• printer friendly
• mail this article
• iPod format
• digg

Photo

“Mightiest monster in all creation! Ravishing a universe for love!” That tag line could only mean one thing: Mothra, protector of earth and enemy of the famous Godzilla is back in town.

Spawned by the tumultuous 1940s and ’50s, giant Tokyo-crushing radioactive creatures called “kaiju” began their careers as legitimate representations of fear in a new world of nuclear power. The city-destroying monsters slowly slipped into the absurd and repetitive formula that many either love or hate them for.

Two such films, “Mothra” and “Gorgo” are showing today at 2 p.m. the James Bridges Theater.

“Mothra,” the first in a series which created a worthy adversary for Godzilla in such kaiju classics as “Godzilla vs. Mothra,” involves a giant moth attempting to rescue a couple of foot-tall priestesses who have been kidnapped from their radioactive island. After Mothra flutters about, blowing tanks away as if they were small toy cars and destroying much of Tokyo, someone realizes the moth is telepathically connected to the tiny women and devises a plot to reunite them.

While many modern viewers see it as silly, model-demolishing mayhem, Godzilla and his contemporaries provided an outlet to seriously deal with sentiments after World War II and the invention of the atom bomb. The films were imported to America and struck a chord.

“In the 1950s, America had spades of bad, really bad monster movies because of our intense fear of Russian invasion during the Cold War,” said Susan Lewak, a graduate student specializing in folklore in UCLA’s English department.

“When you look at these creatures created by radiation, they’re always in sewers, dumps … the message was ‘look at how stupid these humans are,’” Lewak added.

Somewhere along the line though the monsters lost their social conscience – the social issues in kaiju movies slowly became less important than the sight of men in rubber suits crawling out of swimming pools and destroying mock cities. Today people watch the monsters and their ridiculous storylines for a good nostalgic experience.

“The primary audience these days is the baby boomers – it’s part of their childhood and they want to introduce their kids to the same things,” said Michael Schlesinger, vice president of repertory sales for Columbia Pictures.

Yet Godzilla continues to remain embedded in mainstream culture. Having two movies released within the past five years and a new “Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters” video game for the Nintendo GameCube, it seems that each generation gets its share of fighting-monster exposure. There’s even “Kaiju: Big Battle,” a new underground WWE-style wrestling league with kaiju-costumed characters and a miniature city around the ring.

Comedy Central’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000” also continues to bring these low-budget monster movies to new audiences, albeit only to make fun of them. Currently on the SciFi channel, the show features three silhouetted characters sitting in front of extraordinarily poor films and proceeding to joke, heckle, and boo.

“Gorgo,” a British film where a Godzilla-like monster attacks England, has had the honor of appearing on “Mystery Science,” but the upcoming UCLA screening will feature no commentary other than that of the potential student conjecture during its screening at Melnitz.

There will be moments during “Mothra” where the UCLA crowd may feel a particular urge to create their own dialogue. Because of editing done to the original film for American audiences and a subsequent restoration of the lost footage, there are moments in the new print when there is no sound.

“The UCLA audience will be able to participate a little, whenever those parts come up, and just make up your own words,” Schlesinger said.

Yet even with such opportunities to enjoy a B-movie with an interactive college crowd, some would still rather sit it out.

“I think that time is spent much more efficiently sleeping than watching ‘Mothra,’” said Katherine Fowler, a second-year English and philosophy student.

For more info, call (310) 206-FILM or log on to www.cinema.ucla.edu.