Thank you for elaborating on Godzilla- my “spirit animal”, and other fabulous pre-CGI creatures. 🤣 // When working on Zika in the Marshall Islands years ago I visited their small, but quite interesting, history museum. It provided remarkable images and history of the atomic testing. There was also a very small Veterans Administration facility for monitoring Marshallese on their main island for radiation effects/illness. There were a number of remarkable films shown on Marshallese TV from the atomic testing time. Doubt the clinic had significant treating capabilities. // The prior N Korean leader was quite the Godzilla fan. He even had the actor who wore the Godzilla costume as a guest, with costume, to N Korea! Was reportedly also quite the film buff.
Like you, Keith, I loved those movies as kid. I'm flashing now on the twin women in Mothra. In addition to the thrill of vengeful mega-destruction, there is something heartbreaking about those movies.
Ha ha! The twin pixies who always spoke and sang in unison are omitted from the more recent films featuring Mothra. Too bad. One of my favorite scenes is in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster when Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra were having a conversation--in Monsterese, I guess--about whether to join forces to fight Ghidorah. The pixies were translating the conversation. At one point, they exclaimed, "Godzilla! Such terrible language!"
Thank you for elaborating on Godzilla- my “spirit animal”, and other fabulous pre-CGI creatures. 🤣 // When working on Zika in the Marshall Islands years ago I visited their small, but quite interesting, history museum. It provided remarkable images and history of the atomic testing. There was also a very small Veterans Administration facility for monitoring Marshallese on their main island for radiation effects/illness. There were a number of remarkable films shown on Marshallese TV from the atomic testing time. Doubt the clinic had significant treating capabilities. // The prior N Korean leader was quite the Godzilla fan. He even had the actor who wore the Godzilla costume as a guest, with costume, to N Korea! Was reportedly also quite the film buff.
Unabashed plug: Be sure to read Bombing the Marshall Islands (2017), Cambridge Press which I coauthored with my nuclear physicist nephew, Rob Zaballa.
Never into monster films, but I still deeply appreciate this essay.
My tendency today would be to read it as an allegory of private equity, but that's a different story.
Like you, Keith, I loved those movies as kid. I'm flashing now on the twin women in Mothra. In addition to the thrill of vengeful mega-destruction, there is something heartbreaking about those movies.
Ha ha! The twin pixies who always spoke and sang in unison are omitted from the more recent films featuring Mothra. Too bad. One of my favorite scenes is in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster when Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra were having a conversation--in Monsterese, I guess--about whether to join forces to fight Ghidorah. The pixies were translating the conversation. At one point, they exclaimed, "Godzilla! Such terrible language!"
Ghidorah might be my favorite of all these movies, probably because it brought all the monsters together.