Do you watch the show Community at all? Well,
there's kind of a joke where two of them have
like a morning show. So I'm like singing it.
I'm like Vincent Beth in the morning because
it is so early. I know. Actually, I thought if
this was a live thing, I could have really gotten
my morning DJ personality on. But but alas, if
we make a mistake, we can edit it out. Hello,
everybody, and welcome to Camp Kaiju Monster
Movie Podcast. We are your hosts, Vincent Hannum
and Matt Levine, and we're talking about all
of our favorite monster movies, the good, the
bad, and the downright campy, and asking if they
stand the test of time. Traditional kaiju, creature
features, space invaders, the supernatural, and
everything in between. All strange beasts welcome
here. Amp Kaiju is sponsored by Zach Linder and
the Zach Pack, powered by Coldwell Banker Realty,
your source for real estate, home rehab, fixing
and flipping for investor clients and residential
buyers. Reach out to the Zach Pack today for
real estate services. Follow the Zach Pack on
social media and contact the Zach Pack for investment
opportunities. Link in the show notes. Surprise,
surprise. I am coming at you today with a surprise
episode. What do you know? This came across my
desk and I am so excited to share it with you.
You're going to hear that word excited quite
a bit in this episode. So first of all, today
is June 21st, 2025. Dates are also going to be
important. But don't worry, this is not going
to be a history lesson for you today. It's going
to be a little bit of Godzilla festival talk,
Godzilla day. But go with me on this journey.
So two days ago, Beth Bredlaw reached out to
me on Instagram. She is a master student working
on her PhD in Godzilla studies. She's going to
talk to you all about it there. But she's wicked
smart. Very fun and knows her kaiju. Beth reached
out to me asking if I could have her on Camp
Kaiju Monster Movie Podcast to hype up Godzilla
Day. Godzilla Day is coming to you in Bloomington,
Indiana on June 27th, 2025. Yes, that is one
week from today, but it's one weekend from today.
It's going to be a weekend event. at a local
cinema in Bloomington in partnership with the
university, in partnership with the Japanese
Society of Indiana and so many other great partners.
Beth has organized this. She is passionate and
dedicated and committed and wants to spread the
love of the Big G. Who doesn't? That's why you're
listening to Camp Kaiju. And that's why... Me
and Beth have a great conversation, not only
about Godzilla Day and all that's involved, but
Jun Fukuda, the unsung hero, perhaps, of the
Godzilla franchise and all the great work he's
done for the legacy of Godzilla. We're talking,
you know, Godzilla versus Megalon, Godzilla versus
Mechagodzilla, Son of Godzilla, Ebira, The Horror
of the Deep. These are Jun Fukuda joints, and
no better fan to hype up Jun Fukuda. than Beth
here on Camp Kaiju. So we're going to get to
the meat and potatoes of the episode in a little
bit. But of course, we got to go through some
nuts and bolts and thank our patrons, Jason B.
Struel, Sean Peggy, our anonymous patron, and
Chris B. It's because of you all. that Camp Kaiju
has a footprint in the monster community for
Beth to even know we exist and reach out to us.
So we're doing our part to spread the word, spread
the love of everything Kaiju and monster movies.
Yes, I'm so excited. There's that word again.
Coming up next week, one week from today, we're
going to have Robot Jocks, a Stuart Gordon picture.
featuring giant mechs. This is going to be a
post -apocalyptic world of stop -motion robots
fighting each other to settle disputes between
countries. What about that doesn't make you want
to watch this movie? Do check out that movie.
Check out the reputation of this film. It did
influence a whole ton of other artists. First
and foremost, Guillermo del Toro's own Pacific
Rim. So yes, if you think that sounds familiar.
It starts with robot jocks and all the related
genre cinema and media related to giant robots.
So very exciting. After that, we're going to
take two weeks and prepare an episode on the
Company of Wolves. Naomi Osborne is going to
join us as a guest host on that. That's going
to wrap up the first six months of season five
of Camp Kaiju. Matt and I are currently in discussions.
For what the next half of the year is going to
hold for season five, I can tell you we're going
to feature a traditional kaiju movie in July.
TBD patrons, if you're listening, know that you
will have a voice in that. And if you are not
a patron out there and you want to become a patron,
one perk we're going to give you is that patrons
are going to be able to vote on that high July
title. So we hope that we can have some fun.
Stop having a conversation about that. So conversation,
maybe a rock them, sock them, knock down, drag
out fight. Robot jock style. Yeah. Okay. Maybe
not. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but I
am so excited. That is right. What else can I
tell you? Well, I am just going to leave it with.
My well wishes for you this weekend, for this
year, for this lifetime. And we'll see you next
week for Robot Jocks. Have fun. Enjoy this. If
you have any questions about Godzilla Day, reach
out to me. Reach out to Beth. All those links,
all the important links are in the show notes.
So check them out. And we thank you for listening.
Leave us a positive rating and review if you
like what you hear. And until next time, stay
campy. Will Godzilla, man's friend, be vanquished?
More than 1600 dead have been reported, while
other casualties are expected to exceed 30 ,000.
