virovac:

dragonzzilla:

Ishiro Honda: “Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy … After several stories such as this, people end up having a kind of affection for the monsters. They end up caring about them.”

It seems to be a perennial question among monster fans. Why do we relate to the likes of Godzilla, a 300 foot tall fire-breathing dinosaur that regularly destroys cities? Is it because the destruction of models hearkens back to a simpler time, when we were young and full of play and felt like giants among our toys? I can’t deny that reading. Yet how many of us were inspired to do that because of Godzilla? What was it about Godzilla that appealed to our child brains, and moreover why does he remain in our hearts still? It can’t just be the spectacle; my subconscious is a graveyard of loud and explosive movies, yet Godzilla endures, solid as bedrock. There must be something there, beneath the noisy trappings; some fundamental quality that allows Godzilla to resonate with us, 70 years after his debut.

Speaking for myself, the reason I relate to monsters is because I’m a monster. Not the kind that destroys cities, but someone who is always going to be treated as something other than human. I’m queer and neurodivergent, and for some people that’s reason enough to write me off. I’m not like them, and I never will be.

Being different in our society is incredibly alienating. You don’t feel the things you’re told are ‘normal’ to feel; likewise, you care about things that you’re told you shouldn’t. You grow up in a system that doesn’t care about you, that puts the onus on you, and tries to hammer and beat you into a more convenient shape. You’re constantly reminded of your deviancy. So you learn shame. You start to internalize the hate. You start believing you are grotesque like everyone says, even though it’s not your fault. I certainly didn’t ask to be made this way. I have trouble communicating and making connections with people; I’ve been the subject of ridicule from my peers; and I often feel helpless.

So is it any wonder why someone like me would gravitate towards these monsters, who keep to themselves, feel utterly alone, and only lash out when thrust into a world that doesn’t understand them? Godzilla, Kong, Rodan, they’re only monsters by virtue of being strange; our system simply isn’t built with them in mind. But these creatures usually live peacefully, until the world forces them to change–and that change is often violent.

But unlike us, monsters are powerful. When change is forced upon them, they respond in kind, striking back against a cruel and ignorant world–smashing the symbols we’ve come to see as monolithic, screaming bloody defiance, as if proclaiming to the world, “I am here!” And that’s cathartic for someone who feels powerless. It’s a power fantasy through and through, even though the stories of these monsters often end in tragedy. Yet the tragedy is essential. When these monsters die, it’s not a triumph of good over evil; it’s framed as terrible and stupid and preventable. It’s an admission that the Other can and should exist, but the world as it currently exists is hostile to it, and it’s something that has to change if we’re to avoid further misery.

I love monsters because I see myself in them, far more than I ever did Batman or Superman or Spider-Man. They’re ugly and maligned, like me, for reasons outside of their control, like me. As Guillermo del Toro once said: “Monsters are the patron saints of our imperfections.”

… that it’s wrapped in the spectacle of fire-breathing dinosaurs and giant monkeys beating the snot out of each other is just the icing on the cake.

I’ve seen similar power fantasies in more human works, with superhero’s and supervillains, but Kaiju media often has less classism and elitisms of looking down on “normal people”. Which can get uncomfortably close to toxic elements of geek culture.*

(Never mind that as someone on the spectrum I often see a character meant to represent “normal people” given traits to establish them as dumb or useless that are just neurodivergence symptoms).

So that’s a big point in the kaiju media’s favor.

*The western IDW Godzilla comics fell into this once or twice. Like the narrator’s demonization of people in poverty who though they struck it big when they found jewels that were actually monster eggs.