Description
Book Synopsis What makes a kaiju a kaiju? What makes an ape a large ape, and why do we sympathize with some, such as King Kong, and not with others, such as Konga? And what makes a giant person become a monster? This book provides a new perspective on kaiju and reveals that our boundaries for the genre are perhaps not so solid.
This work focuses primarily on newer kaiju works, ranging from Colossal to Shin Godzilla to Godzilla vs. Kong, but also touches on classics such as King Kong, Mighty Joe Young, Godzilla Raids Again, and lesser-known works such as What to Do With the Dead Kaiju? and Agon.
Like our ancestors we have collectively adopted giant monsters into our culture, especially our pop culture. Within the domains where giant monsters walk, we experience the rigidity of our moral structures, and the fleeting borders of our definitions of humanity. Within the kaiju film genre rest our own assumptions about what makes a monster a
Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Categorizing the Kaiju
- 2. Toys and Dinosaurs and Nostalgia
- 3. An Appreciation of Godzilla Raids Again
- 4. Science and Faith: The Solo Kaiju Adventures
- 5. "The Third Fire": Agon, the Atomic Dragon
- 6. The Wor(l)ds Get Stuck in My Throat: Aliens from Sea and Space
- 7. Reigo, Raiga, Ohga: The (Sometimes Loving) Basement of Kaiju Film
- 8. An Ode to Baragon and Barugon
- 9. It Turns Out Gamera Is Really Neat: The Heisei Trilogy
- 10. The Legendary Dr. Serizawa
- 11. Kong, Again and Again: The Son[s] of Kong
- 12. Toward the Past and the Future at the Same Time: Colossal and Godzilla vs. Kong
- 13. Men as Kaiju: Big Man Japan and Kaiju Mono
- 14. When Even Humans Are (Almost) Kaiju: The Amazing Colossal Man and Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
- Conclusion
- Filmography
- Bibliography
- Index
