With Eyes East

Godzilla 30, People 0

It’s news to me that a Godzilla movie is releasing this year. Now, typically, this has been cause for indigestion, being no fan of the Legendary MonsterVerse. Granted, that new movie bears the title Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, which is just goofily sincere enough. Not for me to see, but for something. No, a Godzilla movie is coming down from Toho Studios as well, and it’s entitled Godzilla Minus One. Sounds a lot like the proposed title for the third Jaws movie (Jaws 3, People 0), but there’s a weight behind it. Taking place immediately after World War II, we find Japan at “zero,” and Godzilla’s arrival will bump them down to the negative. I’m not 100% certain, but I believe this is the first Godzilla period piece, and that’s already exciting.

Then there’s the fantastic teaser trailer, which does look like an evolution of the effects in Shin Godzilla. This one is directed by Takashi Yamazaki, who G fans will remember from the very first CG Godzilla. Indeed, his earlier work includes Always: Sunset on Third Street 2, as well as sci-fi blockbusters like the live-action Space Battleship Yamato and a few anime movies. That’s a bit to go on, including Yamazaki’s comments that the film will depict “unprecedented despair.” Wow! I mean, for as horrifying as it is, at least Shin Godzilla is funny as hell. I am beginning to wonder if and when we’ll ever see a cheesy Godzilla once more, in the style of Showa or even the odd King Ghidorah or Final Wars dotting the other eras. And yes, the recent Godzilla: King of the Monsters was over-the-top, but it was also other things. Or it wasn’t other things. I don’t know anymore why I dislike that movie, just that I won’t be finding out.

Anyway, the point of this is actually somewhat related to movies like Godzilla (2014), as the advent of Godzilla Minus One has me thinking about a pet peeve of mine in movie discourse. I watched a YouTube video by D Man1954, who’s a self-described Godzilla fan, and despite the clickbait thumbnail below, he’s the real deal. Definitely gonna be my go-to source for Godzilla news and opinions.

He identifies a number of parallels between imagery in the teaser and the original 1954 Godzilla, including the clock tower and the little girl. What started me thinking, though, was the note about the protestors in the teaser, which reminded him of the angry families in the original movie barging in on official meetings. I realized that, having viewed Godzilla as recently as last September, I don’t remember those angry families. Maybe my assessment of the movie is based on a shallow understanding – not to mention a satisfaction at harboring an unpopular opinion.

And while recognizing the parallels wasn’t necessarily speaking to the quality of the as-yet unreleased film, I do worry that the broader G fandom might take a cineliterate sequel as itself dimensional. But there’s a difference between the work of Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino, for example, more than just one begets the other. And so, we’re here: movies that say things without saying anything at all. I’m sure I’ll see the original Godzilla movie again at some point, and I’ll be sure to watch out for whether its allegories ever rise above connect-the-dots.

One of the things I kept seeing in academic writing about the movie was the hinted-at imperial past of Dr. Serizawa, when a journalist asks if he has German colleagues, and I think there was something about Unit 731. You have the boat in the beginning like the Lucky Dragon No. 5, the angry families themselves being based on real-world events, and then Godzilla himself as the greatest walking metaphor in cinema history. But my question, and it’s only the difference between a good Godzilla movie and the best one, is what’s the point?

It’s the problem of movies like Joker, like Prometheus. They’re full of subject matter, but when we call that “themes,” it suggests thematic resolution. I’m fine with the contribution of the original Godzilla being the metaphor, being a dramatic expression of grief and terror, but I can’t – at this moment – accept that it’s a good movie, or that its metaphors alone make it good. Great, even. The best.

Really, it’s a problem of how we talk about movies, how we evaluate them as reflections of ourselves in moments of abstracted self-congratulation when it’s nothing more than pattern recognition – which isn’t true assessment. Recognizing the allegory is like solving a puzzle, and however clever it is for the puzzle makers, we find ourselves talking about cleverness, about themes at a remove. For reference, I never miss an opportunity to say that Shin Godzilla is the best Godzilla movie, because it’s an allegory but also a story. It’s a complete experience, and it’s driven, as well as expressed. The original Godzilla is more important, for sure, but it was a first, albeit massive, step.

King the Land

I’m nearly through the first episode of King the Land. It’s taken all week, but I’m almost 80% sure I’ll finish it. Despite being a big fan of Yoona – which is not built into my identity simply because everyone who’s into K-pop is a big fan of Yoona – I’ve never seen her act. Her movies and dramas come and go like luggage around the carousel and I reach out, hesitantly, each time, and then retract. It wasn’t until finally sitting down and watching one that I began to formulate why. And you won’t believe this, but the answer is incredibly stupid.

I mean, what kind of fan am I? I feel terrible! I love Yoona. I don’t even think of her as an idol, because it’s too limiting a term. She’s the princess. The goddess. And I can’t bear the thought of her suffering the average indignities of a K-drama protagonist.

Actually, the K-dramas that I’ve seen tend to have protagonist problems, where the heroine can do no wrong, and the bitchy rival all but kneels down to her – say, Twenty-Five Twenty-One? But the impression I get, listening to Yoona describe her characters on her YouTube channel, is that she’s always playing new employees. She’s like the George Costanza of K-dramas. In King the Land, we watch her blow an interview with the hotel of her dreams and get a surprise call back. For most of the first episode, she’s at the bottom rung, ordered by petulant middle managers to wipe the butt sweat off gym equipment. This is my worst nightmare realized.

Put another way, like seeing Dennis Haysbert as a small-time criminal in Heat, I just don’t buy Yoona as these characters. And as I’m standing there in the airport of my mind, I have to admit an uncomfortable truth: she isn’t playing parts I’m interested in. I’m going in reverse here, being intrigued by movies and dramas because of the actress (and granted, that helped me out early on, especially with Search: WWW). But I only learned who Han So-hee was because of My Name, Song Hye-kyo because of The Glory, and going all the way back, Lee Young-ae because of Lady Vengeance. Why can’t Yoona play characters like that? Not someone perfect to satisfy my requirement that she never suffers, but someone befitting her real-life, outsize public persona?

Well, I suppose she is, to me, an idol after all. Perfect and deific. She isn’t earthy and warm like Yuri, or tragic like IU and the women of Kara. In fact, I’ve long suspected that I’ve never actually seen the true Yoona. There were flashes of a mischievous side back in the early days of Girls’ Generation, and I don’t see that anymore. I see someone protective of a very expensive image, and perhaps that’s why I’m protective of it, too. So without demanding anything – and believe me, she can do whatever and I’ll be there, struggling through King the Land – I only hope that one day she breaks it.

I’m never going to the gym again