New Godzilla Channel on Pluto Is Based
There are few things I love in life and one of them is Godzilla. It is hard to imagine a world in which I do not enjoy the antics of the King of Monsters and his hyper destructive cohorts. It’s not the ____, it’s the principle. Godzilla is a symbol of the apocalypse, of climate change, of nuclear warfare. He represents the end of life on Earth, regardless of which form it takes. And not only that, it’s a whole lot of fun.
The new Godzilla is dark and gritty, a tough guy tale of kaiju duking it out. The old Godzilla films…are not that. Grown men on miniature landscapes stomping around. But to great effect, it should be said. Those older Godzilla films hold their own in the special effects department-it’s hard to argue how anyone could do much better. It’s not easy portraying a 355 foot monster.
Some of the Godzilla films that will be shown on this channel are great or very good at least, while others are bad, in some cases very very bad. But they are always interesting, whether it be because of strange nonsensical villains or whacky, equally nonsensical human plotlines. Hell, they all boil down to one central ingredient, which is the entertainment value of Godzilla destroying things. And ultimately, that’s what a lot of these films are-narrative frameworks built to move Godzilla from Arena 1-Fight A to Arena 2-Fight B, etc. There are fun twists such as teamups, multi party battles and the occasional film where Godzilla is the villain (is he ever really the villain though?), such as Godzilla vs. Mothra.
The movies as a whole function more like individuals in a franchise than a serial run of films. There is very little sense of plot threads or continuity across these, except in a few circumstances, such as the Mothra trilogy. A lot of the films basically work around introducing villains multiple times in various forms that don’t always make sense. “You beat Ghidorah, but now he’s Mecha-Ghidorah!” is an example of how villains morph while staying essentially the same. In fact the franchise may be the genesis of the whole “villain comes back with even more super super powers” meme. After Mecha-Godzilla goes down the series returns later on with Space Godzilla. OOOH!
The thing is, these movies are cheesy. Cheesy, kooky fun. But regardless of whatever antics are occurring with the humans (or occasionally with the monsters themselves), Godzilla, the monster, the franchise, the concept…it’s electric. It’s one of the strongest concepts ever. Big fucking monster stomping on shit. Breathes blue atomic fire. He’s a harbinger of doom, a symbol of God and yet also a chilling symbol of just how small we are. And maybe that’s the brilliance in it. Because Godzilla is such a huge figure, not just physically, but metaphorically.
A few weeks ago, I watched a film called Oppenheimer. You’ve probably heard of it. I was struck by the depth of the film's depiction of Oppenheimer’s grief, his horror at having created a weapon so powerful that it changed history forever. The truth is, for the last 80 years, we have all lived in the shadow of nuclear power. From China to Ukraine, its impact on our lives has been inescapable. It could be argued that the nuclear era began the cultural slide into degeneracy and lunacy that stands with us to this day. For the record, I’m not some conservative hack saying that. I fully endorse and enjoy our culture. It’s a hundred year mourning of the updated death of human dignity. And of course, the hard realities of life, the loss of innocence. All the things that our country knew well before and come to know more everyday.
It is, in some ways, fitting that there is now a Godzilla channel running 24/7. At the end of the day he is the terror we cannot look away from, the ultimate symbol of the nuclear age. He makes us look at ourselves and realize we are small, insignificant, our fates hanging in the balance of the universe.
Anyways, dour philosophizing aside, there’s a new 24 hour Godzilla channel on Pluto TV, which is totally free and totally groovy. You should check it out.
