Research Catalog
Eye of the Taika : New Zealand comedy and the films of Taika Waititi
- Title
- Eye of the Taika : New Zealand comedy and the films of Taika Waititi / Matthew Bannister.
- Author
- Bannister, Matthew
- Publication
- Detroit : Wayne State University Press, [2021]
- ©2021
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | MWES (Waititi, T.) 22-251 | Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre |
Details
- Description
- 304 pages : illustrations; 23 cm.
- Summary
- "Eye of the Taika: New Zealand Comedy and the Films of Taika Waititi is the first book-length study of comic film director and media celebrity Taika Waititi. Author Matthew Bannister analyses Waititi's feature films and places his other works and performances-short films, TV series, advertisements, music videos, and media appearances-in the fabric of popular culture. The book's thesis is that Waititi's playful comic style draws on an ironic reading of NZ identity as Antipodean camp, a style which reflects NZ's historic status as colonial underdog. The first four chapters of Eye of the Taika explore Waititi's early life and career, the history of New Zealand and its film industry, the history of local comedy and its undervaluation in favor of more "serious" art, and ethnicity in New Zealand comedy. Bannister then focuses on Waititi's films, beginning with Eagle vs Shark (2007) and its place in "New Geek Cinema," despite being an outsider even in this realm. Bannister uses Boy (2010 to address the "comedian comedy," arguing that Waititi is a comedic entertainer before being a director. With What We Do in The Shadows (2014), Bannister explores Waititi's use of the vampire as the archetypal immigrant struggling to fit into mainstream society, under the guise of a mockumentary. Waititi's Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), Bannister argues, is a family-friendly, rural-based romp that plays on and ironizes aspects of Aotearoa/New Zealand identity. Thor: Ragnarok (2017) launched Waititi into the Hollywood realm, while introducing a Polynesian perspective on Western superhero ideology. Finally, Bannister addresses Jojo Rabbit (2019) as an "anti-hate satire" and questions its quality versus its topicality and timeliness in Hollywood. By viewing Waititi's career and filmography as a series of pranks, Bannister identifies Waititi's playful balance between dominant art worlds and emergent postcolonial innovations, New Zealand national identity and indigenous Aotearoan (and Jewish) roots, and masculinity and androgyny. Eye of the Taika is intended for film scholars and film lovers alike"--
- Series Statement
- Contemporary approaches to film and media series
- Uniform Title
- Contemporary approaches to film and media series.
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Contents
- Introduction: what is funny? -- 1. Waititi's early life and work in Aotearoa/New Zealand -- 2. Aotearoa/New Zealand, national identity and film -- 3. Kiwi comedy: nobody takes us seriously anyway -- 4. On/off-color? Ethnicity and comedy -- 5. Quirks and nerds: Eagle vs Shark -- 6. Boy as comedian comedy -- 7. What [Men] Do in the Shadows of globalization -- 8. The impossible song of the huia: camp, comedy and music in Hunt for the Wilderpeople -- 9. Thor: Ragnorak and postcolonial carnival -- . 10. Is Jojo Rabbit an anti-hate satire? -- Conclusion.
- Call Number
- MWES (Waititi, T.) 22-251
- ISBN
- 0814345328
- 9780814345320
- 0814345336
- 9780814345337
- OCLC
- 1243350177
- Author
- Bannister, Matthew, author.
- Title
- Eye of the Taika : New Zealand comedy and the films of Taika Waititi / Matthew Bannister.
- Publisher
- Detroit : Wayne State University Press, [2021]
- Copyright Date
- ©2021
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Series
- Contemporary approaches to film and media seriesContemporary approaches to film and media series.
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Research Call Number
- MWES (Waititi, T.) 22-251