Transnational Kaiju: Exploitation, Globalisation and Cult Monster Movies

by Steven Rawle

Overview

From relatively humble beginnings in a King Kong-inspired Japanese studio picture, the kaijū eiga has developed into a global genre. While the origins of giant kaijū – the term often preferred to ‘monster’ – remain firmly rooted in Japan, the figure has become a transnational spectacle. This book explores how kaijū went global, from the adoption of Godzilla movies in translation to the appropriation of cultural material across borders. With reference to the genre’s global development, its exploitative Western circulation and the labour of fans, the book examines how genres with deep national roots can become transnational phenomena.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474475815
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	05/31/2024
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Dr Steven Rawle is Associate Professor in Media Production at York St John’s University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: ‘Every Country has a Monster’

What is the kaijū eiga?

Cult Movies

Transnational Cinema

Transnational Kaijū

Chapter 1: National Films, Transnational Monsters

Kaijū and the Japanese National Imaginary

Carl Denham’s Giant Monster

The Lost World and The Beast

Kaijū emerge

Chapter 2: The First Monster Boom

Kaijū at Tōhō

Kaijū at Daiei

Kaijū at Shōchiku, Nikkatsu and Toei

Chapter 3: Exchanging monsters: Korean Kaijū

The kaijū meme

Kaijū head west

Kaijū on the Korean Peninsula

Kim Jong-Il’s kaijū

Kaijū in new Korean Cinema

Chapter 4: Distributing Kaijū: Localisation and Exploitation

National Cinema: Quality and Trash

Popular Cinema to Exploitation Film

Long Live the King

Cozzilla

The Return of Steve Martin

Chapter 5: ‘Paul Bunyan never fought Rodan’

Appropriation, Borrowing, Exchange

European Kaijū

Hollywood Kaijū

Kaijū Mockbusters

Kongsploitation

Chapter 6: Legendary Monsters

Legendary Entertainment

Marked/Unmarked Transnational Cinema

Pacific Rim

The Great Wall

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Into the MonsterVerse

Conclusion: The Limiting Imagination of Transnational Monsters

National Kaijū

Nostalgia and fandom

Editorial Reviews

Since its 1954 debut, Godzilla’s heritage has undergone numerous makeovers. Steve Rawle has written an indispensable book on the many inspirations and transitions of the Kaiju. Detailing dozens of Kaiju films, Rawle gives an exquisite outline of the conditions of global connectivity and cultural appropriation that have coloured the cult phenomenon’s national and international travels, and of the themes that travel spawned, making Transnational Kaiju’s essential reading for fans, critics and scholars of what is still the best monster ever.

Ernest Mathijs

In a break from previous literature on the subject, Steven Rawles provides readers with what could be considered the authoritative work on how a niche genre of film tapped into a central mythos and transcended national borders to become a global phenomenon. Well-researched, it has enough information about kaiju-eiga films to remain interesting and accessible to recently joined fans of the genre, while at the same time giving veterans fresh subject matter to explore.

UK Kaiju - Joe McIntee

In Transnational Kaiju, Steve Rawle charts, with authority and rigour, the provenance and global development of this most culturally rich of popular genres. Attuned to both its local specificity and cultural elasticity, Rawle’s analysis is far-reaching in its assessment of the kaiju eiga as a truly transnational phenomenon.

Kate Egan

Across six chapters, [Rawle] provides in-depth analyses of the first Godzilla movie and the subsequent monster-movie boom in Japan; kaijū film in the two Koreas; the Western localization of Japanese kaijū films and production of domestic variants; kaijū as cult and exploitation cinema; and kaijū in Hollywood. [Rawle] does a good job of detailing the complex relationships—economic, industrial, and semiotic—between national cinema and transnational culture. Its study of international film distribution networks is particularly strong.

CHOICE - C. Brienza