Heil Hitler.
>> Heil Hitler.
>> We discussed some truly transformative adaptations on this show, but
today's episode features one of the most extreme cases to date,
Taika Waititi 2019 dark comedy Jojo Rabbit.
>> Thank you.
>> Jojo Rabbit is a coming of age story set in Germany during the last year of
World War Two.
It follows Johanns an enthusiastic zealot of the Third Reich whose hateful
ideology is challenged after he discovers Elsa a Jewish girl hidden in zone
by his anti Nazi mother.
The film is a self proclaimed anti hate satire that wears Taika's penchant for
absurdist characters and heartbreaking sincerity proudly on its sleeve
>> I must have been to swastika so,
I think that's a pretty good sign right there.
>> The film caught some criticism for portraying Nazis as hapless goofballs,
and for glossing over the horrors of the Holocaust,
but Taika maintains its satirical tone is intended to engage children
in conversations about the fallacies of hate.
>> Look.
>> Book however has no such goals in mind,
Caging Skies by Christine Leunens is a sober look at Nazi ideology.
It explores themes of obsession,
toxic masculinity bolstered by nationalistic ideals.
And by no means is communicant tone,
which makes the film adaptation all the more compelling.
>> None of this should be weird >> So how did Taika flip the book's bleak
examination of a twisted ultranationalist into a feel-good coming of age story?
It's time to ask, what's the difference?
(Music)
>> Let's get a book and let's go libraries are dumb.
>> Taika's interest in the book was ignited by his mother's recommendation,
by the time he got halfway through Taika had a fully formed concept of the film.
>> Yeah, this is a really good idea what we're doing right now.
>> He's not sure he even read the rest of the novel which is not all that surprising
given the script covers less than half of the original story.
The novel begins during the annexation of Austria arrests are made teachers
are replaced and our protagonist Johan Smeltzer really takes to Hitler in his
Nazi propaganda >> because this is pretty cool.
>> Take us film takes place only during the final year of the war.
So the rise of Hitler is distilled into a satiric title sequence likening his
popularity to Beatlemania.
(Sound) >> Tetetuwa Jojo is ten years old and
remains ten throughout the film, which by some emotional sway over the audience.
Conversely, Johan spends much of the book as a young adult,
he's old enough to take responsibility for his thoughts and actions,
thus he ends up being far less likeable than his movie counterpart.
>> Taika keeps us rooting for Jojo's innocence by personifying
the Nazi ideology in an imaginary friend named Adolf played by Taika himself.
So when Adolf expresses Nazi narcissism,
the audience is able to direct their anger towards Adolf rather than the boy.
>> Do not let your German brain been busted around.
>> I won't let her boss my German brain around, mein fuhrer.
>> Try not to.
>> But Adolf is not the only character created for the movie,
Captain Klenzendorf door sub officer Finkel and Fraulein Rahm,
all poke fun at the absurdities of hate and war.
>> Just go shoot anybody who looks different to us.
>> Okay. >> Okay.
(Laugh) >> Yorki.
>> Jojo's affable friend is an adaptation of Kippy in the novel.
Kippy, though is killed in a bomb blast pretty early on whereas Yorki's constant
survival becomes a running gag in the film.
>> Seems like I can never die.
>> No, the book doesn't feature many Nazi characters, instead,
the focus is on Johans' his immediate family.
His relationship with his father erodes overheated philosophical arguments,
his mother treats him like a child but eventually grows to fear him.
It's the grandmother Pemmi who connects most with Johan and
encourages him to be a good German.
>> Johan I'm so proud of you.
>> Jimmy is dropped completely from the film and
Jojo's father has already disappeared.
something that happens much later in the book.
This leaves Jojo's mother Rosie to take on the traits of everyone in the family.
>> It reminds me of dancing with Rosy and the red senal, do you remember honey?
Or is it babe?
>> Filma also sheds more light on her activities as part of the resistance.
She's shown spreading the rebellions message and
comforts elsewhere in her hideaway, something we never see in the book.
>> There's no room in Hitler's army for those that lack strength.
