Since my last post, I’ve tinkered around with my list of films to show this spring. I think the new viewing list will be more impactful for the class. The intersession mini-semester is independent study so there is more focus on original student research. With that in mind, and after watching/rewatching the list, I’ve made some updates that should encourage more student-led research. My hope is this is the last time I change the list. It’s a pretty good lineup though. So I’d be hard-pressed to move anything now.
The original list had Godzilla 1985 and King Kong 1976 to show how the series were updated later after release. I love both films and think they would be great in my class. However, instead of screening them as required, I’m going to suggest watching them as part of the students’ independent research on their own. I think comparing films from different periods like that is a perfect paper topic to research. So instead of making them see that, I designed the new list to show more time periods of film and more perspectives on the genre in general. In addition, Ilya Muromets, while really fun and interesting, did not satisfy my stricter requirements for kaiju eiga. There were big monsters (a dragon and a giant) but the film was not specifically about them or their place in the world.
The new list drops the remade movies and Ilya in favor of getting Gamera in and making Gorgo required viewing. There are better creature features that do the same thing as Gorgo but it really is a perfect encapsulation of the 60s science fiction. In addition, being a British film shows a different country’s perspective on how to show the action. The original did not have a place for Gamera. I felt like it was too heavily weighted toward Japanese films but it is hard to not include one of the most important characters in the genre.
I replaced Robot Jox with “Big Man Japan“. While Robot Jox is one of my most beloved films ever. It was partially a tie-in for the 80s Godzilla. Since it played out Cold War themes, it made sense to include both. Since dropping “The Return of Godzilla“, it did not have the same place on the list as it did before. Secondly, I thought Big Man Japan was just a silly parody film. After watching it I was floored with how well it would slot into the new list. It really is a microcosm of everything I am hitting in class. I would make it required if it was not so… difficult to require viewing.
As I have watched and rewatched films, I have made a list of content warnings to give before screenings. I know the required viewings will need it. So I attempted to keep things safer or academic on the five required movies. Since “Pulgasari” has a butchered horse, for example, I thought it better to make it optional and give a quick “heads up” before we watched it. Meanwhile, the historical significance of King Kong 1933 outweighs the issues of race.
So, even though it is perfect for this class, I think the violence against children depicted in Big Man Japan would be tough for some students. It gave me some feelings and I am much further removed from my childhood than they are. While I laughed out loud at how the baby-kaiju “fight” ended, I would not make it required viewing for this specific class. Now, if/when I get my B-movie horror class approved and screen “The Suckling” I’ll be very upfront that we are covering hard material and let it stand. If anything, that class should be fun just to hear what the newer generations think of my trash tastes. I mean, who was “Dead Alive” made for? Freaky little gremlins are who–me, I’m freaky little gremlins.
Anyway.
The new list also gave me a chance to dip into other kaiju media that sometimes gets overlooked. Typically the films cover some form of systemic issue too great for a single person to take on. Or, the reverse. Gives a single person more power to effect change that is not common for them. I think this is what made Attack of the 50-Foot Woman so endearing where similar films fell off the radar. 50-Foot Woman and its remake from the 90s deal with the idea of “what if a woman was big enough to crush her abuser”. Much like slasher films where the final girl takes power for herself in a situation, big-woman movies reverse the power dynamic typical in science fiction (and the times in which they were made).
I was playing with the idea of showing the original 50-Foot Woman but it felt a little stuffy because of the age. Then I was going to show the 90s one but I had added the 90s Gamera. I was trying to pick items from different time periods and did not want to switch to the 2006 Gamera (since Big Man Japan is 2007). This is when a friend reminded me about “Colossal” 2016. It fits right into the period I had missed (2010-2019) and is much more modern while still being a film people may have missed.
While making the lists, I have strived to pick movies people were less likely to have seen. Pacific Rim, for example, is still a movie I hear people talk about, meme about, and in general say they enjoy. Colossal came out advertising itself as a disaster movie comedy when it is really more dramatic than I expected. I think this leads to a lot of mixed feelings about the film in general. That said, it looks right at home on the list. It should be fun especially after King Kong since the treatment of women changed (and didn’t) drastically in 80 years.
Now I am just looking for places to insert items like Superman: Arctic Giant (a short serial cartoon that predates Godzilla but looks a hell of a lot like Godzilla) and other shorts that I think would be fun. That’s why I am tracking runtimes in the posted list. Gorgo is ripe for a few short films or an episode of something at just 78 minutes. But we’ll see. All I know is that I am trying not to tinker any further. Now I just need to make posters and advertise them to the campus.
Calculating Normals 