The main storage tank of the Japan Oil Company
has exploded. Nothing man can do can stop the
smog monster. Can Godzilla save the Earth from
this mastodon of destruction? A remote Pacific
island where an expedition of world -famous scientists
investigate incredible rumors of its fantastic
mysteries and discover barren volcanic mountains
surrounding strange green valleys. Mammoth caves
that breed giant mutations. Vampire plants that
devour humans. But most astounding of all, The
tiniest women in all creation. Sacred beauties
of a lost tribe which worships a monstrous creature.
What is the secret of Mothra? What is the bizarre
spell that awakens Mothra? As these doll -sized
girls call to the super god from captivity. Mothra,
whose revenge is more devastating than any man
-made weapon. Mothra, who defies warplanes. Cracks
ocean liners. Smashes dams and bridges. creating
hurricanes. Mothra, enveloped in a shell that
no human force can penetrate. Mothra, indestructible,
all -powerful, indescribable. What kind of creature
is this god monster, Mothra? And Mothra, in one
of the most explosive action pictures ever to
hit the screen. From the depths of the ocean
comes the most terrifying horror of the deep.
From within the mountain caves comes the dreaded
monster Godzilla. the most titanic battle ever
screened when the monster of the deep challenges
the mighty Godzilla. Hi, good morning. Good morning.
I'd love you to just introduce yourself and talk
about Godzilla Day. My name is Beth Rudlaw. I
am a graduate student at IU in Bloomington, Indiana.
And I am the person that have organized and put
together Godzilla Day, which is June 27th, 2025
in Bloomington, Indiana, where the mayor of Bloomington,
Indiana, Carrie Thompson, officially signed and
proclaimed June 27th, Godzilla Day. And you have
the paper. Yeah, with our official sealed proclamation.
But June 27th kicks off Godzilla Weekend. And
Godzilla Weekend is a weekend film event at the
Buzz Kirk Chumley where we will be showing original
Godzilla films. From Toho, they will be subtitled
and not dubbed. And on the Friday, June 27th,
we have the first Godzilla by Ashiro Honda in
its original format. We're going to be having
introductions from me, the local Godzilla historian,
and then a post -film Q &A where we will have
a local podcaster named Steve Volan who will
act as the emcee. And we will be fielding questions
along with... professors from East Asian Studies
will be able to answer questions as well. So
we're going to have a really amazing academic
panel up there. June 28th, we're going to be
showing one of my favorites, which is All Monsters
Attack. And then June 29th, it'll be a trip.
We're going to have Godzilla versus Hedorah on
the big screen in its original format. That is
a trip. Yeah, we've been incredibly lucky. We
have amazing sponsors for this event. We have
First East Asian Studies at IU. And secondly,
we have the Japanese American Society of Indiana
has been our sponsor as well. And lastly, we
have the Pillar Arts, which is a nonprofit foundation
here in Indiana. So they're going to be helping
us out. And then at the event. We're going to
have some tables set up, including from a local
tattoo shop called Tattoo Kaiju. And all they
do is specialize in Godzilla tattoos. It's amazing.
Well, they do a lot of things, but, you know,
Kaiju tattoos is their main flavor. So it's going
to be a really great weekend. That sounds like
it. I live in Minneapolis. I feel like I'm just
close enough to the radius of my acceptable drive
time for a day. It's very tempting. To make that
drive. So folks, if you're closer to Bloomington,
please go. Already it sounds well worth the trip.
You know, the really great thing too about our
venue, the Buzz Kirk Chumley Theater, is that
it's this awesome movie theater from 1922. So
it has all the original Art Deco and it's 600
seats. So it has, and it's been perfectly maintained.
So it has those kind of like. original gold spires
and the big red curtain and that stage up front
so not only is it an awesome film to watch but
we get to watch it within this like awesome venue
all together and experience it it even kind of
has that upper balcony area you know yeah it's
really really cool i love that we have a few
cinemas like that in town here and i whenever
i can i prefer that to the big multiplex because
it's so charming Yeah. Oh, I know. You know,
the one thing we really wanted to do, like that
was really important to me that when I decided
to just like roll the dice and put this and get
this thing going was I wanted to make sure that,
you know, nothing about this was lacking or,
you know, I guess the term is like half ass,
you know, it's like if we're going to show this
in theaters. I want a beautiful cinema to do
this. If we're going to show these films, they
have to be the originals, you know, like I'd
rather have, we, we got three films, you know,
well, maybe we could have gotten seven, but they're
the edits and we don't need that. I'd rather,
you know, we have the three, the three films,
the ones that, you know, we had to have the Honda
one in its format, you know, so then maybe next
year we can build this bigger. Yeah. So, you
know, so yeah, it's, it's really coming along
and I have seven days. Oh my God. Every day we
get closer to this thing. this this idea and
how it first came about well so i okay so i'm
a graduate student i'm about to finish my master's
and i do art history but i'm also a philosopher
i'm an aesthetic philosopher and i do decolonial
work as well i have undergraduate degrees in
that and then i also have other master's work
within this and then i'm a lifelong kaiju godzilla
fan so we you know quickly i realized that shifting
my focus into Godzilla studies within the frame
that I work with was something that fit really
nicely. And then, you know, at IU, we have East
Asian Studies and International School and this
beautiful art history department. And everyone
got on board like really quickly because we also
realized that, you know, within the past 20 years
in the West, we're really starting to write this
like historiography in doing this. So it's really
like a perfect time to start intersecting. more
bigger philosophical issues and critical theory
within this. And really the support from academia
has been amazing, but that's also kind of how
this came out. So I really kind of wanted to
do something a little like different with my
master's work to kind of show the school, like
not only that I want to do Godzilla, I'm going
to do this Godzilla studies and scholarship,
but like. I also want to show you like why it's
so important to be active in this community.
