The Kaiju Film: A Critical Study of Cinema's Biggest MonstersThe Kaiju (strange monster or strange beast) film genre has a number of themes that go well beyond the "big monsters stomping on cities" motif. Since the seminal King Kong 1933) and the archetypal Godzilla (1954), kaiju has mined the subject matter of science run amok, militarism, capitalism, colonialism, consumerism and pollution. This critical examination of kaiju considers the entirety of the genre--the major franchises, along with less well known films like Kronos (1957), Monsters (2010) and Pacific Rim (2013). The author examines how kaiju has crossed cultures from its original folkloric inspirations in both the U.S. and Japan and how the genre continues to reflect national values to audiences. |
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Contents
Preface | 1 |
A Genre Apart | 4 |
1 The Japanese Origins of the Kaiju | 25 |
2 Disasters Manmade and Natural | 37 |
3 International and Domestic Politics | 68 |
4 Science and the Weapons of Mass Destruction | 105 |
5 America and Kaiju | 121 |
6 The Body Gender and Kaiju | 156 |
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Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | The Kaiju Film: A Critical Study of Cinema's Biggest Monsters |
| Author | Jason Barr |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | McFarland, 2016 |
| ISBN | 078649963X, 9780786499632 |
| Length | 212 pages |
| Subjects | › › › Performing Arts / Film / Genres / Science Fiction & Fantasy Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / Asian American & Pacific Islander Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |