e306. Kaiju Kachoo: From Gojira to Godzilla Minus One

Last year, almost as if by accident, somehow the surprise hit of cinema was a relatively low budget Godzilla movie. The film, Godzilla Minus One, literally came out of nowhere. It dropped in November in Japan and the US in December, with a shoestring budget of about $10million(USD). And somehow it became a global sensation. However, obviously Godzilla and other Kaiju movies have been around a long time. Perhaps they’re a bit of a niche market, but when has that ever stopped us? On this week’s episode, Wayne and Mav are joined by returning guest, our monster scholar Mike Chemers and new guest, kaiju expert Mark Best to talk all about the history and culture of Kaiju movies. The panelists dive into recent films like Godzilla Minus One and classics like Gojira, tracing the history of the genre from 1950s Japanese cinema to contemporary Hollywood, and discussing recurring themes such as humanity’s insignificance, metaphoric implications of monsters symbolizing wars and environmental disasters, and the cultural and social influences stirred by these films. Attention is also given to movie themes of masculinity and the evolution from viewing monsters as threats to companions. Whether you’re a kaiju fan or not you’re in for an interesting discussion so listen and let us know what you think in the comments.   Citations and Links: * This episode’s Call For Comments * Buy Mike’s book, The Monster in Theatre History * Mike’s podcast: The Show Where They Talk About Monsters * Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme * Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick * Follow Wayne on Instagram: @tetroc2017 * Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast * Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast * Subscribe to our YouTube channel * Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify or wherever podcasts are found and please leave us a review!