Actions Speak Louder than Words!

This is one of those posts that will be about the kaiju genre as a whole rather than just about Monsterpocalypse™.

In my quest to find more critical information about the kaiju genre, I have noticed that many fans of the genre claim that most Americans write off kaiju movies as campy. These fans blame the poorly dubbed voice acting for this problem. This leads many purists to prefer the original subtitled versions of the movies. I have a mess of Toho™ movies with both the original subtitled version and the dubbed versions of the film, which is obviously Toho’s response to this demand from their customer base.

Back in college, I took a class called “Film as Literature” for two reasons. First off, I thought it would be easy – I was wrong. Secondly, it would provide me with plenty of ammunition I could use when critically discussing movies with my friends. That sort of worked out for a while, until they all realized I was still full of the same bull-pucky. The class taught me to channel my viewing into watching all parts of the screen. When I watch a movie, I try to look at the color pallet being used, the “mise en scene” (which refers to the blocking and framing of a scene), or simple things like what direction objects are moving (since English reads left to right, an object moving right to left is suppose to draw certain assumptions from the viewer different than objects moving left to right). In my opinion, dubbing allows the viewer to keep their eyes moving all over the screen and enjoy what the cinematographer and the director have put up there, but there is a flip side to that coin.

During my college career, I also came to appreciate the talent and art that is literary translation. Translators have to make many judgment calls since every word can often translate into many different words. Scansion, inflection, and tone must all be considered. With a movie, the timing of the text becomes important, as some lines may need to travel on and off camera faster or slower than others. With subtitled movies you get to hear the actual actor’s voice, and while you may not understand the language, you can draw conclusions about an actor’s attitude and delivery that may more clearly drive the script home. Thus, subtitling may let you experience something closer to what the director intended.

But then I ask myself, with kaiju, do those things really matter? I think the answer is no! When fists start flying and you get down to the action, that is all that matters. Even the movies with a sub-par script and bad acting can be enjoyable once you get to the monster-on-monster combat. There is a lot to be said for the original Godzilla®. The film grew out of post atomic fears and techno-shame, and I can appreciate that despite “the big G” not having any other monsters to tangle with. I can also enjoy a film like All Monsters Attack, which was definitely made for a younger audience and spliced together using monster combat from older films. I actually enjoy the convenient package that this film offers. In something like 100 minutes, I am treated to a “best-of” cast from all of the Toho films. Ultimately, I want to see Godzilla take the head off of Mechagodzilla® (who is my favorite Godzilla opponent at the moment) and watch Mechagodzilla still bring the pain wrapped up in a big blue box with a lovely bow on top.

One of the great things about kaiju is the anticipation of the monsters finally colliding. You know why you are watching the movie: You want to see big monsters slug it out! Every story has to have its own plot, however, so you sit back and enjoy a story about alien invaders, mad scientist, and the like. All the while in the back of your head you hear a younger version of yourself crying out, “When are they getting to the monsters?” You try and be cool. You want to be mature. Watch the whole movie. Appreciate what the director has to offer. Deep down, though, you just want to get to the monsters. You have the remote in hand. With no one else around you might just jump ahead. Finally, the monsters come. Destruction ensues, and leaves you fulfilled and satisfied, your destruction quotient filled while you wait for then next monster battle to roll around.

That is one of the great things about games. You interact with the best part of any story, the moments of conflict. After that, you wrap it up and start a new game. Monsterpocalypse will be offered in a variety of different languages. So, I guess we choose to subtitle our game – but when I play, I see my guys speaking Japanese but only hear the dubbed English (all in my head of course)!

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