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im about to get so frickin pretentious. get ready for the most “no fun” ill ever be. the kong vs godzilla stuff is really really interesting to me in that both used to represent global issues and fears of the cultures that made them.
kong was about the tragic commodification of the worlds natural beauty and the wests perverse obsession with the “exotic” which dehumanizes and eroticizes cultures outside their own. kong wasnt a monster. the people who stole him from his home and put him on a stage were.
meanwhile godzilla was a personification of the japaneses fear and anxieties of nuclear power after the events of ww2. godzilla was a monster of raw destruction that could sweep in without warning and level cities and end lives with refuting ease.
but overtime godzilla came to represent the technological and cultural advancements of the japanese people as they recovered from the war. as japan advanced, godzilla became a hero. nuclear power, after all, can be for good as well.
what i find really interesting about this upcoming movie is how death battle-y it is. people are arguing about powers and feats of strength. who wins? big ape or big lizard? theyre being discussed about on a very literal level.
whats funny about that is it feels like that type of thinking is what both series originally critiqued. turning kong into a spectacle, specifically, is the tragedy of the original story. godzilla has always been more of a spectacle character so he gets more of a pass.
and im not judging anyone for engaging with it on those terms. giant monkey vs giant lizard is fun and we love these character because they have depth on top of being a rad ass giant ape and a rad ass giant dinosaur.
and while i think both kong and godzilla have really compelling thematic hooks they’ve both always been fun on top of it. both have always been partly about seeing a big monster heck stuff up while we clap and cheer.
i just think its fun to try and think about what this movie like... MEANS. you know? like... thematically what is being said by these two forces colliding? im not going to lie theres some really juicy stuff!
like think about it. a monkey based on the commodification of foreign spectacle is fighting a hollywood reimagining of a foreign property for the sake of selling it to western audiences.
so maybe its about corporate greed and will end with the two teaming up to fight against those that would hope to profit from their fight and commodify their very existence.
or maybe its about cultural divide. despite being a monster godzilla represents technological advancements while kong is very based in nature. again theyd probably have to team up, showing that advancement doesnt have to come at the cost of the natural world or cultures.
gonna be honest, on most thematic levels, there really shouldnt be a winner as both represent positive ideals more than negative ones. not that i trust hollywood to do anything interesting with this movie on a thematic level, but its fun to think about.
anyways those are my super dry and pretentious thoughts on this. thanks for reading and if you unfollow cause of this i wouldnt blame you lol!
