Carnivalesque subversion and the narrative gaze of children: Taika Waititi’s Boy (2010), Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), and Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Abstract

This article studies the carnivalesque subversion of oppressive systems using the narrative gaze of children in Taika Waititi’s three films, Boy (2010), Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), and Jojo Rabbit (2019). Waititi has a wide range of filmography to his assets and his films, while comically articulating his politics, incorporate new vocabularies to tackle various forms of oppression. The selected films are of both local and international nature, and they voice their politics through the varying presence of carnivalesque motifs of subversion. The current paper attempts to investigate them using Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque. By arguing that these films are a vehicle of his personal and political credence, this paper attempts to bridge the gap in theorizing Waititi’s filmography despite being critically acclaimed.