Long ago, turning Nazi Germany into a joke was verboten.
Or, at least, it seems like it was; it’s actually hard to imagine a time when that was the case.
Charlie Chaplin made Hitler into a figure of ridicule in “The Great Dictator,” released in 1940.
I grew up watching “Hogan’s Heroes,” which portrayed life in a German wartime prison — the inept sadist Col.
Klink! — as a kind of Nazi sitcom day camp (with the emphasis on camp).
“Springtime for Hitler,” the scandalous musical number from Mel Brooks’ “The Producers,” was once the cutting edge of black comedy, but not for the last 50 years.
Quentin Tarantino thumbed his nose at Nazis with jaunty glee in “Inglourious Basterds,” and who would have had it any other way?That said, let’s give “Jojo Rabbit” credit for this much: It’s the first hipster Nazi comedy.
Written and directed by the
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