Wow. Just Wow.
Based on his Twitter feed, I knew that Taika Waititi was kind of a twisted individual who gets a real thrill out of mocking tradition and people’s deeply-held beliefs.
I'll ruin your mythos in a minute, baby.
— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) August 1, 2019
But with his new movie Jojo Rabbit, he’s really gone too far.
Not only has he made a movie that lionizes both Hitler and Nazis, he’s also playing Hitler!
The summary sounds innocent enough:
A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.
But all it takes is one look at the trailer to understand what Waititi is really doing here. This is a truly terrifying piece of pro-fascist propaganda.
“Satire?” You know who else claims their hatred is just satire? That’s right: Nazis.
Double Yikes
That’s some scary stuff.
Let’s go over the naked hate speech we see on display in this “movie”:
- Children cheer as books burn
- Jews are described as alien-like beings who can read minds
- Adults celebrate a child’s blind fanaticism
- Nazis as just fun-loving people who want to be “part of a club”
- Hitler seems like a thoughtful, playful, all-around good guy
Perhaps most pernicious of all, in the final scene of the trailer, Waititi humanized these little monsters by letting us know how it’s not “a good time to be a Nazi.”
We don’t humanize Nazis! We punch them!
Jojo Rabbit spreads its racist ideology in theaters on October 18, 2019.
