Legitimacy, of a sort, for fans of movies featuring guys in big rubber suits beating the crap out of each other:
He's attacked other monsters and terrorized Japan for decades. Now Godzilla is confronting academics who want to wrestle with his legacy.
The University of Kansas plans to pay homage to the giant lizard later this month, organizing a three-day scholarly conference for the 50th anniversary of his first film.
It's not just about celebrating campy creature features. Planners want to provoke discussion of globalization, Japanese pop culture and Japanese-American relations after World War II.
Ha ha, no. Planners really want to sit around the hotel bar and laugh at the fact that they received grant money to put on a freaking Godzilla conference.
"I would like people to take Godzilla more seriously," said Bill Tsutsui, a history professor at the University of Kansas and author of the book "Godzilla on My Mind," which discusses the history of the monster's movies.
The conference that begins Oct. 28 will offer speeches, panel discussions and free screenings of Godzilla films, including "Gojira," the Japanese movie that started Godzilla's career in November 1954.
Atop the movie theater will be an inflatable 28-foot Godzilla balloon. Items from Tsutsui's collection of Godzilla memorabilia will be on display in the university's main library.
Organizers anticipate problems stemming from conference attendees mistakenly stopping at one of the fine auto dealerships on the outskirts of town, many of which also sport large inflatble dinosaurs.
The notion of a serious Godzilla conference drew puzzled looks on campus.
"It's kind of odd," freshman Kathleen Schafer said. "I didn't think scholars would be interested."
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to hurry to my 'History of Rock and Roll' (University of Texas) midterm, then I'm off to the library to study for 'Feminist Cyborg Fiction' (UC Santa Cruz), 'The Films of Clint Eastwood' (Brown), and 'Music Video' (Northern Illinois)."
The franchise was widely known for its campy special effects. Godzilla films featured men in dinosaur suits stomping around miniature urban landscapes and some monster battles that, Tsutsui acknowledged in his book, seem more like professional wrestling matches.
When an American version of the first film was released in 1956 re-edited to include new scenes featuring Raymond Burr of "Perry Mason" fame the New York Times dismissed it as "cheap cinematic horror-stuff."
"It is true there were some bad, bad films produced, particularly in the late '60s and early '70s," said Igarashi, who plans to lecture at the conference on the 1964 movie "Godzilla vs. the Thing," in which Godzilla battles the giant moth, Mothra, and its offspring.
"However, the movie I talk about, which focuses on the struggle between a 164-foot tall, fire-breating lizard and an oversized, highly flammable insect, is rightfully considered a classic of the genre. No questions about the twin fairies, please."
Did the Beast from 20,000 fathoms ever fight Godzilla? or the Behemoth? or the Monster from Piedras Blancas? OOO, wait, I know, did Rodan ever fight Godzilla? 'Cause I think Rodan could kick Godzilla's ass!