the way almost every scene is blocked, you can tell #Gojira is a tragedy. horror movies are tragedies. we have Mary Shelley to thank for that.
another way #Gojira establishes a language for monster and kaiju movies is thru sound. the sound engineering in this movie is absolutely ahead of its time; but what's awesome is that it's founded in Japanese drumming and theater traditions. so the innovation for film is a throwback to Japanese classical culture.
i love that some #Monsterdon folks are kinda salty #Gojira is such a good movie. never stop being hot ass messes monsterdonians. that's why i love y'all, LMAO
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!
thanks @Taweret@octodon.social and the #Monsterdon gang for a rather intense and somewhat serious but totally satisfying #Gojira viewing.
we needed to do this. for the ch... i mean, the kaiju.
my favorite Japanese Beatles. he's dreamy π€©
#Monsterdon #Gojira
#Gojira is definitely a serious film noire and horror movie. it's not a tongue in cheek monster movie. that's what it became later. these first 15-20 minutes are really painting the background of a horrible collective tragedy.
Japanese George Harrison is the anti-Oppenheimer; questioning the ethics of letting politicians' grubby hands on his Gojira killer. seriously, this is as antiwar as a movie of that time could get.
OOH! OOH! #Gojira absolutely passes the Bedchtel (?) test thanks to the woman journalist fighting against censorship of information about the monster. she fucking rocks.
OMG THE HOSPITAL SCENE
her face breaks me every time. she's a baby who has learned the meaning of death.
another interesting aspect of this movie, since it was made in earnest, it's how it describes the bureaucracy of post-war Japan and the social stratification in the country.
as a cultural artifact, it's a treasure trove of cultural markers.
#Gojira is so anti-establishment, so anti-government. it really is an indictment on the Japanese government post WW2. it's even more so in the new #GodzillaMinusOne
"but if we keep on doing these nuclear tests, another Godzilla might appear"
If only these films had some kind of message!
huge difference between #Gojira and #GodzillaMinusOne is that the new one doesn't have the tech fetish. they don't need geiger counters to know when the kaiju is coming. all they have to do is look at the water for the dead deep fish.
that's one of the many ways the movie is an ode to Luddites and i loved it for that.
the scale of this set. look at that devastation. the link between war and environmental devastation by an atomic lizard should not be lost on us
at least this journalist isn't carrying eggs in his jacket
right off the bat, these opening credits are so awesome for nothing visual at all. it's the bestial sound and the music that keeps you hooked without ever showing you the monster.
have i told you how i consider this OG Gojira a masterpiece?
Props to the guy who keeps reporting as his tower does down, now that's professionalism
a little behind the scene of this power grid scene. look up to the top of the pic.
OOH! OOH! THE MUSIC!!!
i call this the "people fight back" suite and it's used to amazing effect in the new #GodzillaMinusOne movie. like you totally get there's all these visual and aural languages being created in this movie. it makes it a contained, cohesive world with its own internal logic.
Top stuff!
who can watch this movie and not consider it an indictment about the traumas of war? this evacuation scene is intense for the amount of babies and kids involved.
#monsterdon SKREEEEEEE-ONK
It really stands out that when the film gives time for us to appreciate that the trains and buildings are full of people, Godzilla smashing everything to flinders is not funny, even though it's obviously a man in a rubber suit. It's a _relief_ when Godzilla only smashes a bridge or some power lines, and we can imagine people are not there.
i love that this whole surveying scene is echoed in Godzilla Minus One
the movie is really great at setting up a visual language for characters and places. that older guy with the glasses became kind of a cliche for the public intellectual in these movies
Gojira got skeletored
dude! the radio & film guys on the rooftop is totally in #GodzillaMinusOne. am loving finding all the throwback moments.
so #Gojira can hang out in the bottom of the ocean and breath water like a fish? didn't notice that before
this singing scene is in #Mothra, btw. Toho totally recycled their greatest hits.
oooh! this is the scene that is totally about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear blast
Strontium 90 is the sexiest of the deadly isotopes
I like that they don't show you the monster straight away, this is a class act
Well that ending was way more earned than the other entries I've seen on #Monsterdon
Truly a classic! π
OMG THE MOM WITH THE DAUGHTER, NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
the lightning is part OG Dracula, part film noire.
GOJIRA HAS LANDED!
GOJIRA HAS LANDED!
I did like how Godzilla Minus One made use of the Oxygen Destroyer's bubble effect. #Monsterdon
"Just ignore the human body parts in jars.....crazy days....."
#monsterdon A victory without joy.
Seriwaza, Japanese George Harrison, is our sacrificial lamb and i still cannot get over it.
he died for our atomic sins.
Aftermath is bleak, not quite Graveyard of the Fireflies, but.....
ohai Akira Takarada
"But the Bingo-maru was a party boat!"
BTW when cry-baby Emiko was fixing her boyfriend's head injury, that's when Japanese George Harrison got they were an item and decided to sacrifice himself.
there's nuance in this movie, y'all.
Looking straight at his girlfriend he volunteers for a suicide mission, the man is cold
"All these people asking about my basement and the OXYGEN DESTROYER..I know I should have just had a weed farm down there!"