So I had spoke at a conference. It was called
the Crisis and History Conference. And I spoke
about Jun Fukuda films, a topic we were texting
about. Yeah. And I was meeting with one. She
does Japanese genre films. So she was advising
me. And we were talking about Godzilla. And she
just kind of like, like. put this breadcrumb
out of like, I really wish we could get Godzilla
in the cinema. And like, you know, when you have
that moment when the light bulb goes out. Oh,
yeah. So I started writing emails just to see
what I could do. I went to a few venues. And
then within three days, the Buzz Kirk Chumley
Theater got back to me, Steve Versa. And he was
like. Tell me, tell me more. And it was like
within a week or two, he had already reached
out to Janice films and we had a list and then
we had a date and then it was like, okay, we've
got three months. Let's go. And then I, you know,
so it was there. And then I was like, okay, crap.
Like how, okay, now what do I do? You know, like
I did this, we got to advertise and get this
going. And I just thought. how, you know, like
this should be celebrated. You know, this will
be the first time that this first film, like
this is Godzilla. Like this is the big film that
kicked this all off. You know, how can I make
this extra special? So not only, you know, everyone
can see and we should all celebrate this. And
then that's when I like thought like, how about
I get an official holiday proclaim? Like, how
would I do this? So I started looking at the
paperwork and process to do it. There is official
channels like. You can go ahead through your
mayor's office and event people that you have
to talk to. It's a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork,
which I'm very good at as a grant writer. So
you just kind of have to be able to nuance it
a bit. But I also had one of the art historians,
her husband worked at the mayor's office. So
I had a little bit of an in to be like, hey,
I'm trying to do this thing. We now have the
venue. We have the date. So this is, you know,
it's not like an advertising, but it's just going
to be a celebration of this event here in town.
And luckily, I had submitted the paperwork on
that Monday. That upcoming Friday was the one
day a month that she sat down and did the proclamation.
So we were able to kind of rush it through. Yeah,
so then within two, three weeks of not only having
this going. We then had the proclamation. So
it's been a whirlwind because we only had three
months to get this going. So then after I got
that going, then that started the mass campaign
of getting people who wanted to get involved
in sponsorships and then trying to organize these
other things. Also, too, I was still finishing
my semester. You know, this started, let's say,
beginning of April. I was in my semester till
middle May. So, you know, and I have 77 students
on top of taking three graduate, almost 700 level
classes. So it's really only been within the
past. I wish I would have had more time and resources
to get this thing grown. But what we've done
in three months has been really, really amazing.
And, you know, it's almost like a centripetal
force because the more energy we put out, the
more we got. back you know it's really just been
the reception of everybody around we've even
had people approach us like my instagram and
everything has been blowing up constantly people
coming to me which has been really amazing it's
kind of like if you build it they will come So,
yeah, I mean, what we can't do this year, if
we continue to do this, we now have kind of a
template going forward for it. But, you know,
this year, now we got to make this work. We got
to get butts in seats and we can we can continue
to do more to give not only the Godzilla community
what they want, but I mean, just just. Bloomington,
Indiana is kind of this fun, little artsy small
town, you know, in in this area. We don't really
have a lot around these. So it's kind of actually
an ideal location to do this thing as well. Yeah,
that I keep saying it, but that sounds so exciting.
I'm very jealous of of everything you've got
going on. Don't I am exhausted. I'm someone else
who kind of tends to. And the candle at both
ends. So I appreciate that, but I hope it's a
good exhaustion at the end of the day and it's
next week and then it's over and then you get
to breathe and then do it all over again. Well,
I also speak at G -Fest in Chicago. So the moment
I finish this, then I have to get prepared because
I have a panel speech with my husband and a good
friend of mine. So we have to go ahead and get
organized for that. I will. Yeah. I'm speaking
at Godzilla Fest in Chicago, talking about a
bureau in Pucata. So yeah. And then at the end
of July, I have another speaking engagement in
town. It's called Nerd Night. It's kind of this
national event where. Bars will basically have
like three speakers and PowerPoint presentations.
And they're kind of more informal. I'm talking
about the North Korean kaiju film. So I'll have
that. And then I can, in August, I can get everything
else in my life put back together. Is that Yongari?