>> The film's title is derived from the scene, during a Hitler Youth Camp,
where Jojo was ridiculed by the older kids after refusing to kill an innocent animal.
They call him a scared little rabbit attacking his masculinity,
however he never falters in the book,
not even when he is ordered to step on a pen full of baby chicks.
He's a yes man, but Jojo has to prove his masculinity in the movie.
So with encouragement of Adolf he commitedly bangles a grenade throw.
This lands and
back at home injured with a scarred body that Jojo actually wears pretty well.
He's like Harry Potter levels of a durably scarred,
>> Being a dedicated soldier in the book
Johans gets caught in an area a nearby explosion costs So my cheek bone and
his left forearm.
>> Not even the fuhrer could love me now.
>> Both Jojo and the literary Johans find themselves spending more time at home,
which brings us to the elephant in the room, a girl in the wall, crawlspace.
Elsa Korr I'm sorry, Elsa retains the spirit of hope from her book counterpart
but takes on new qualities to pull Jojo back from the brink of hate.
>> Ridiculous.
>> In the film, she pokes holes and jojos believe through cutting retorts.
>> We are like you but human.
>> Absurdist claims.
>> We can read each other's minds.
>> And sometimes even physical domination.
>> Break free, break free Grit Aaron, there are no weak Jews.
>> But Elsa who is in her early 20s is much too frail to take on a 16 year old
Johans.
She never takes it upon herself to sway him from his Nazi fanaticism.
Instead, her story is one of personal survival,
as she clings to life by a thread.
>> You want me to tell you about the Jews?
>> The relationship in the film is kicked off by Jojo's plan to pumper her for
information about her people.
But his motives for spending time with her eventually give way to boyhood crush,
in an unlikely friendship starts to blossom.
The book takes a darker path in their relationship, Johanns isn't looking for
a source now he's just fascinated with having a Jewish woman in prison.
At first he lust after Elsa lust mutates into obsession and
control is mistaken for love.
Yeah, it's it gets her skin crawling.
>> Heil Hitler.
>> One of the most tense scenes from the film is absent from the novel the Gestapo
drops in for
a search finding Elsa who poses as Jojo's late sister to avoid suspicion.
>> I don't suppose I could see papers could I.
>> Gestapo has a presence in the book but
their searches never successfully locate Elsa,
who moves into a small coffin like space beneath the floorboards to avoid capture.
But an opportunistic Johanns uses her new quarters to further manipulate her into
loving him.
Ultimately, both mediums reached the end of the war.
In the film Jojo reflects on his loyalty to the Nazi Party, and
gives a swift kick to Adolf and all the ideals he represented.
The same really can't be said for the book, while Johans does become
disillusioned after Hitler's cowardly demise, his views don't change.
In fact, it's those views that drive him further into isolation as other countries
occupy Vienna, both Jojo and Johans are heartbroken and uncertain of the future,
thus he tells the same selfish line to Elsa in both mediums.
>> Who won the war?
>> We did.
>> It's a crushing moment that's ultimately fleeting in the movie,
a childish knee jerk reaction that unravels shortly after its toll.
(Sound) >> As Taika's story nears its end the book
is only halfway done, Johan's convinces also that Germany won the war for
over three years.
In that time they have a twisted romance built on abuse and
trauma until they resent each other so much he finally tells her the truth.
(Music)
The film ends with our protagonist dancing freely in the streets as the allies were
victorious over Hitler's forces JoJo's humanity wins over nationalism, it's
a feel good ending that shows children the dangers of ideas based on hate.
(Sound) Books ending is pretty bleak,
Johanns is left alone in a small apartment after Elsa free.
He never learns his lesson about hate or the true meaning of love.
So when it's all said and done, both the film and the book conclude that a path of
narcissism and hates leads to a lonely defeat.
(Sound) >> There you have it, Taika pulls out all
the stops in steering this adaptation from the dark out into the light.
He turns a twisted narrator into a heartwarming protagonist
alters the tone with satire and ends on a hopeful message that speaks to our
own modern struggle with anti-semitism and white nationalist.
That's it for this episode, what did you think of Taika's adaptation?
Sound off in the comments below like this video and subscribe for
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