Extra Point: Godzilla and the Making of a Global Icon by Dr. William Tsuitusi

 Although the lecture by Dr. William Tsuitusi is about Godzilla. I liked the research aspect behind the fantasy worlds and characters. Dr. Tsuitusi leads his lecture in a conversational form making jokes and involving students which is a good way to keep them involved in the theme. The Mosasaurs was a good discovery for me which turns out to be the core aspect in the name Gojira (Godzilla) which is a combination of words gorilla and whale. The origins of Godzilla is based on the success of the re-released King Kong and The Beast from 20.000 Fathoms which gave this idea of a giant monster to Japanese filmmakers. Godzilla was supposed to be a very serious film. The special effects during the world war were pretty simple and they were using miniatures but these miniatures were very detailed. Dr. William Tsuitusi also mentions the problems of American adaptations of original movies. He recommends to watch the 1954 film which includes the Hiroshima events and being a fairly serious movie Japanese Godzilla was supposed to play with fears of the Japanese audience. Godzilla being a flexible character had various appearances in different versions of the movie to satisfy the needs of different audience groups. So the originally serious movie became comedy, cheesy and had many more appearances over time. However, the character Godzilla is an allegory of destruction and consequences of nuclear power. On the other hand Godzilla reminds the audience of innocence, simple and youthful times where heroes exist.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WEEK TWO: Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice (6)

  The Interview With a Vampire was both predictable and surprising for me. One of the things that amused me was the emotional aspect of Louis. For me, he became more sensual after his transition to vampire than he was as a human. The way he describes his last sunrise, or the caring about other people, especially Claudia is very delicate and emotional. Living as a vampire for more than two centuries Louis decides to tell his story to a young reporter which for me sounded less of an interview than a monologue, a lesson for an audience. Unfortunately, at the end of the story the boy makes the opposite conclusions based on the story he just heard and wants to become a vampire as well. Lestat’s character is a curse itself let alone for the whole eternity. In my opinion, if Lestat was a human he could be considered as an emotional vampire as he keeps poisoning the life of Louis and drains his energy. There is a feeling of late motif throughout the story when Claudia and Louis start to kill L
Read more

WEEK THIRTEEN: Beloved by Toni Morrison (6)

  Beloved tells a story about poor, black people who used to be slaves. Sethe was a slave before and even after being free she was trapped in her own house being unwelcome from the community and haunted by all the memories of her past. She does not know what happened to her husband and the only thing she has is her children. Sethe loves her children so much that when white people come she kills her daughter to keep her “safe” from slavery comparing that kind of life with death. Cincinnati’s black community plays a crucial role in Morrison’s Beloved.  Communities are complicated, it is not just a group of people living in one place. They help, accept and belong to each other. It is the community that betrayed the 124 and failed to warn them about the Schoolteacher approaching. Sethe, unable to hide, acts radically and kills her daughter. However, it is the same community that helped them to ban Beloved and prevent Sethe from making another mistake by killing Mr. Bodwin. Before the arriv
Read more