From Page to Screen: Undermining Nazi Propaganda in Caging Skies and Jojo Rabbit

Jojo Rabbit, the drama-comedy written and directed by Māori Taika Waititi, was awarded the Oscar prize for best adapted screenplay in 2020. Waititi drew inspiration from Christine Leunens’ bestselling novel Caging Skies, set in 1945 Nazi Germany and dealing with the life of a young member of Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend), as the war is coming to an end. My paper will analyse the interplay between novel and film, showing how Waititi’s transgressive adaptation turns a serious topic into a parody which undermines power figures and power structures, leaving them open for ridicule. In particular, the fall of Hitler is seen through the eyes of the 10-year-old protagonist, Jojo, a Nazi fanatic, brainwashed by state propaganda. He is guided in his day-to-day life by an imaginary friend (a burlesque re-invention of Hitler, played by Waititi himself). According to Brewer interdisciplinarity is ‘the appropriate combination of knowledge from many different specialities ‒ as a means to shed new light on an actual problem’ (Brewer 1999). In the case of Caging Skies and Jojo Rabbit the passage from the literary text to the film has created unexpected alternatives for consideration, while approaching one of the most dramatic periods in the history of the 20th century. The movie is able to develop the potential black comicality of the book in combatting oppressive ideologies.