The Sociology of Jojo Rabbit – Implicitly Pretentious, 2020, 10:05 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mK_HYCl2CQ

***SPOILER WARNING***

This video essay examines how the film Jojo Rabbit (2019) displays sociological concepts related to the construction of nations, communities, myth-making, and the self. It begins by distinguishing two ways we can define a nation (the primordial v. the constructivist), and then proceeds with the constructivist concept of imagined communities. The film humorously portrays these imagined communities by highlighting how character actions relate to shared expectations, at least until the film shifts gears. After Jojo is injured and forced to stay home, he loses the group influence of the Nazis but is slowly absorbed into a competing imagined community in WWII Germany—that of the resistance. The lesson is that our interpretation of reality is influence by the powers around us, but we also self-produce meanings as well. Other sociological concepts include national mythscapes, cultural appropriation, and discursive space.

Having seen the movie myself, I would also add that the film does a masterful job with lampooning stereotypes.