Yeah. Yeah, I think so. That's the Pelagarsis
film. Yeah. The iron eating kaiju. So I'm excited
to do that one. dive deep dive i have seen it
i've seen it i just haven't done a huge deep
dive so after that it'll be my next deep dive
for my my presentation on that film i tried to
well i want to get back to i want to i want to
get back to your g fest and then i want to talk
about how you chose the titles the to program
at the theater but i i have to share with you
that i'm a high school teacher yeah and my school
we did like a A thing like we had clubs during
the middle of the day for a period, which was
really neat and kids could get involved. And
I came up with a sci -fi movie club. And I had
this whole thing built up. I created a slideshow.
I thought it would be a class where I get to
talk about the history of cinema through horror
and sci -fi. I cared so much. The 10th graders,
not so much. And I quickly realized. They don't
they don't need to learn about German expressionism
in the silent age. They just want to watch, you
know, Jurassic Park, which I was like, OK, I'm
fine with that. Even most of them hadn't even
seen Jurassic Park. So it was all a win at the
end. Yeah. I hope you have better luck with your
college students. You know, you know, what I
really do is I always just like I. Honestly,
it has to be something that's kind of present
and that they know. I've done The Last Airbender.
That one was really successful. Jurassic Park.
If you keep it more current of things that they're
watching, Pokemon, it tends to keep attention
a little bit. Yeah, I did show them because I'm
limited to what's available on YouTube or Prime,
but Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 2 is on YouTube.
with ads. Yeah. And so I watched that movie quite
a few times. It rocks underrated. Hey, say film,
but yes, I, yeah, it was still worth it. And
the kids who were engaged were really engaged
as is always the case. That's the one thing I
kind of really love about Godzilla, and particularly
I look at it from a philosophy point of view.
The idea of nostalgia and novelty with it, because
there is this generational introduction and almost
this rite of passage. There's many ways that
we all find ourselves within Godzilla, and there's
no wrong way to do it. do it and i think because
of that that's what makes it really special i
mean we're on 70 years of this thing this thing
is global and each of us have different weird
ways we've gotten into it but there's also this
huge overlap of we were introduced to it and
then that excitement followed i think that's
really that's one really special aspect of godzilla
how did you get into godzilla My dad, we grew
up with Godzilla toys and then I'm from Chicago.
So I grew up as a Svengoolie fan. So then we
started watching Svengoolie and, you know, you
kind of start with a lot of like the, you know,
the atomic creature features within the 1950s.
And then, you know, and it just kind of goes
and Godzilla is kind of always within my phenomenological
sphere. And then, so it's like, I don't even
realize that Godzilla's there and I'm a fan of
it until you go out and other people aren't.
And you're like, what do you mean you didn't
watch Mothra? Like, how do you not know? And
then you like and then. Yeah. And then you find
yourself 10 years fighting people about why mantra
is actually the best kaiju. So it becomes this,
you know, this this thing that just becomes a
part of your your life. But also, too, now looking
back, it's like, oh, that was my dad in Spangoolie,
you know. So, yeah, that's so nice. Mine was
my mom. She she, you know, we go to the local
video store and. She'd show us, you know, the
four Godzilla films that happened to be there.
So like those I watched all the time. Mothra
versus Godzilla is my favorite. And yeah, it's
just one of those things I always had that I
enjoyed. But like it wasn't until the past five
years where I saw all I ended up seeing all the
Godzilla movies because then they became available
on streaming. and whatnot so it's just been a
renaissance for me in camp kaiju and now i spend
almost every night trying to watch a new a new
monster movie but kaiju movies i'm going through
the gamera series right now you know i have a
love of gamera i have gone through all the gameras
myself you know i don't know i think that but
do you find yourself as a kaiju person whenever
people are talking about like like like a godzilla
and then they say gamera and you're like Gamera
is not Toto. So I'm like, I have to stop myself.
I'm like, no one cares, Beth. Or would they pronounce
Gamera Gamera? I'm like, no, no, no. Gamera.
Yeah. We're now those people. Big turtle. Yeah.
Yeah. Within the uncharted depths of waters surrounding
a group of islands off the 50th parallel lies
man's most formidable challenge. The awesome
awakening of prehistoric monsters longed for
extinct. Savage and deadly. Their one hope is
to rule our planet as they once had thousands
of years back. Giant against giant. The ultimate
battle. Godzilla versus Megalon. Science was
baffled and powerless. A terror -stricken humanity
knew that it was on the brink of total destruction.
A once proud civilization now had to place its
trust and hope in Godzilla and his powerful ally,
Robotman. In concert, they would fight this evil
in a duel to the death. Battling by day, battling
by night, it was more than a race against time.
This war was an all -out effort. whose ultimate
purpose was to save our planet from total destruction.
Now came the moment of truth. The ultimate battle.
Titan against Titan. giant against giant in the
most spectacular battle yet you'll see it all
in godzilla versus megalon with two america's
most blood -chilling science fiction shockers
island of the burning dam and godzilla's revenge
each other for the conquest of our planet. See
the giant spiders spin their web of fear around
their enemies. Godzilla's revenge knows no limit.