"Oh that....oh that's my OXYGEN DESTROYER that I've been working on for.....well.....y'know..."
GOJIRA's ROAR ORIGIN
(somebody asked)
π¦ Toho's sound department couldn't get just the right sound for a giant Godzilla.
π¦The film's *Music Director*, Akira Ifukube stepped up. He rubbed a resin-coated leather glove across a contrabass and put it on reverb.
π¦The rest is history
"I'm going to ask your father's hand in marriage."
"Oh, do you mean..."
"I know what I said"
Has anyone checked to make sure the shipping lanes are ok lately? #Monsterdon
I don't like the tone of the guy in the white suit, blaming Scientist Dad.
@georgieboy Strontium-90 is a legit common isotopes that shows up as a result of nuclear fission. I'm slightly surprised that they didn't go with cesium-137 (which is more common), but it's a genuinely realistic bit.
You tell him lady!
@plaidtron3000 They're Tengu masks! πΊ #monsterdon #gojira
#monsterdon "If you ridicule our traditions I'll feed you stupid cows to Godzilla"
π¬
And then the briefing about appeasing the sea monster by floating a sacrificial woman out on a raft. Pretty casual exposition for some pretty brutal misogyny there.
Why does the old man know about Godzilla, who's he working for?
what's terrifying about this scene it's that in an instant you get how the telegram guys are a stand in for every capsized ship, especially the Titanic.
OK well that felt like I just spent an hour and a half watching a legitimately good, emotionally powerful movie. Who are you and what have you done with #Monsterdon π
But seriously, wonderful to see how it all started. Thanks @Taweret for hosting!
(If anyone sees this sans context: it's the original Godzilla from 1954)
as good as that was, let's do a whacky off the wall what the fuck one next week, ya #monsterdon
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We can't reveal the secret of the oxygen bomb to anyone!
Man who loved dinosaurs so much he made it his life's work is faced with the horror of an actual dinosaur and realizes everyone else is trying to kill it. *chefs kiss*
#Gojira #Monsterdon
"Well planes killed King Kong, why don't we try that?!"
Some cracking model work with this tank fight in the suburbs!
#Monsterdon if you want the daughter, youβre gonna have to kiss-ass a little better with daddy! At least not pick a fight and make him waddle away.
Oh come ON!
#monsterdon Oh no, we now know that those are special Godzilla-angering searchlights in the background of this scene.
"Watch me fuck up these cute fish"
#monsterdon Do the tail and foot tracks down the beach count as Godzilla fucking off into the sea, for bingo purposes?
"about 2 million years ago, this brontosaurus"
so much wrong with that statement, *scoffs in 21st Century
uh-oh, radiation!
And like the only people wearing PPE are the scientists....oh this feels right
This guy could very much the Grandpa Simpson of the island for all we know
"Godzilla would tie an onion to his belt..."
#Monsterdon bingo-maru. I uh, am having a lovely moment mashing that with the Kobayashi Maru. A boat adrift full of bingo players. In the neutral zone. LOL.
Go go Godzilla! #Monsterdon
#monsterdon IT IS GO TIME
GO JIRA TIME THAT IS ho ho ho (mute me for pete's sake)
A classic!
Thank you @Taweret@octodon.social #monsterdon
Another #Monsterdon is in the can!
Thanks to @Taweret for hosting!
Tonight we had an OG creature feature!
- Radioactive footprints & trilobites!
- Atomic tuna!
- Truly amazing effects!
- The best monster roaring sounds!
Now really, that doesn't leave a lot of room for a sequel
Bartender! Another diving suit! #monsterdon
The stark images of a city so full of life now devoid of the living. The cinematography of this movie is so so good.
#Gojira #Monsterdon
It's now they make Mrs. Pauls fish stix
".....and this is what I think of your fucking bridge.....yeah?! yeah?!, you want some more, yeah?!"
π¦ Look at this scene, people! Look at it! π₯π₯π₯π₯π₯
Somehow this movie is giving me similar vibes to a modern found-footage horror film. Like, even though that didn't exist as a storytelling vehicle in 1954, the attributes that (are supposed to) make found footage compelling are also powerfully present here. (And wouldn't that be a great way to retell the story)
Godzilla hates our music and our concept of Time, that clock tower is fucked
I like how his attack is more like a radioactive nebulizer mist than a death ray #monsterdon
Stop motion on that miniature fire truck(?) overturning!! Damn that's some good work
#monsterdon Atomic fire breath!! (@k8eb claims bingo on that one.)
Post war Japanese military porn is limited to only Cranes due to the earlier.....events...
There's our big boi heading towards human infrastructure!
you can tell these post-war security forces were trained by Americans. they'll shoot at anything with their puny guns π
Emiko really is in every scene
@Lazarou All the best science is done in secret basement labs. #monsterdon
"Oh Hai, Secret Basement Lab"
#Monsterdon A major pillar of the Japanese reaction to the bomb. Iβm always fascinated to see how it still is going off, all these years later, as waves of art and culture rippling along. This was just an early part of that.
"We blew up the Sea!" cheered Man
#Monsterdon Itβs gonna take a bit extra to peg that itβs H-bomb radiation. As radiation is radiation. But I tip my hat to the plot and move alongβ¦ LOL