Godzilla & Mythic Symbolism (redux)

For those who want some inside information, the "biodroid" at the end of Fantasmagoria is kind of a cross between MechaGodzilla and Mogera.

In the original movie arcs from the 60s and 70s, MechaGodzilla was build by a race of invading aliens who needed to kill the king of the monsters before they could take over the earth. In the 90s-era reboots, MechaG was built by the human race to combat the big guy after he destroyed Mogera, our first attempt at a robotic counterthreat.

In both cases, the machine is the perfect symbolic counterpart to Godzilla, who is another in a long line of elemental giant beasts from the depths, including Cthulhu, the Kraken, the Leviathan of the Bible, all the way back to Tiamat, if you know your Sumerian mythology.

"Depths," by the way, can refer to the ocean, the subconscious, deep space, or anything similar. This is the formless void, the unknowable chaos that exists outside our ken and which must be vanquished for human society to flourish.

And so, in the earliest recorded creation story, Marduk the creator-god (who represents order) slays Tiamat (who represents chaos), an act that must be honored as part of the annual cycle (or eternal return) to ensure the proper continuation of the universe. Civilization over nature.

The same battle manifests in the Lovecraftian mythos as that between sanity and insanity, and you see echoes in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, on which Stan Lee based the Hulk.

My character Kraxus the Destroyer is supposed to evoke, albeit very weakly, those great beasts from the depths. I keep it simple so as not to distract from the action, which is more fun both to read and to write.

The 1998 Hollywood production of Godzilla sucked because it ignored the fantastical, mythical elements, which are the core of the character, in favor of a veneer of realism. No depth, mind you. Just a spray-on tan. The creature of that movie is a mutated iguana. No more. No less. And it's destroyed by some F-16s.

Uhhhh... Okay.

In his sixty-year history, the big guy has been both friend and foe, but the best movies--like Godzilla 2000, the first Toho production after the shitty Hollywood version--portray him as neither hero nor villain. He is a force of nature and just as unpredictable. A hurricane may produce tragic results, but it isn't evil. It isn't out to get you, but it is violent and indomitable. You can't beat it. You can only endure.

Fanboys like me frost our shorts in foam when Godzilla--not good, not evil, just indomitable--is turned against a force that IS evil... such as aliens trying to conquer the earth or some mad scientist's experiment gone awry. Humanity may marvel at our ingenuity when we lure Godzilla into a volcano and bury him, but we're kicking ourselves a few months later when the flying saucer drops King Ghidorah from its belly.

A three-headed space dragon. Fuck.

Lucky for us, not even a volcano can hold back a god, the unconquerable and capricious will of nature manifest on two legs. And breathing nuclear fire.

Alien, meet mother nature's bodyguard.

The new Asian trailer for the movie that comes out next week, which I have linked below, is the most exciting thing I've seen in a long time. I just talked like four people's ears off. And now yours.

Spoken in the trailer are the almighty words,

"Can you kill it?"

"I believe something can."

And...

"A monster?"

"No. A god."

And...

"Let them fight" (referring to big G and a second, flying creature).

It appears that this movie will rightfully return the King of the Monsters to his mythical status. I just hope he breathes nuclear fire.

And now I will go back to playing with my Godzilla toys.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!!!!!

We want the funk! Give us the funk!

Laying it down on the Smog Monster.

G-man takes a break from saving/destroying the world to pose with the missus.

Pardon me. Would you have any Grey Poupon?

You heard me! You can suck it!