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Are Zombies America's Godzilla?
San Francisco, 11:03 AM
Mon Dec 7
16 posts in the last 24 hours
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Are Zombies America's Godzilla? |
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11/04/09
"Slow and steady in their approach, weak, clumsy, often absurd, the zombie relentlessly closes in, unstoppable, intractable.
However (and herein lies the sublime artfulness of the slow zombie), their ineptitude actually makes them avoidable, at least for a while. If you're careful, if you keep your wits about you, you can stave them off, even outstrip them - much as we strive to outstrip death."
[www.guardian.co.uk]
i don't believe that zombies are in any way the American Godzilla; what country other than Japan has Godzilla -- a giant monster that alternately destroys and helps humans? zombies appear in America's film, yes, but also Japan, the UK, Italy, and so on. death is a universal fear, but zombies are also a malleable (and cheaply-produced) image, as many have pointed out.
if anything, i'd suppose that the American fear of technology, as represented onscreen, is borne by actual machines -- Terminators, AI gone haywire (HAL9K, "Stealth"'s fighter plane), uncanny valley cyborgs, replicants and androids. we worry about being replaced or destroyed by our creations. sometimes they rescue us (actual or metaphorical) and thereby redeem their existence, and by extension, we forgive ourselves for creating them. #zombies
11/03/09
You River Tam fanatics better stay the hell out of this! #zombies
11/03/09
as for Godzilla vs. Zombies...i'm so there with you. But it raises the question of if 'Zilla would be susceptible to the zombie plague? Zombie-zilla, perhaps? #zombies
11/03/09
11/03/09
Think of the ticket sales! THE TICKET SALES!!??!!
Brought to you by the Saturday Morning Cartoon Motion Picture Bastardization Council. #zombies
11/03/09
Zombies Attack Tokyo, Godzilla breathes his atomic breath on half of the city and crushes, tears apart and flattens the other half. Zombie threat is over. #zombies
11/04/09
His body had to be "heated" in order to allow the virus to spread enough for Godzilla to pass out and allow his body to recoup. However passing out in a frigid pacific coast cooled his body and caused his metabolism to restart and eradicate the virus permanently.
So no. Zombie plague < Godzilla.
There's a reason he's the King! #zombies
11/04/09
11/03/09
While he correctly states that "Godzilla fought scientists and the military," he fails to note that humans almost always lose those battles. In twenty-eight movies, Godzilla is killed exactly once by human science (the 1954 Godzilla), and once by human military equipment (Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II). And in that last case, Godzilla is resurrected by Rodan's self-sacrifice and goes on to defeat the human military.
No, when Godzilla's actions are seriously affected by humans, it isn't by massive group endeavors like battles - it's always by individual action. Whether it's some child putting out school chairs in the shape of the Mothra symbol in a plea for help, or Miki Saegusa telepathically asking Godzilla to turn away, or the Okinawan priestess summoning King Caesar to help Godzilla defeat Mechagodzilla, or the pilots of Moguera deciding to assist Godzilla by attacking Space Godzilla, some individual or very small group always takes responsibility in a way society can't or won't.
Even in the one case where Godzilla dies and actually stays dead (for a while) - the original 1954 Godzilla movie - it's not the military that does it. It's Dr. Serizawa single-handedly taking the Oxygen Destroyer to kill Godzilla, and knowingly losing his life in the process.
Godzilla is the product of societal hubris, and if he is "defeated" by human actions, it is always by one person or a very few people standing alone and saying, "I don't care what anybody else says, I don't care what the government or that powerful group wants, THIS is right and THIS is wrong, and THIS is what needs to happen," and then making sure that's exactly what happens.
Turner's summary of the Godzilla oeuvre is very shallow. When you get outside of the 60s kiddie flicks, many of those movies address serious societal and moral questions, and come up with answers that are quite surprising and rather subversive when seen from a Japanese group-think perspective. #zombies
11/03/09
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@RocktheDebit: #zombies
11/03/09
Zombie stories can take place during anytime in history in any part of the world.
It's not hard to link zombies to any subject (including Godzilla) since it's a perfect vessel for any metaphor you can think of. That's what makes it perfect and that's why it's loved so much, we have so many to choose from any. You don't like that one? Ok here's many many more that may suit your fancy.
When it comes to government in zombie movies a "scorched earth" plan seems to be what we see most. The solution being bomb the fuck out if it, people that are still alive are seen as acceptable casualties.
Godzilla is the opposite, where you literally have no choice but to hope and pray that whatever sci-fi trillion dollar gadget can save them from Godzilla. Yet oddly enough unlike zombies, Godzilla can be seen as a hero. Probably the only character I can think of that can be a legitimate hero and legitimate villain in the same movie (when said sci-fi trillion dollar gadget can save them from the aliens, who does? Godzilla that's who).
11/03/09
11/03/09
I think the underlying fear is the elephant in the room that nobody ever wants to talk about - overpopulation. Overpopulation of disease ridden, dangerous human-looking creatures that you can have no qualms about offing in large numbers. #zombies
11/03/09
11/04/09
Japan's obsession with Godzilla = Japan's fear of the bomb.
America's obsession with zombies = America's unstated fear of overpopulation (namely other people's overpopulation)
Keep working on that whole reading comprehension thing... #zombies
11/03/09
Every other kind of enemy (monster, alien, robot, terrorist, well maybe not robot, mutant, etc.) has at least one reason to not be killed: He's the last of his kind, she's my wife, their culture isn't that different from our own, killing them is killing ourselves, I don't want to be responsible for it's suffering, etc.
Not so with zombies! There is no possible reason for keeping them alive. They are the perfect enemy for mankind because there is no moral dilemma, no hope for their salvation, no soul, no consciousness. Their only reason to exist is to eat living flesh and make more zombies in the process. Also, they represent your loved ones living in complete agony. You are actually doing them a favor by killing them!
Hitler and Jesus would join hands and prance gaily through the fields shooting the crap out of zombie hordes. Mother Theresa would smile approvingly at Charles Manson as he cuts unborn zombie babies from pregnant zombie mothers and passes them to her so she can saw off their little heads.It's the only possible way to achieve honest to goodness killing!
11/03/09
Everybody loves zombie-fighting...
Na-na-na-na-na.. #zombies
11/03/09
What about Zombie Godzilla !!! #zombies
11/03/09
"Zombjilla, zombjilla!" #zombies
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11/04/09
Oh, another thing about zeds: they tap into the whole 'rugged individualist' thing we Americans seem to like, or at least romanticize about.
And our desire for meat. We sure do love that red meat, nice and tender. #zombies
11/03/09
If anything, I think Romero's approach has approached the issue as closely as any, but I'm not sure that he came right out and said it: Zombies are America's realization that we don't bloody well trust *anybody*, even ourselves. The poor? The rich? Your neighbors? City folk? Town folk? Depending on which movie you pick, you can get zombies that illustrate that not only are (insert name of group here) not trustworthy, but they're gonna EAT you. In fact - isn't it kind of odd that there aren't any (many?) Them Furrrriners Is Gonna Eat Us movies, in comparison to Our Neighbors Is Gonna Eat Us ones? I can't think of any besides Shock Waves (Nazi zombies), and I'm not sure that one counts.
I think Terry Pratchett said a line that I think applies here; something along the lines of "And even the Scots paused in their eternal war with their constant enemies, the Scots..." ; I believe we could make a strong case for zombie movies showing that America's greatest enemy, its most significant nightmare figure ... is America. #zombies
11/03/09