Godzilla after Cloverfield
01/10/2008 . Source: Mark R. Leeper 
Mark R. Leeper was on a panel at Denvention in which the topic of giant monster movies was discussed. It got him thinking about them and how the film Cloverfield will affect them. For most of his life Godzilla has been a cultural icon. Godzilla is today one of the most recognisable fictional characters in the world, perhaps. Buy Cloverfield in the USA - or Buy Cloverfield in the UK  We are now, however, in a new era on the whole Godzilla thing. It may be that there can never be another giant monster movie of its ilk. The film Cloverfield was a nearly entirely different look. It wiped away some of our much-needed illusions about the giant monster film. Cinema has lost its innocence with Cloverfield's message.
One of my earliest cinema-related memories was seeing on television the original trailer for GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS, the somewhat butchered American release version of the Japanese film GOJIRA. That trailer can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnZ6Ktjynh0. My six-year-old eyes were dazzled by the huge monster as seen in black and white in the half-light of night and from a very low angle. It looked terrifying in ways that THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS and THEM! could not match. And kids love to be terrified. This trailer grabbed my imagination.
Even more I was grabbed by the real film, and still more by seeing the original very grim Japanese film GOJIRA. The Japanese version was not afraid to leave nightmarish impressions on the viewer. One scene had a mother caught in the attack and sheltering her children in the protection of a building telling them that they would soon be with their father. Also you see the destruction and the people in pain and the chorus of children lamenting. You got the message that what you were seeing was harsh, but in the back of your mind there was also a voice saying "isn't it cool."
The next film Toho made in what was becoming a series was GOJIRA RAIDS AGAIN. That is one of several titles the film had. It cut back somewhat on the grimness and stressed more the coolness. By the time King Kong fought Godzilla in colour there was more comedy and very little emphasis on any the pain these things were causing. As the series continued the focus moved downward. After a couple more films Godzilla became a good guy and the defender of Japan. The films aimed at a younger and younger audience. Godzilla was made even bigger but given a more rounded and pleasant look. The films seemed to be aimed at ten-year-olds.
There has now been not one but three series of Godzilla films, and many other films in the sub-genre of "Kaiju" films. Kaiju is Japanese for "giant monster." A kaiju is more than just a dinosaur. It is huge and powerful. You could probably kill a dinosaur with a bazooka. A kaiju is something inspired by the idea of a dinosaur in the modern world, but it is really supposed to be a lot bigger and more threatening. Still few kaiju films seem to touch on the horror of the human toll of having a giant monster disassembling your city.
Few fans of Kaiju film would disagree that the best of the Kaiju films was the original GOJIRA that started it all. And the reasons might vary from fan to fan but they usually boil down to liking the realistic grimness of the first film.
That was how things stood until the film Cloverfield was released. There was almost no "ain't it cool" to Cloverfield. It was a kaiju monster film in which you saw very little of the kaiju. Instead it is a monster movie informed by the September 11 experience. On 9/11/01 people saw what happened in human terms when buildings were destroyed by great force. The point of this film was just what all kaiju films (but GOJIRA) ignored, the human toll of an attack by giant monsters or by aeroplanes turned into guided missiles. Cloverfield was shot with a handheld camera, which not only keeps expenses low; it gives much more a feeling of immediacy and reality. Even 3D does not make a film seem so real.
In Cloverfield we see the people caught in the deadly dust clouds when buildings are unexpectedly demolished. We see what happens to people caught in these buildings. People get hurt. People get killed. Cloverfield is not about a monster attacking a city. It is about the human toll of having a giant monster attack a city.
One of the signature moments of the Godzilla series occurs at the end of GODZILA 2000. The story is really over and the filmmakers wanted to give us one last touch. So Godzilla, standing in the middle of a city, flames a circle around him. It was just a sort of parting shot. After Cloverfield viewers are more likely to ask what happened to the people who were charbroiled just for being within his reach? This is no longer the innocent victory gesture it was intended.
The kaiju sub-genre has been faltering for a long time. One seriously wonders where it can go now that Cloverfield has sensitised viewers. Even watching the older Godzilla films they seem far more naive than they did before. They ignore the major part of the story. But how many films can be made about the painful effects of such an attack. I suspect the Cloverfield really was the kaiju film to end all kaiju films... literally.
Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 2008 Mark R. Leeper |
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