s, 48.
44 Griffin, Satire, 2.
45 "Taika Waititi and wife Chelsea Winstanley separated," \Z Herald, March 14, 2020, vvww'.nzherald.co.nz/cntcrtainmcnt/news/article.cfm ?c_id=i5oni9&objcctid=i23i6723.
46 "Jojo Rabbit' Director Taika Waititi Reveals Why I le Decided to Play 'Adolf Hitler | Rotten Tomatoes," YouTube, October 16, 2019, www .youtubc.com/watch\=fYB|HBm7LKY.
47 Rory Carroll. "Trump v I lollywood? Don't expect to see the culture war play out on screen," Guardian, January 13, 2017, www.thcguardian .com/film/20i7/jan/i3/donald-trump-hollywood-culturc-wars -movie-story-lines.
Conclusion
1 Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus reads: "fixating, funny, and above all fun, 77ior: Ragnarok is a colorful cosmic adventure that sets a new standard for its franchise—and the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe." Rotten Tomatoes, accessed May 10, 2020, www .rottentomatoes.eom/m/thor_ragnarok_2017.
2 Waititi is cowriting with Krysty Wilson-Cairns, nominated for an Oscar for 1917. "Taika Waititi to make new Star Wars film." RNZ, May 5, 2020, www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/415828/taika-waititi-to -make-new-star-wars-film.
3 Rotten Tomatoes' critical consensus for The Phantom Menace describes it as "Burdened by exposition and populated with stock characters," Rotten Tomatoes, accessed May 10, 2020, www .rottcntomatoes.com/rn/star_wars_episode_i_the_phantom_menace.
4 Quoted in The People is George Lucas (Alexandre Phillipe, 2010).
5 For two sides of the story, try |ohn Francis Mccullagh, ""The Lucas Effect": When Filmmaking Creativity Goes Unchecked," The Beat, July 5, 2019, wwNv.premiumbeat.com/blog/when-filmmaking -creativity-goes-uncheckcd/, and Patti). McCarthy, The Lucas F.ffect: George Lucas and the Sew Hollywood (Youngstown, NY: Tcneo Press, 2014).
6 Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Rotten Tomatoes, accessed May 9, 2020, ww-w.rottentomatoes.com/rn/star_wars_episode_vii_thc_force
_awakens.
7 Emily Van Der Werff, ""The 'backlash' against Star Wars: The last |edi, explained," Vox, updated December 19, 2017, www.vox.com/culture/ 2017/12/18/16791844/star-wars-last jcdi-backlash-controversy.
8 Adam I folmes. "Rian lohnson Drops F-Bomb Over Star Wars: The last Jedi f late," Cinema Blend, November 12, 2019, www.cincmablend .com/news/2484567/rian-johnson-drops-f-bomb-over-star-wars-the
-last-jedi-hate.
9 Van Der Werff, "The 'backlash' against Star Wars: The last Jedi." to Sarah El-Mahmoud. "Star Wars Boss Kathleen Kennedy Is Still
Defending the last |edi," Cinema Blend, November 21, 2019, www.cinemablend.com/news/2485373/star-wars-boss-kathleen -kenncdy-is-still-defcnding-the-last-jedi?fhclid=lwAR3tEim -VRd2El3rNUwyBzOEz.RvBqVfHwfiphQ4wiSijil8hf/gpBBFfwu8. u Margaret A. Weitekamp, "More than 'Just Uhura": Understanding 1 1 Trek's Lt. Uhura, Civil Rights and Space History," in Star 7'rr* and history, ed. Nancy Reagin (New York: Wiley, 2013), 24-25.
12 Dan Taipua, "Empire and rebellion: What Taika Waititi directing Slat Wars means for Maori," The Spinoff, May 10. 2020, thcspinoH ion/ atea/io-05-2020/empirc-and-rebellion-what-taika-w.iititi dim in.,-
star-wars-mcans-for-maori/.
13 Taipua, "Empire and rebellion."
14 Mark Dery, "Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel K I »>
Greg Tate, and Tricia Rose," in Flame Wars: The I )im »<» •><"/< \'......'
túre. ed. Mark Dery (Durham. NC: Puke University I'ussf. iH..
15 David Mansour, From Abba to Zoom: A Pop t ultme I m u lop, ,U„ ../ tin
Late 20th Century (Kansas City: Andrews McMccI l\ibll»hllt( ......
403. Then there is lackson's well-known interest 111 .....111