Godzilla

[Abe-Nornes]

Certainly one significance between Japan and  US reception, not to mention
sequel/remake production,  is the poaching on the Japanese side. I'm
thinking of the way fan cultures in the US poach Star Trek or X-files to
create their own narratives, art, etc. There are what you could call
Godzilla otaku here in the trash film scene, but they've got to be
extremely few in number (just consider the toys on shelves and the internet
sites). In Japan, the kaiju eiga poaching get elaborate, such as the
"Biology of Godzilla" book. This would be an interesting place to go to to
think about Aaron's questions.

The film is just as nationalistic as Independence Day, only is considerably
more indirect about it. First, the decision to make Godzilla an iguana on
nuclear steroids has the effect of detaching Our Godzilla from the Japanese
version. Lost World showed more "debt" to Godzilla than the current remake,
just for that parodic scene of Japanese tourists running down the street.
You'd think they'd at least give us a Japanese Raymond Burr!

Second, the handling of the nuclear issue shows a typical trope from the
rhetoric of American nationalism: or basic problems get projected on other
nations. Much of the problem here is with those damn French. Sure, we have
incompetent politicians and generals, but the French do nuclear testing in
the Pacific, the Ruskies' second rate reactors melt down, and our bombs
work just fine thank you (we just need help aiming them). What a different
representation of American power this film would have if one of those
generals decided the only way to take care of those mini-Godzillas
infesting Madison Square Garden was to nuke New York!  As it is, Godzilla
is a vague foreign threat, and thank God for, as they say on X-files, the
American Military Industrial Entertainment Complex.

We could be on the verge of some bad shit in South Asia, but I seriously
doubt spectators in the States are watching Godzilla with this in mind.

Markus