Okay. That was different. It still gives me plenty to work with, so let's get to sculpting the shape of this post. This is the first Toho Co. kaiju film I'm covering that doesn't have our big stompy lizard pal in it, and good old Godzilla always did strongly reflect something of the nuclear disaster. Be it fresh memory of the horror of August 1945, or nail-biting anxiety over the Cold war, or even critique of government's reaction to disaster crisis, Godzilla's got you covered there. What about this, then? What is Mothra strongly reflecting? I must confess I don't know. There's no obvious and intended subtext I can easily dig out because I don't know Japanese history that well. The best I can give is that it's pointed commentary on postwar occupation of Japan by the USA. As for Mothra herself? A force of nature and of vengeful retribution... but it's all collateral damage. Mothra has an actual goal, see, and that's where we get into the parts of this movie that resonated with the here and now for me.What's fascinating is that, structurally, Mothra is built in much the same fashion as another infamous kaiju movie: King Kong. Both movies have an expedition to a mysterious island with strange wildlife and indiginous people, followed by the discovery of something amazing and the decision to take that something back to the mainland, to exhibit it to an amazed public (and make fame and fortune in the process). Then everything goes horribly wrong and we have a kaiju running riot through the city, causing untold millions in property damage and loss of life. Now, in King Kong the thing brought back was the giant ape himself, so all he had to do was get loose to go on a rampage. Mothra plays it differenly; the thing that Mr. Nelson of Rolisika (yeah... I'm going to get to that) takes back with him from Infant Island are a pair of very tiny women. Like fairies. They then use telepathy and their harmonizing song to call for Mothra to rescue them, and that's what kicks off all the giant monster destruction. Nelson is a real son of a bitch, though. In the first place, he's keeping a pair of tiny women in a birdcage like slaves and showing them off for fame and fortune. Even when it's clear Mothra will not give up, he resorts to fleeing Japan for homeland Rolisika, dodging all authority and responsibility before trying to flee again, pulling a gun on an angry mob of people pissed off with him for endangering them all, and then gets gunned down by the police. Here's where I get into my sheer swerve of a reading of this movie, once I accept is not at all what was intended... but, fuck it. Death Of The Author, right? I get to play jazz with what harmonizes with me in 2019. Okay. here it goes.
Mothra is climate change, and Nelson is a climate change denier. Yeah. Think about it. Nelson's actions and his fairy show make him rich and famous. The movie never comes out and says he's making a shitload of money, but I can buy it. Nelson's fortune comes from the fairies, and the fairies have sent Mothra to save them... and Mothra will fuck everything up that's in between her and the fairies. Nelson, pointedly, does not give two shits. He will do anything and everything to keep his hands on those fairies as long as possible, consequences to everyone else be damned. He's a climate change denier making millions from big oil, who doesn't give a fuck about the planet burning as long as he gets his! He'll ignore all appeals to reason, violate the law all over so long as it can benefit him, and at the end of it all a bunch of angry protestors harass the shit out of him for it! HEY ASSHOLE WE'RE ALL GOING TO FUCKING DIE BECAUSE YOU HAD TO HAVE ANOTHER FUCKING ROLLS ROYCE! GET OUT OF THE CAR, I'LL SHOW YOU A FUCKING FAIRY SHOW. And then he pulls a fucking gun on them all! Jesus! He really thinks, even then, he can get away with it! Oh yeah, and he's from Rolisika. Which at first I took as a made-up country that's just supposed to be Russia... but in the climax of the movie we go to "New Kirk City" in Rolisika, with lots of Americans. So it's like... both? Which I guess makes sense, since Nelson being an arch-capitalist wouldn't make much damn sense if he were supposed to be from a socialist country. With that reading in mind, I found Mothra pretty fascinating. It's got some decent destruction, a lot of fun with the human characters, and the fairies are just so mystical and magical and inspiring. This one was a great time, and I even got to make a gonzo reading of it. Still, though. It ain't kaiju season without the big boy himself. Let's see what Godzilla's got for us this time.
No comments:
Post a Comment