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TrixRabbi posted:I really hate this bullshit "determined to misunderstand" characterization. We're laying out legitimate criticisms of how this movie handles the material and I understand its intentions perfectly fine. Ok, maybe the movie can do some good for kids who see it young enough and are warned away from online racism because of it, I'll give you that. But then again, it's barely a step above The Boy with the Striped Pajamas. There are far better, more honest ways of tackling the Holocaust and the point is that it is ultimately dishonest in how touchy feely it seeks to be, and by how benign it ultimately makes racism appear. Racism here is seeing Jews as literal monsters with horns and fangs, it does nothing to actually explore anti-Semitic tropes or why they're spread. He didn't want to make an accurate portrayal of the holocaust. He made a crowd pleaser calling on people to resist the current wave of authoritarian revival. Cynical arthouse films that only talk to a small audience that already agree with them don't change anything, especially with kids. "by how benign it ultimately makes racism appear." lol, they murdered the moral centre of the film in the most memorable scene.
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Feb 21, 2020 23:09
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Ratios and Tendency posted:"by how benign it ultimately makes racism appear." lol, they murdered the moral centre of the film in the most memorable scene. As much as I want to spew this film from my mouth for being neither hot nor cold, I will admit that particular scene was a well-made gut punch.
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Feb 21, 2020 23:34
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Guy A. Person posted:Like the thing is even Klenzendorf's ideal version of a "good soldier" is still -- like Fran correctly points out -- someone who murders people by shooting them in the loving face. It's a monstrous thing to just decide to be a conscienceless soldier who follows orders to the end for the sake of some bizarre notion of honor, and the movie doesn't really come down nearly as harshly as it could on this by showing some of the brutal things this philosophy leads to. Klenzendorf is fighting the Russians. At that point in the war, against Soviets, it wasn't about a glorious death or being a good soldier. He is trapped. The Russians were an oncoming tide of all the horror the Germans had perpetrated on the Eastern Front reflected back at them. Fighting them to the last was not an unreasonable choice to make for the sake of the people around you (especially women), and because if you ran or surrendered you were most likely dead anyway. Either by his own side, or by the Soviets as demonstrated by his eventual fate and the willingness of the captors to shoot Jojo as well. So he expresses his true self and tries to go out fighting. But then if you can't tell the difference between Soviet soldiers and Americans I'm not sure why you're talking about the nuances of a film set in world war two.
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Feb 22, 2020 00:45
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I initially confused the Soviet soldiers for Americans until reading a later synopsis. The soldiers driving around flying American flags kind of cemented that feeling. The film felt toothless, presupposing an understanding of the horror of the nazi regime and in turn making them into comedic buffoons. It belies a belief that modern nazis are the same as they were in the 40s. They aren’t. The targets are different. The threats to “western society” are different. There are now, as there were then, economic factors that lead large swathes of the populace into supporting authoritarian evil. Jojo rabbit feels like a caricature of the most ignorant members of the populace. Similar to media now about evangelicals. They are absolutely a threat, but only because of the complacency of the wider populace and the cynical manipulation of leaders who only half-believe or less what they are saying. It doesn’t matter if you make these people jokes, because they don’t care what you think. This, a movie mocking them is both masturbatory and useless, as well as ignoring the actual culpable parties for the evil they commit. Something like the Righteous Gemstones is a far more cutting critique of fascism than Jojo Rabbit.
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Feb 22, 2020 03:34
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Ratios and Tendency posted:He didn't want to make an accurate portrayal of the holocaust. He made a crowd pleaser calling on people to resist the current wave of authoritarian revival. Cynical arthouse films that only talk to a small audience that already agree with them don't change anything, especially with kids. I have bad news about movies.
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Feb 22, 2020 22:01
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