No stopping. See man's last attempt at saving
humanity from destruction. And Godzilla's revenge.
And on the same shot -filled program, Island
of the Burning Dam. A bionic monster. A menacing
giant, an awesome machine, unleashed with a deadly
task. Godzilla, the only hope for Earth's survival.
Godzilla vs. the Bionic Monster. Godzilla strives
to win supremacy in a fight to the end. Will
Godzilla triumph? The Earth survive? Godzilla
vs. the Bionic Monster, an Earth -shaking movie.
Rated G. Ten seconds, track. Okay, so the one
in Bloomington, tickets are all on sale. You
can go ahead and get tickets at buzzkirkchumlee
.org. And when me and Steve were, me and Steve
Beresoff, when we, he had sent me out the list.
So this was late March, early April. We had had
a pretty decent list of about 10 to 12 films
within the different decades. And then how we
agreed on the ones we did. Well, we obviously
knew you have to have the first one. You have
to have Honda's film, which is playing June 27th,
which is what the mayor has declared Godzilla
Day. So we had the Saturday and Sunday, you know,
because we are in a small town that we knew we
were losing a lot of the college kids. So we
were like, what can we work with with the population?
And what days can we do this? So we ended up
on All Monsters Attack, which is honestly one
of my favorites as well. It's kind of. it's how
do i say this you're allowed to watch a film
just to watch monsters fight and enjoy it but
i do think there is like the universal message
of a little bit of like childhood loneliness
and like navigating the world comes through because
we also knew that we have a lot of families here
so you know the friday night event is that's
the real serious event that we're having the
academic talks but see the thing i'm excited
about is a saturday night because i already know
so many parents with young kids that they're
now taking them to go see godzilla you know the
friday night film is just a little serious it's
a little heavy you don't really want to take
a seven -year -old to that but you can june 28th
so that that and that's all important for all
of us we need a way to introduce this in and
So what better way to do it at this beautiful
theater? And it's going to be on the big screen.
So that was really important. So I'm really excited
about that day. Like I said, I personally know
two or three young parents who are taking their
young kids. And so it's like, this will be really
like an amazing. So hopefully, hopefully they'll
get away from Sonic and Toy Story. We can veer
them towards Godzilla. And then, you know, the
Sunday one, Godzilla vs. Adora, right? How do
we pick that one? That was Steve Versa at the
busker. He's like, that is such a fun, weird,
trippy film. We're doing it Sunday. And honestly,
the ticket sales have been really, really, I'm
surprised how many tickets we've sold for that
one. Either it's just everyone coming all weekend.
Or we're getting those diehard cult classic film
people that now can come on Sunday. And I'm excited.
I've seen Hathorah on the big screen. I've seen
the first Godzilla. But I haven't seen All Monsters
Attack. So, also, we had a few on the list. We
also had, we were going back and forth. One was
Abira, Horrors of the Deep, which is one of my
favorites. But we ended up, like, going off of
that one. And the other one was a Mechagodzilla
movie or a mantra. So we had to really weigh
our options, but we figured we'd all monsters
attack. So we had all the suits out. So what
suit don't we have? And then that was when we
decided, yeah, he was like, we're doing Hedorah.
We need the Hedorah. So yeah. Isn't there, what's
the Mechagodzilla night? Oh, so that's going
to be June 24th. So a local film company, what
they just do is they set up projectors in bars.
They just go to bars and you can watch a movie.
That's Cicada Cinema. So they've joined our fund.
So they will be showing Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
June 24th at a local bar here at the Orbit Room.
So just to kind of warm people's palates up of
all of that. So we're super excited. That's,
again, that's a Jun Fukuda, which is one of my
favorites. Yeah, so I love that we were going
back on Instagram and back and forth and you
really were. Effusive with your love for Jun
Fukuda. And I love that because I don't often
hear people talk about him as their favorite
Godzilla director. And anything you want to say
about that man and his work? You know, I think
within the past 20 years as Godzilla scholarship
within the West has really started to develop,
particularly now that we have books that are
critically examining the series, I still think
in terms of Jun Fukuda, we have a long way to
go. You know, I look at things within a decolonial
and like an aesthetic context. So what that means
is like, I look at like. not the problems and
constraints but like within agency and then the
way artistic choices move franchises okay so
so how does it repeat how does it keep going
not that it's cheap but what did it do that then
it repeated itself there's a lot of mastery within
these films and the things that he does also
there's kind of this like assumption that his
films aren't political and they're these just
kind of kitschy things but like when you start
to examine them there's actually a lot of like
subtle political messaging particularly abira
that i find that's like you just need to change
your lens a little bit and you're going to see
it you know he's a real outlier of everybody
that has worked within godzilla and like his
work i think laid the groundwork particularly
for the legendary films for the 2001 gmk so that's
and materiality you know We sit here and we keep
it within the film context, but how about the
toys? How about the posters? How about these
other things that within our Godzilla fandom
are really important and become this like way
that we express ourselves and our love? You know,
now we have Godzilla museums and we just had
our first real big art exhibition, you know,
can art explain Godzilla? So if we hadn't had
these changes that were put within Jun Fukuda
that he actually did really effectively. None
of this. We couldn't be here today. So that's
why it's like he's actually, in my opinion, one
of the underrated heroes of the series. And the
things that people critique actually are super
important. Yeah. And I think about when he was
directing most of the Godzilla films in the late
60s, 70s. Yeah. I always think about the dire
straits that the Japanese film industry wasn't
at the time. Losing audiences to television and
Kaiju Tokusatsu movies were on the wane. And
how did that affect his approach? Maybe, maybe
not. Because when I think of a Jun Fukuda film,
I know, I just, I feel like I'm going to get
more of a streamlined action film where Honda
certainly has action, but he loved, like, in
my opinion, Honda loves to... really show off
the fantasy and lay bare a little more obviously
the thematic elements. Jun Fukuda has those,
but when I think of a Fukuda film, I'm going
to get, yeah, more human action, more over -the
-top Godzilla fights, Mechagodzilla, Megalon.
