Taika Waititi’s Work Is a Rejection of Toxic Masculinity

Different auteurs have a habit of playing with the same kinds of characters. If you’re watching a Tarantino film, you can expect to follow a hardened badass hellbent on revenge. Wes Anderson prefers emotionally distant heroes who want to understand their families but can’t. And if you’re talking about Taika Waititi, you can almost always expect a soulful examination of toxic masculinity hidden under an endless series of jokes. Our Flag Means Death continues that trend, transforming one of the most brutal professions throughout history — pirates — into a quiet deep dive about how to combat the unforgiving expectations of masculinity.

Though Our Flag Means Death was created by David Jenkins, it fits perfectly into the themes executive producer Waititi has explored throughout his entire career. The HBO Max comedy follows Captain Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), an aristocrat who abandons his cozy life and family to become a pirate. It’s an insane decision that seems to be half mid-life crisis, half the gentle Stede trying to prove that he’s a tough man to his callous father and cruel colleagues. But at every turn, Stede flails. His crew isn’t particularly bloodthirsty as they argue over sewing the ship’s flag. When hostages are taken, Stede prefers to cart them around rather than torture, kill, or even maim them. Even when Captain Blackbeard (Waititi) enters the story, things don’t go as expected. There’s a distinct sense that everyone who sets foot aboard Revenge is playacting at being a tough guy.

Performative masculinity is a premise that’s nearly always guaranteed to be funny. But it’s also an idea that’s been explored in Waititi’s work time and time again. Jarrod (Jemaine Clement) and Lily’s (Loren Horsley) biggest fights in Eagle vs Shark, Waititi’s directorial debut, hinged from this idea that Jarrod continuously lied and plotted revenge in the hopes that his father would one day love him as much as he loved Jarrod’s late brother. It’s the central theme of the gorgeous Boy, a film that revolves around the young Boy (James Rolleston) imitating both Michael Jackson and his father in a misguided attempt at love and respect. 2019’s Jojo Rabbit follows a similar premise, only this time the confused child looking for validation is a German boy who’s desperate to become a Nazi. And though it was created by Sterlin Harjo alongside Waititi, Reservation Dogs hit the same beats. After all, what is this FX comedy other than a coming-of-age tale about a gentle young man devoid of positive male role models who has to learn how to be a man on his own?

These ideas even appear in Waititi’s most famous works. A big reason why Thor: Ragnarok worked was because it stripped the ever-tough Thor (Chris Hemsworth) down to his most vulnerable state. After robbing Thor of the things he always used to define himself — his father, hammer, and sense of nobility — the god of thunder had to confront the reality that the father he once idolized was imperfect, even cruel. In Odin’s (Anthony Hopkins) absence, Thor had to figure out how to become a leader on his own.

Similarly, What We Do in the Shadows — the movie as well as the show — may be the funniest deep dive into vulnerabilities brought to screen. Both are filled with men sheepishly admitting they’re not as strong, brave, or sexually confident as they often act. Whether you’re talking about Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak) admitting that it’s been a while since he pillaged, or the hardened Vladislav (Clement) refusing to go to a party honoring his ex-girlfriend, What We Do in the Shadows excels at taking some of the most powerful beings in fantasy and humbling them.

These movies and shows all revolve around men who desperately want to embody the “perfect” man. Often, they want to be seen as they themselves see their fathers: men who are confident, cool under pressure, intensely independent, and so emotionally closed off they don’t seem to need feelings at all. Almost every one of them fails to reach these impossible standards, and yet they’re better for it.

That’s the beauty of the stories Waititi tells. His vampires find acceptance through their new, dysfunctional family. Thor’s rejection of his father’s past allow him to save his people. Reservation Dogs’ Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) finds the peace his father never could by helping his community rather than robbing or leaving it. Jojo Rabbit’s Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), Boy’s Boy, Eagle vs Shark‘s Jarrod, and yes, even Our Flag Means Death’s Captain Stede emerge from their sagas healthier, happier, and as better leaders once they shed their warped expectations of masculinity and choose to be their own people. In Waititi’s worlds, being soft and a bit strange isn’t merely acceptable; it’s preferred.

Watch Our Flag Means Death on HBO Max