'Jojo Rabbit,' 'The Producers,' And The Legacy Of Nazi Satires [Be Reel Podcast]

Charlie Chaplin lampooning Hitler’s bombast and fragility in “The Great Dictator” (1940) marked one of comedy’s all-time “truth to power” moments. But 80 years after WWII, what does it mean to laugh at fascists in a time when they seldom don the old brownshirt? 

With the release of Taika Waititi’sJojo Rabbit”—a would-be charming comedy about a Hitler youth whose imaginary friend is der Führer—the latest Be Reel Podcast asks why, how, and when skewered Nazis are funny. For one thing, even though Waititi’s sixth feature is being hailed as an “anti-hate satire,” is it really a satire at all? Much of the doe-eyed innocence therein would answer “no.”

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After reviewing “Jojo,” we duck back to “The Producers” (1967) and “Top Secret!” (1984) to examine how Nazis became a source of irony and camp in pop culture. Even if the surrounding films from Mel Brooks and the ZAZ trio, respectively, sometimes feel half-baked, they’re emboldened by the shock value and catharsis of humiliating The Reich. 

Other pressing questions include: 

  • Does A.O. Scott’s essay about laughing at Nazis misidentify contemporary fascism? 
  • Does “The Producers” actually work better as a musical? 
  • What are the best visual gags in “Top Secret!”, a movie that contains somewhere between one hundred and one million visual gags?

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