When Godzilla movies are good, they are VERY good. When they're not, well...
(Some of the '90s updatings are quite good.)
Posted on 10/17/2004 6:59:08 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) He's attacked other monsters and terrorized Japan for decades. Now Godzilla is confronting academics who want to wrestle with his legacy.
The University of Kansas plans to pay homage to the giant lizard later this month, organizing a three-day scholarly conference for the 50th anniversary of his first film.
It's not just about celebrating campy creature features. Planners want to provoke discussion of globalization, Japanese pop culture and Japanese-American relations after World War II.
"I would like people to take Godzilla more seriously," said Bill Tsutsui, a history professor at the University of Kansas and author of the book "Godzilla on My Mind," which discusses the history of the monster's movies.
The conference that begins Oct. 28 will offer speeches, panel discussions and free screenings of Godzilla films, including "Gojira," the Japanese movie that started Godzilla's career in November 1954.
Atop the movie theater will be an inflatable 28-foot Godzilla balloon. Items from Tsutsui's collection of Godzilla memorabilia will be on display in the university's main library.
The notion of a serious Godzilla conference drew puzzled looks on campus.
"It's kind of odd," freshman Kathleen Schafer said. "I didn't think scholars would be interested."
But historians, anthropologists and other academics are coming from universities such as Duke, Harvard and Vanderbilt.
Among the fans in attendance will be Andrew Kar, a technical writer from St. Joseph, Mo., who has been hooked on monster movies since childhood.
"When you're a 35-year-old man and you're still enjoying these films, you have to ask yourself why," he said. "For some of us, it translates. For others, it's gibberish."
Japan's Toho Co. has produced 27 Godzilla films in five decades, with a 28th movie, "Godzilla: Final Wars," to be released in December. An American "Godzilla" was released in 1998, though many aficionados don't consider it a true Godzilla movie.
Yoshikuni Igarashi, director of east Asian studies at Vanderbilt, sees Godzilla films as important cultural artifacts.
For example, the first Godzilla film came only eight months after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.
The movie — in which H-bomb testing disturbs Godzilla's undersea habitat and transforms him into a behemoth with fiery, radioactive breath — reflects anxiety and a feeling of helplessness in the face of a nuclear threat, Igarashi said.
The franchise was widely known for its campy special effects. Godzilla films featured men in dinosaur suits stomping around miniature urban landscapes and some monster battles that, Tsutsui acknowledged in his book, seem more like professional wrestling matches.
When an American version of the first film was released in 1956 — re-edited to include new scenes featuring Raymond Burr of "Perry Mason" fame — the New York Times dismissed it as "cheap cinematic horror-stuff."
"It is true there were some bad, bad films produced, particularly in the late '60s and early '70s," said Igarashi, who plans to lecture at the conference on the 1964 movie "Godzilla vs. the Thing," in which Godzilla battles the giant moth, Mothra, and its offspring.
Two Japanese foundations provided $35,000 to help fund the conference.
Takao Shibata, the Japanese consul general in Kansas City, Mo., said the meeting will help educate people about his nation but acknowledged: "The idea of this kind of serious analysis of the evolution of Godzilla — it never occurred to me."
It is an excuse to travel using University money, and cheat on their spouses.
Well, the monster was a metaphor for the Bomb,
and the Japanese were not really at liberty (nor
inclined) to crank out WW-II movies like Hollywood
was doing, but I doubt the conference will get
much more insightful than this.
....Godzilla was the Anti-christian evolutionist answer to the 'Rising sun Japan'......
Rather than bow the knee to Jesus,.....'they' invented/substituted.......'Godzilla'.....(Godzilla was 19-K)...
/sarcasm
When Godzilla movies are good, they are VERY good. When they're not, well...
(Some of the '90s updatings are quite good.)
However, if Godzilla sprang back to life and trampled and destroyed Lawrence KS, it would get significantly more insightful.
Godzilla shows man's inhumanity against man and godzookie represents the problems of fatherhood in post fedual Japan.
-how exactly does Godzilla show any of that??
look its a guy in a giant rubber monster suit! do I have to spell it out for you!!! Yeesh, philistine.
For example, the first Godzilla film came only eight months after the United States tested a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific.The movie — in which H-bomb testing disturbs Godzilla's undersea habitat and transforms him into a behemoth with fiery, radioactive breath — reflects anxiety and a feeling of helplessness in the face of a nuclear threat, Igarashi said.
I think that Toho made a Godzilla film in the 1990s (King Ghidorah?) that altered this aspect of the character's history. It showed Godzilla coming to the aid of Japanese troops and killing some American GIs. That would be pre-bomb drop.
It is also reeks of nationalism at what should be considered a LOW point of Japanese history.
>> but I doubt the conference will get much more insightful than this
> However, if Godzilla sprang back to life and trampled
> and destroyed Lawrence KS, it would get significantly
> more insightful.
Can't argue with that, and I live in KS. I'd vote
to make him the state mascot.
> It is also reeks of nationalism at what should
> be considered a LOW point of Japanese history.
They were pretty shaken by losing a war, particularly
the final two acts, artificial rising suns over two
cities - and then discovering that the enemy was a
hell of lot more gracious in victory than they would
have been. They were searching for a new identity.
The conflicted characters in their "westerns" (samurai
movies) reflect that as well.
Godzilla's legacy? He's the best clutch hitter in pinstripes.
If it not some guy in a scaly rubber suit tearing up downtown Tokyo, atomicpossum.
IT AIN'T GODZY!!!
Jebus! You'd think they'd come up with a more intriguing topic.
Jack.
If it not some guy in a scaly rubber suit tearing up downtown Tokyo, atomicpossum. Absolutely. I'm talking about the JAPANESE films from the 90s, not the Matthew Broderick garbage (what drek!).
I think that Toho made a Godzilla film in the 1990s (King Ghidorah?) that altered this aspect of the character's history. It showed Godzilla coming to the aid of Japanese troops and killing some American GIs. That would be pre-bomb drop. The continuity for the Godzilla films is absolutely horrible-- there truly isn't one. Films contradict each other, the character returns after being destroyed in the previous film with no explanation, etc.
The last time I looked, Godzilla was tearing up Boston.
Weegee to overpaid scholars: Keep repeating "It's only a movie! It's only a movie!"
Here's the trailer:
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/godzilla.html
I can't wait for the DVD to be released.
Oh, yeah, and Raymond Burr is NOT NOT NOT in it! (yay!)
You haven't heard of the new degree, "PhD in Godzilla Studies"?
Beats workin' for a living, I suppose. At least they could study "Star Trek" by renting a bunch of movies and going to a fan convention. Now *that* would be relevant.
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