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valtharr · 5 years

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There’s a couple of reasons why I hate people who criticize King of The Monsters for being too action-heavy or not deep enough because it doesn’t “respect the character’s legacy” or whatever. Like, if you only like the dark and serious Godzilla movies, that’s fine, but don’t shit all over the more action-oriented movies like KOTM and act like they’re automatically bad because they don’t frame the Kaiju as some sort of allegory.

Like, even if you ignore all the media outside of the Japanese Godzilla movies - the American movies, Toho’s other Kaiju films, the video games, serialized media, comics, etc. - you’re still left with 30 fucking movies in the series, and the vast majority of them have Godzilla beat up some other monster. And a good chunk of those show Goji as the one you’re supposed to root for. Even when he’s not explicitly the “hero”, he’s usually a sort of anti-hero, at worst he’s a lesser evil than the monster(s) he fights. So yeah, if you act as if Godzilla was always evil, always the antagonist, and that the movies are always supposed to be some kind of deep social commentary, you either haven’t actually seen any movie besides the original (and maybe a few others like Shin), or you’re playing the dumbest version of “No True Scotsman”, where somehow about 90% of a franchise are outliers. Hell, Godzilland taught children math, and Godzilla Island had a fucking Kaiju Vending Machine In Space! And you seriously want to argue that Godzilla is this sacred cow that can only ever be used for serious drama, and that everything else is beneath the character’s dignity?

“Oh, but the first was this super dark and super serious...“

Yeah, it was. So what? The Ninja Turtles were originally a super dark and gory Daredevil parody. The original Yu-Gi-Oh manga portrayed Yugi’s alter ego as a sadistic killer who could easily be a game-themed Batman villain. The Mask was an incredibly violent adult comic book. Captain America was war propaganda, and when he first appeared in the comics, Thor was a regular guy who gained lightning-based super powers whenever he used Mjölnir.

Characters change! Concepts change! And just because they’re not the same exact fucking thing they were before doesn’t make them bad! Are you also gonna say that Tangled is a bad movie because Eugene doesn’t knock up Rapunzel and then has his eyes gouged out?

“But it was such a dark and haunting movie, and the later ones are just action flicks, or totally goofy!“

Yeah, so? I still like them. And so do thousands, if not millions of other people. I wanna see monsters beat each other up and wreck a city. I don’t want overt social commentary in my giant monster movies. If you want that, that’s perfectly fine, and hey, I don’t deny that the original is a masterpiece or whatever, I just don’t care about it.

This is honestly one of the most aggravating ways to look at media that I know: That a piece of art - or entertainment - can only ever be worth something if it’s somehow deep, or dark, or cynical. If a movie is funny, or silly, or just wants to entertain, it’s automatically bad or dumb, or unworthy of critical praise.

Godzilla is a giant lizard who beats up other giant lizards. He is also a walking reminder of the terror of nuclear war. He is also the defender of Earth. He is also a Moby Dick allegory. He is also a someone who does silly victory dances after he wins a fight. He is also an amalgamation of the souls of those who died during World War 2, and a grim agent of retribution for the atrocities Japan committed during that war. He is also someone who did this:

He was, is, and will be a lot of things. Because like any timeless character, Godzilla is versatile.

#godzilla #toho #kaiju

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