Humour an important tool to talk about more serious issues in Thor: Director Taika Waititi

Humour is an important tool to address critical issues in his films, says director Taika Waititi, who has combined the serious with the funny to show what a superhero undergoing “midlife crisis” looks like in the upcoming Marvel movie Thor: Love and Thunder.
The New Zealand-born director, known for films such as Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Jojo Rabbit, is known for his irreverent and fun approach to filmmaking.
Waititi said humour often helps him in putting the audience at ease.
“For me, to bring the audience in and make them drop their guards or when you want to get to know someone or get them to trust you, you do it with humour… And then when they are your friend, you can talk about more serious issues, like love.
“With this film, especially, we used humour to bring the audience in and make friends with them and then talk about Thor going through a midlife crisis or not knowing where he is in life. So, humour for me is a very important tool,” the director said responding to a question from PTI in a Zoom roundtable interview.
With Thor movies inside the blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Waititi is credited for revitalising the franchise by infusing irreverence and humour with 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok.
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The 46-year-old director – who was part of a five-member comedy troupe ‘So You’re a Man’, which toured New Zealand and Australia before venturing into cinema – has changed his style of filmmaking from more serious to fun stuff.
“My very first stuff that I was doing, like my short film, I probably took myself a lot more seriously than I needed to or probably thought I was going to make more serious films. And then I realized that if you do so, you are not going to have much fun at work.