Yeah, which I love. I mean, those are two of
my top 10 favorite Godzilla movies. You know,
what's the one thing I find, I was just watching
Megalon yesterday because you were talking about
that. So I was like, oh, let me, let me re -familiarize
myself with Megalon. It was funny because the
only version I could find was dubbed in Spanish.
So luckily I know a little bit of Spanish. You
know, and that's it. You know, he had to work
within a TV format. So then that means that you
need to change your sequences to fit within advertising.
So you need to kind of do this bit structure
to keep people going. and which he does really
effectively effective there's also so much movement
throughout his film like it never like megalon
is like we have tanks and then going to cars
then we're going on clips and then we're running
so it's like you have this constant momentum
within these films that are building and you
know a lot of the evidence that people use to
kind of discard like discourage his films is
like well he wasn't a godzilla fan and yeah he
really wasn't it wasn't what he wanted to do
which is why godzilla becomes his tiny part of
it like You could cut out Godzilla and you have
these amazing action films, you know, so that's
where I see so much of his voice and taking control
within. And I think another thing, too, that
we don't talk about is, you know, he was a Japanese.
colonized subject. He's from Manchuria. He was
from one of the most heavily occupied parts and
he was born in the 1920s. So when he goes then
to Japan to start working and doing all this,
he's still heavily under the empire. And not
only that, he doesn't have the same rights as
everybody else. So then when the allies come
in and they redo the constitution and they break
up the empire, he stays within Japan, which is
really interesting because China was in a civil
war. So he was constantly like within this like
state and place where like I see so much of his
films talking about war and the other and that's
where I see him as a person coming through you
know and Abira you know the red bamboo is just
a stand -in for Mao Zedong and you know the culture
revolution so it's he's able but one thing I
think is also that I discuss you know A major
Japanese anxiety was that the Chinese were spies.
And then he does spy parody films like let that
sink in. That is a man who not only knows where
he is within the world, but he's finding a way
to make it work. And he does it through humor
in these like, I'm going to do it in front of
you ways, which I think that's brilliant. Yeah.
Not. Yeah. Well, I got to rewatch some of his
films then with this. New perspective, for sure.
Absolutely. Yeah. You know, in a lot of the critical
work that I have been kind of reading, a lot
of it, again, it kind of just focuses on the
constraints and it's cheap and all this. But
I'm like, you know, these beautiful panoramic
shots he did, the way he did his locations. Again,
those are all things that work within this like
power structure that he's expertly navigating
within a situation, you know. And even like Abira,
the way like when I'm looking at the way it was
produced. within his ion structure like again
there's there's a huge history of like political
tension there as well and then son of godzilla
is another one that everyone rips on but i'm
like no there's there's a lot of undercover elements
within this so i love son of godzilla my co -host
not so much so we had a really good episode about
that movie but i think that for for critics to
dismiss a film to pick it apart because of its
perceived lack of budget and and limits well
i as an artist and and someone who thinks critically
about these films yeah but they're still like
june fukuda is still still doing so much with
so little and and that takes talent that Nobody
can just do that because then you do get like
a really boring, bad B movie. But to work within
your means, I mean, how many other noted directors
have done that and get their flowers? But maybe
Fukuda is still trying to fight this perceived
reputation. Yeah. And, you know, and then, you
know, so then even to like within the rest of
his life and these kind of interviews, it's like,
you know, I kind of like read this. And then
when you kind of start to see it, you can't unsee
it. You get what I'm saying? Even his interviews
and the way that he talks, it's like, you know.
we kind of have this idea that like what it means
to be revolutionary and the activist, but sometimes
it is knowing what biases are against you. And
then you still figure out a way to make it work,
you know? And that's like what I see with his
work. And also it's just really brilliant. He
had, he knew he tapped into the 1960s mindset,
the 1960s art and technology, and he knew how
to make it work. And, you know, with, with spy
films and Godzilla, you know, the thing I also
love. all of his films are like bright and jazzy
and everyone's expertly dressed. I mean, the
amount of humor and joy to watch these films,
you know, that's something that only he was able
to really tap into. Yeah. I love that you mentioned
the jazz component. Cause in Godzilla versus
Becca Godzilla, that's just, that's my favorite
soundtrack. Yeah. Right. That big band jazz.
