How Does Waititi Present The Impact Of War On Children

Percival and Waititi explore the power of propaganda and indoctrination with an example of Hitler youth during WWII. By differing tone, Waititi and Percival both educated the indoctrination process on children’s and Nazis suppression during book burnings in WWII. Waititi and Percival both underline the impact of war on children’s in a children’s point of view, both physical and mental. Both the directors with different motifs present how understanding and educating ourselves helps have a perspective during difficult times. Despite being different in tone, both the film JoJo Rabbit and The Book Thief share a similar purpose of educating the audience about the indoctrination of children and the suppression of Nazis during the book burnings. JoJo

The rough costumes and facial reactions of JoJo provide an insight into how children were impacted by the war both physically and mentally during WWII in Germany. Percival, on the other hand, presents his idea on the impacts of war on children through children’s perspective in a very similar manner. The costume of Liesel, when she is taken out is shown as extremely damaged, filled with dirt, torn and her facial presentation of her messed up face represents the physical impact a war can have on children during WWII. The mid shot of Liesel’s facial reaction and acting of crying hard while grieving for each family member highlights the fear of children during the war for losing their loved ones, and the mental impact war potentially had on children during WWII. In conclusion, both Waititi and Brian Percival explore the devastating impact of war on children through camera angles, acting, and costumes, ultimately providing the audience with a powerful and poignant perspective of children on the harsh realities of war during

But as the movie continues, the motif recurs in different scenes, providing the audience with an idea of JoJo’s maturity. Waititi further shares the idea of maturity by, having low-angle shots of JoJo tying Elsa’s shoelaces at the end of the film, which symbolizes JoJo’s maturity, and independence. By emphasizing maturity, Waititi aims to educate the audience on how maturity helped JoJo have ideas against Nazi ideology, like at the beginning of the movie, JoJo is shown being highly innocent and indoctrinated by Nazi ideology, but as the movie progresses and JoJo learns to tie shoelaces, and is shown questioning the ideology and eventually disagreeing with it. Percival, however, delivers the idea of maturity and the characters' perspective through similar film techniques. At the start of the movie, the midshot of Liesel picking up a book influences the audience to realize how powerless, hopeless, and uneducated Liesel is. However, Liesel is shown trying to read books in a recurring scene throughout the movie, proving Liesel's maturity every