DoomsdaysCW<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Godzilla" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Godzilla</span></a>: the perfect <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/monster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>monster</span></a> for the age of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a></p><p>May 31, 2019</p><p>A monster of awe</p><p>"In their 1987 book <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/AngelsFear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>AngelsFear</span></a>, anthropologists Gregory and Mary Catherine Batseon proposed a fictional god called <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Eco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Eco</span></a>, one that would represent the importance of seeing the world as a system of interconnected organisms, or the 'unity in which we make our home'. </p><p>"They hoped that the existence of such a god might encourage humanity to behave more respectfully towards our world.</p><p>"However, in today’s world, a figure such as Eco does not inspire the awe or respect which our age of existential crisis demands. A monster is needed, and as I have argued in my co-authored book Monsters of Modernity: Global Icons for Our Critical Condition, Godzilla is the perfect monster to make us think about the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/consequences" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>consequences</span></a> of our actions.</p><p>"From the first Japanese Godzilla film in 1954, all the way through to Godzilla’s latest outing in this year’s aptly named Hollywood blockbuster Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Godzilla has been understood as a response to humanity’s mistreatment of the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/earth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>earth</span></a>.</p><p>"The first case of mistreatment to provoke Godzilla in 1954 was the use of <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/nuclear" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>nuclear</span></a> weapons. While developing a premise for the first film, Tanaka Tomoyuki, a young producer at Toho Studios in Japan asked himself: “What if a dinosaur sleeping in the Southern Hemisphere had been awakened and transformed into a giant by the Bomb? What if it attacked Tokyo?”</p><p>"Subsequent films, which vary immensely in their level of earnestness or goofiness, have referenced other environmental misdeeds, such the 1971 film Godzilla vs <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Hedorah" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Hedorah</span></a> (aka the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SmogMonster" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SmogMonster</span></a>) in which mankind’s pollution becomes a nearly invincible monster. Although Godzilla defeats the Smog Monster, viewers are left in no doubt that we ignore the effects of our <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/pollution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>pollution</span></a> at our peril."</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/climate/godzilla-the-perfect-monster-for-the-age-of-climate-change/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">cosmosmagazine.com/earth/clima</span><span class="invisible">te/godzilla-the-perfect-monster-for-the-age-of-climate-change/</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MonsterRevolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MonsterRevolution</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/CallingAllMonsters" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>CallingAllMonsters</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/KaijuRevolution" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>KaijuRevolution</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/DestroyCapitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>DestroyCapitalism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/RespectEco" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>RespectEco</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MotherEarth" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MotherEarth</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MotherNature" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MotherNature</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateCollapse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateCollapse</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ExtremeWeather" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ExtremeWeather</span></a></p>