Godzilla & nationalism

[Abe-Nornes]

I browsed through some of the Godzilla websites, and noted a prominent
tendency that clove the discourse in two. The lovers of Toho kaiju eiga and
their wonderfully surreal men-in-rubber-suit monsters all hate the American
Godzilla (one has even called for a boycott). Of course, they are the ones
making the sites, except for the commercial sites tied to the film. Here is
a typical response taken from a site that had a survey:

DID YOU SEE THE MOVIE?:         yes
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE ACTING?:      terrible
HOW WERE THE SPECIAL EFFFECTS?:         pretty good
DO YOU THINK YOU WASTED YOUR MONEY?:    nah
DOES THIS MOVIE MAKE YOU HAVE NIGHTMARES OF BARNEY, (THE DINOBITCH?):   no

Comments:
DAMN YOU DEVLIN AND EMMERICH!!! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!! How could you do
this to our beloved Godzilla???? Why the hell did you have to change the
design so much??? Most of the body was fine, but the head!!! It's a f*cking
rectangle, to much like a T-re . And that damn blonde bitch. GOD I have
never been so annoyed in my life. And what the f*ck is with the music? Sure
the opening theme was good. But when we first fully see Godzilla...what the
f*ck was that??? Godzilla is a product of nuclear power, terrifying and
deadly. And yet, instead of a dark and ominously evil theme, something I
think Maestro Ifukube could do with his hands tied behind his back, we are
treated to this f*cking happy, "wonderous" music straight out of "Jurassic
Park" when we f rst see the dinos. What? Are we supposed to think Godzilla
is like a "wonder of nature". Yeah. OOOOOOOO!!!! AAAAAAA!!!! It's all so
f*ckin' mystical!!! OOOOOO!! F*CKIN' BULLSHIT!!!! AND I WANT MORE WANTON,
HARDCORE, MERCILESS DESTRUCTION!!!!! GODZ LLA DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH THE DAMN
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING!!! WHEN HE IS SHOT, HE BLEEDS??? WHAT THE HELL??? THE
BABIES AND CHASE SCENES?? HOLY DEJA VU TO "JURASSIC F*CKING PARK"!!! AND TO
TOP IT ALL OFF, HE LEFT HIS CORPSE THERE WHEN HE DIED. IN THE PAST M VIES
HIS BODY HAD EITHER BEEN DISSOLVED OR MELTED. NOW THE F*CKING MILITARY HAS
THE WHOLE F*CKING BODY TO STUDY. AND NO BLUE ATOMIC FIRE. ARE YOU HAPPY,
DEVLIN AND EMMERICH??? HUH? ARE YOU? YOU DAMN EGOTISTICAL BASTARDS!!! YOU
KILLED HIM!!!

The language was pretty typical, too!  The nooks and crannies of these fan
sites where visitors can record their own comments are filled with
similarly vitriolic, insulting comments in defense of American Godzilla.
The one pretty much sums up the bunch:

        "You can keep your Jap GODZILLA, the new one rules!"

What's all that about projection!?!?!

Markus

PS: Here are a few tidbits that were interesting:

***Emmerich has gone on record as saying he tried watching the Toho films
but gave up after a few because they were "all the same."  

***The best thing I came across was the record of an online interview with
the main man in the rubber suit:

        Moderator: What methods did you use to help 
                cool yourself while in those massive rubber suits?

        Mr. Nakajima: There was no air conditioning 
                at that time. Fighting spirit was the only 
                method to keep me cool until the end of each scene.