I'm like, let's go. That's awesome. You know,
the jazz was one thing that he really did have
control over. You know, he was able to pick his
composers and do that. So that's one element
that I really focus on in his work. Because also
when I watch some of his other work, like 100
Shot, 100 Killed, it kind of comes in again.
So I'm like, I see what you're doing here. Like,
you're still doing what you want. You're able
to fit it in this context, which is brilliant,
in my opinion. Yeah, agreed. The mightiest monster
the world has ever known. The mightiest egg the
world has ever known. Introducing me, son of
Godzilla. The fantastic Redwater. One of the
many weird natural phenomena on mysterious Solgale
Island. A great scientific experiment begins.
Try another frequency. What is it? It seems as
though something's jamming the wavelengths. Son
of Godzilla. A rollicking monster spectacular.
See how a baby monster becomes a monstrous monster.
The monster of the motion picture screen meets
The Thing. Godzilla versus The Thing. Innocent
looking, but so feared, pagan man worshipped
it. See the battle of gigantic forces spreading
terror across the world. Can man's inventions
conquer them? Yeah. So we're going to have a
local podcaster, kind of local, local celebrity.
His name is Steve Volan and he has another podcast
in town. So he's going to be our MC. And then.
I have two amazing professors up there. Her name
is Professor Yasuko Akiyama. And she does Japanese
language and pop culture. So she's really excited
to be up there. And then the second one is her
name is Professor Hana Arias. And she's the one
that kind of gave me the light bulb idea. Because
she does Japanese genre films and modernity.
And then our fourth panelist, his name is Chris
McVillain. And he's the local tattoo artist that
works with. and does all the Kaiju tattoos. So
yeah, it's going to be a neat panel up there.
And hopefully, so we'll kind of give some...
post film thoughts you know and then we'll kind
of screen some questions we figure we'll go you
know i don't know maybe because at that point
i think we're going to start the film a little
bit after seven so it'll be a little closer to
nine so maybe we'll go we'll see what the crowd's
energy is you know no later i would hope them
like 10 30 that we'll be doing that you know
everything anywhere from a half an hour to an
hour you know really depending on our audience
participation so yeah Yeah, the one thing I'm
really excited about is that our emcee, he has
a love of like government policy and action.
So I'm excited to hear his thoughts and all the
government arguing at the Diet National Building.
That's, you know, in the film. Yeah. Will the
mayor be on hand? We're working on it. We are
working on it. At one point, we had had the deputy
mayor on hand, but then she couldn't come. And
then they're doing some filming of reading the
proclamation for us, which would be great. Again,
all this has moved so fast that people, they
don't even know their schedules yet. But we will
have the proclamation read, if not by video,
but there. All right. Awesome. Yeah. And then
when this is all done, I'm going to frame this
on my wall. Absolutely. Yeah, but we're excited.
I bet. What is something that you wanted to,
you had an idea for, but it didn't come about
this time around? More merchandising. By the
time that we got the sponsorships, because it
kind of got us out of the red with purchasing
the films and getting the licensing kind of going.
You know, I would have loved to get some cool
shirts made and stuff like that. It just didn't
happen this time around. We didn't really have
the funds. Yeah. I would love to do that moving
forward. I want more films. I want more of these
films. You know, right now we have three. I would
love to at least get to five. And then within
each decade. I would also really like a public
kind of artworks campaign. We have so much beautiful
mural space here. You know, I, we've been able
to kind of do it grassroots where we're putting
Godzilla footprints all over town. You know,
I would like to get something really bigger to
do that. Yeah. And then, Hey, if I can build
this to a festival, I want Gojira here. Okay.
Like why can't we have the metal band Gojira
here headlining? That's, that's now my goal.
We also have a convention center. So I'm like,
well, why can't we fill this full of like Godzilla
toy collectors? Let's let's because let's be
for real. Our Godzilla fans who we love, who
are the toy collectors, come come down here and
shine and show off, you know? Right. Well, I
I think it's a good start. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I would love some speakers. I would really love
to get a few Godzilla speakers down here, at
least a few of the authors. And then also I would
just like love a parade. You know, the Japanese
American Society of Indiana has been really great.
And I would love to really have, particularly
within the first day or two. how important this
film fits within Japanese history. So we can
really like showcase at least some of these like
bigger critical ideas of like the importance
of it and why we do it, you know, just beyond
the fan context, but within like larger art context.
Yeah. Well, I, I, I don't know. I feel confident
that in the coming years, if you, if you get
this up again next year, it'll, it'll just keep
going from there. You know, and that's kind of
the amazing thing about Godzilla. It's kind of
endless. You know what I mean? Like, you can
kind of get a lot, you can do a lot with it because
you could fit with the Japanese history, war
history, film history, American history, you
know. Cold War history. Yeah. Yeah. So we can
kind of do all these avenues with it. Creature
features, you know, we could even just have a
mantra day. I just would love a mantra day. Can
I get like... bug guys out here can we have butterfly
exhibitions also i would love you know the art
exhibition that's just finishing up in japan
can art explain godzilla that has the dioramas
and it's a it's an interactive multi -sensory
art exhibition i would love to get that here
in the states and i would love to get this here
in bloomington we have the spaces we have the
galleries you know so to get that going that
would be one of a kind experience yeah that's
amazing i i Mothra Day. That's what I want for
you next year. Thank you. Who doesn't want Mothra
Day? I would love a costume contest, okay? I
want dog costume contest. I want ongoing platform.
