Well I for one, find your fascinations with Godzilla films charming; and recall being charmed by the monsters themselves many years ago. It never occured to me as a child that the monsters where actors in regalia. At the time I was taking animation classes and assumed they were models! My thoughts are this: How much personality the Japanese bring to stereotypes [the monsters being stereotypes of classic Japanese myth, art, and theatre]. Perhaps more importantly, what a capacity to create stereotypes from personalities. Just take the world of Pokemon [however shallow that is as an example, the characters all have, potentiality, the *as-if* of metaphor]. It would be wonderful if you shared more about this. There is a model here, especially in our world of special effects and the fantastic. The link to real personalities, and actors being the bridge, shaping animated characters in fantasy/mythology seems the difference between artifact and art. Disney sometimes has small clues [Robin Williams, etc.], but their inability to stretch as to who they include in their models is the difference. Susanna Chandler Gravity Groove Productions Cambridge, MA > From: Scott Andrew Hutchins <[log in to unmask]> > Reply-To: Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 14:00:38 -0500 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Kurosawa and Godzilla > > Forwarded from a Yahoo! club... > > <<Re: Kurosawa > Trivia---ANSWER!!! > lcaustin2000 > (F/OH, U. S. A.) > 10/3/01 5:16 pm > > Sorry to have been away for so long. > > I like to put this question out when I'm dealing with film buffs, or, best > yet, among snobbish artsy > types. The information really irritates these types. (^_^) Here, though, I > thought it would break the ice > and get the club talking. Not as rousing as I'd have liked, but, you've > responded. If I irritated anyone, > so much the better. > > Anyway... > > Kurosawa was very interested in filming a Godzilla film. However, the > higher-ups at Toho > considered him one of their 'A-list' directors and not really for their more > family/youth/science > fictioney type projects. As I recall reading, he often times visited the sets > (and his close friend, Ishiro > Honda), not unlike other 'prohibited' directors, to get a peek at effects > scenes and such being made. > Honda was considered 'cool' because he worked with Godzilla (Tsuburaya) and > made such popular > films. > > Incidentally, although Ishiro Honda directed many Godzilla films, he never > directed Godzilla himself. > Special effects scenes always fell under the aegis of the 'Director of Special > Techniques', normally > Mr. Eiji Tsuburaya. However upon his death during the production of > 'Godzilla's Revenge' (1969), > Honda had to wear this hat as well. This would make it the only time Honda > DIRECTLY directed > Godzilla. (My friend, another Self Confessed Godzilla-nut, said this factor > threw him off. ) > > Save for one, all of the actors you mentioned have featured in Godzilla films. > The 'zero' pun refers to > 'Monster Zero' (1965), starring Godzilla, Rodan, Ghidrah, the three-headed > monster, Nick Adams, > Yoshio Tsuchiya, Akira Kubo, and the beauteous, and dare I say, very sexy, and > highly fanciable > Kumi Mizuno. > > I actually met Mr. Nakajima about two years ago. I've had opportunity to meet > a number of > celebrities and political figures over the years. (Mainly in the 'Forrest > Gump' fashion!) This was the > first time I was star struck! My knees were KNOCKING!! > > I found it fun to think of the Toho monsters as actors. You notice patterns in > their behavior/use that > gives them a sort of life of their own. Godzilla is a gifted actor that loves > to be hammy. Rodan, a > classically trained actor that is never going to get another meaty lead role > again because he's not as > popular with the young people. Mothra, singer turned actress. Ghidrah, the > 'Christopher Lee' of giant > monster actors. That sort of thing. Again, look at how the characters are used > from film to film by the > studio. > > Reading: 'The Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo' by Stuart Galbraith IV for the > Kurosawa info and > great interviews with the people of the industry. > > G-Fan magazine ran a series of articles 'Gammera's Autobiography'. This is a > funny series of > 'excerpts' from the giant turtle's autobiography by J. Christian Grymr. It is > the only fan-fiction I've ever > recommended. It's a first person telling of Gammera's trials and tribulations > as a jobbing monster > actor. > > Ki o tsukete! >> > > Scott Andrew Hutchins > http://members.home.net/scottandrewh > > "To destroy an offender cannot benefit society so much as to redeem him." > --L. Frank Baum, _The Flying Girl_, 1911 > > ---- > Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the > University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite