Japan's Green Monsters
 | |
| Author | Sean Rhoads and Brooke McCorkle |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Genre | film criticism, ecocriticism, monsters studies |
| Publisher | McFarland |
Publication date | 2018 |
| Pages | 218 pp. |
| ISBN | 978-1476663906 Search this book on  . |
| OCLC | 1019838014 |
| LC Class | PN1995.9 .M6 R46 2018 |
Japan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema is a 2018 book on Japanese kaiju cinema.[1] The scholarly book is coauthored by Sean Rhoads of Queen's University[2] and Brooke McCorkle of the University of Vermont.[3] The book analyzes the environmental commentary present in Japanese monster films beginning with 1954's Godzilla and continuing through the present-day. The authors examine films from three monster cinema franchises: Godzilla and Mothra produced by Toho Studios and Gamera created by Daiei Film. The authors argue that although the environmental messages changed over time and between franchises, the genre of kaiju eiga is nevertheless linked by a strong undercurrent of ecological concerns.
Rhoads and McCorkle propose that although the ecological commentary present in Japan's monster cinema changes over time, it is nevertheless a recurrent theme is numerous examples of the genre.[4] The authors consider a wide range of environmental issues, including nuclear testing such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Castle Bravo incident, which led to the first monster films of the 1950s like 1954's Godzilla and its American iteration 1956's Godzilla, King of the Monsters. The book discusses how these early films also juxtaposed science against nature, a conflict dating back to the genre’s origins in films like 1933’s King Kong.
By the early 1960s, the Mothra films maintained anti-nuclear themes through the conflation of the fictional Infant Island and ongoing American atomic testing at Bikini Atoll. In 1961’s Mothra and 1964’s Mothra vs. Godzilla, issues of over-development and unbridled capitalism overshadow atomic anxiety. Both films equate human greed and the unregulated pursuit of capital as environmentally destructive. To compete with Godzilla and Mothra, Daiei Film released Daikaijū Gamera in 1965. Rhoads and McCorkle demonstrate that Gamera’s first film, like its kaijū predecessors, delineated nuclear fears but now in the context of the escalating Cold War. Daikaijū Gamera was among the first in the genre to address energy consumption natural resources like coal, oil, and fissile atomic materials. The book reveals that in 1971’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah and Gamera vs. Zigra nuclear fears largely vanished and became supplanted by pollution concerns. However, Japan’s evolution from a manufacturing to service economy along with government regulations ameliorated the country’s industrial pollution throughout the later 1970s into the 1980s.
Tōhō Studios rebooted the Godzilla series in the 1980s with Godzilla 1984 and Godzilla vs. Biollante. Reimagined for the late-Cold War era, the 1980s Godzilla pictures feature unease over the destructive potential of Japan’s nuclear power plants. The authors posit that Godzilla 1984’s anti-nuclear message proved both prescient and prophetic; two years later the Soviet Union’s Chernobyl reactor suffered a catastrophic nuclear meltdown. In Godzilla vs. Biollante, the dichotomy between nature and science blurs, as Japanese and international scientists experiment with genetic engineering and biotechnology, creating Biollante. Later, in the 1990s, the Rebirth of Mothra films focused on renewing the Japanese nation by returning to more traditional views of nature and the family. Following the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, 2014’s American Godzilla and 2016’s Shin Godzilla both return the genre’s focus to the dangers of nuclear power and radiological contamination.
Chapter List[edit]
1. Japanese Giant Monster Movies
2. Nuclear Terror and Radioactive Landscapes
3. Godzilla, Nature and Nuclear Revenge
4. Mothra, Marx, Mother Nature
5. The Decline of Cinema and Rise of Monsters
6. Daikaijū Gamera: Consuming Natural Resources
7. 1970s Japan: "A polluter's paradise"
8. Smog, Sludge and Hippies: Godzilla vs. Hedorah
9. Gamera vs. Zigra: A Tale of Space Invaders and the Sea
10. The Bubble and the Beasts: Kaijū eiga of the 1980s
11. Rebirth of Mothra: Daikaijū and the Environment in the Post-Bubble Era
12. Prevailing Concerns in the New Millennium
Reviews[edit]
Library trade journal Against the Grain has called Japan's Green Monsters an "interesting study of both film and psychology, and a must read for franchise fans outside Japan who may not have realized the deep rooted history" of the franchise.[5]
Writing for G-Fan magazine, Allen Debus discussed Rhoads and McCorkle's text in his article on the four metaphorical horsemen of the apocalypse, calling the book "highly interesting" and "detailed."[6]
Rhoads presented on Japan's Green Monsters at G-FEST XXV in Rosemont, Illinois in July 2018, where his discussion on environmental commentary in Japanese monster movies was well-received. Following the talk Rhoads signed copies of the book for convention attendees.[7]
Japan's Green Monsters received a positive blurb in the Winter 2019 edition of Dickinson Magazine, the official alumni publication of Dickinson College.[8]
The book was also well-reviewed and "definitely recommended" in a Spring 2019 review in G-Fan magazine, noting that "the authors' expertise goes a long way to illuminating aspects of Japanese culture and society that are represented in kaiju eiga but that might have been overlooked by western fans."[9]
References[edit]
- ↑ Worldcat — Japan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema. OCLC. OCLC 1019838014. Search this book on
- ↑ "Queen's University English Doctoral Students". Queen's University Department of English Language and Literature. Queen's University. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- ↑ "University of Vermont College of Arts and Sciences". University of Vermont Department of Music and Dance. University of Vermont. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- ↑ Rhoads, Sean; McCorkle, Brooke (2018). Japan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476663906. Search this book on
- ↑ Staff Writer(s) (June 2018). "Japan's Green Monsters Review". Against the Grain. 30 (3): 69.
- ↑ Debus, Allen (Summer 2018). "Coming Dark Ages: Four Metaphorical 'Horsemen' of the Paleo-pocalpse". G-Fan. 1 (120): 24–30.
- ↑ "G-FEST XXV Schedule". G-Fan. Daikaiju Enterprises Ltd. July 12, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- ↑ "Dickinson Magazine "Fine Print"". Dickinson Magazine. Dickinson College. Winter 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- ↑ Lees, J.D. (Spring 2019). "Japan's Green Monster's Review". G-Fan. 1 (123): 78.
- Debus, Allen (Summer 2018). "Coming Dark Ages: Four Metaphorical 'Horsemen' of the Paleo-pocalpse". G-Fan. 1 (120): 24–30.
- "Dickinson Magazine "Fine Print"". Dickinson Magazine. Dickinson College. Winter 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2019.
- "G-FEST XXV Schedule". G-Fan. Daikaiju Enterprises Ltd. July 12, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- Lees, J.D. (Spring 2019). "Japan's Green Monsters Review". G-Fan. 1 (123): 78.
- "Queen's University English Doctoral Students". Queen's University Department of English Language and Literature. Queen's University. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- Rhoads, Sean; McCorkle, Brooke (2018). Japan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema. McFarland. ISBN 978-1476663906. Search this book on
- Staff Writer(s) (June 2018). "Japan's Green Monsters Review". Against the Grain. 30 (3): 69.
- "University of Vermont College of Arts and Sciences". University of Vermont Department of Music and Dance. University of Vermont. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
- Worldcat — Japan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema. OCLC. OCLC 1019838014. Search this book on
External links[edit]
- McFarland (Japan's Green Monsters) [1]
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