Yeah. You know, the thing, too, about we have
a lot of cosplayers and drag performers here
in Bloomington. And I just I come on out, guys,
like let's showcase the local talent. We also
have a ton of artists and performing artists.
So let's get stage productions. Let's let you
know, let's anything that you can put your creativity
to. I would love to create a platform for them
and have a way to celebrate a showcase. Because
Godzilla is universal. I do no, no bounds. You
could do anything with them. I mean, obviously
the like Honda and Fukuda do with the Godzilla
can be a metaphor for so many things, but you
can put Godzilla's face on any kind of merchandise,
any kind of artwork. It works. I want Godzilla
sugar cookies. Okay. I want, are you a baker
showcase that off? You know, I've been getting
into the question a lot about AI. And, you know,
my thoughts on AI and where it's going. First
off, I'm not a fan. So I'll just start with there.
I'll preface it. But the one thing I think that
we can combat AI is with creativity. So that's
a great thing that Godzilla can do. Godzilla
inspires endless creativity. So, yeah, let's
foster Godzilla. And that's a way then that people
are, you know, putting their own effort into
it and not like relying on these like problematic
crutches of AI. Oh, all right. Now we're getting
into some teacher talk about. I know. Well, as
another teacher, I'm sure. Oh, my God. Yeah,
it's a. It's a brave new world out there. Yeah,
but that's that's that's kind of it. I think
something universal like Godzilla that changes
forms, changes shape, changes themes and all
of that. And I think particularly to like. Which
is, like, you know, in my event coming up here,
you know, in a week, in June 27th, I think the
one thing that, like, I've gotten the question
of, like, what do you kind of want people to
know about it? Or say to people that aren't fans.
Like, why should people that aren't fans come
to this? And I should say. First off, it's going
to just be an event and a spectacle. Come have
a great night at the movie theater. The tickets
aren't even that expensive. I think they're like
less than 20 bucks. So we're keeping the cost
down. Have a good night at the movies. Come to
a beautiful movie theater and experience this
as a group. You know, this is going to be a great
Friday night. So even if you're not a fan, you
don't know anything of it. The event itself is
going to be spectacular. So I'm not here to change
your mind. I just want you to sit back and experience
it. and let yourself enjoy this as well. And
then, hey, if you are a fan, come on down as
well. Or, you know, just come in and experience
something. And that's what we're just trying
to, like, showcase with this. And celebrate,
which is hence why we got the mayor to declare
June 27th Godzilla Day. You have done so much
hard work. I know it's going to pay off. I wish
you all the best. You should be very proud of
yourself and your team. And I know you just gave
a wonderful wrap up there, but is there anything
else you want to add about Godzilla Day? All
right. I'm going to do my whole speech over again
then. So June 27th is Godzilla Day in Bloomington,
Indiana, as declared by our beautiful mayor.
Carrie Thompson, which kicks off Godzilla Weekend
at the Buzz Kirk Chumley Theater. You can buy
tickets at thebuzzkirkchumley .org. Friday, the
June 27th, we will be showing the original, in
its original format, English subtitles, Godzilla
1954 from Oshiro Honda. Before the film, I'll
be introducing the film and kind of kicking it
off. And then we're going to have a really amazing
post -film Q &A with professors and scholars
of Japanese art and cinema to answer any questions.
the 28th we will be showing all monsters attack
and then sunday it'll be a it'll be a wild ride
we're going to show godzilla versus hedora and
if you're dipping in and you want to get more
involved with godzilla then come out june 24th
to cicada cinema at the orbit room and come watch
godzilla versus mecha godzilla and just a shout
out to our sponsors again east asian studies
at iu and pillar arts and you know the japanese
american society of indiana That's great. I'm
going to put all those links in our show notes.
Perfect. So, folks, you can find out information
about tickets, about the sponsors, about the
venue. Beth, if there's anything that, I don't
know, any professional work or scholarly work
that you want to share, I'm happy to spread the
word there, too. But thank you so much for coming
on Camp Kaiju, Monster Movie Podcast. We love
talking about this stuff. you know, taking fun
movies seriously a little bit, understanding
the analysis and unpacking all the, all the rich
meaning behind these films. So you're welcome
at any time. I think we speak the same language.
I hope you had a nice time talking. And thank
you. Yeah, please. I'd love to come back. Like
I said, I'm now going to be finishing up working
on my master's, switching towards my PhD. So
I will have more research coming my way. And,
you know, we all love to talk about Godzilla
all day long. You just need to spend time with
your kids. It takes a man to be a dad.