Kaiju and Ray Harryhausen equals Daimajin (977 views, 13 replies)
expert
recently rewatched these classics and they hold up well there are quite a few old japanese sci fi films ppl overlook attack of the mushroom people,the space amoebas even a few great jap/american films like the manster.
@karloff The post1955+ period to say 1980 had INTENSE historical restrictions in Japan as every film was scrutinized with very strigent censorship by the occupying American government plus a nervous kowtowed Japanese government.
Any wiff of militarism of any kind then was SQUASHED. That prevented many of the chambara and jidaigeki from being produced. Then was lifted.
So what you see is this "vulnerability" in kaiju films as the Japanese are unable to protect themselves by an occupying force.
So each monster is both Nature summoning elementals to destroy Japan but simultaneously each monster is AMERICA.
I think most people don't fathom that. The Japanese are an ethnic group who are to this day very xenophobic and have a martial arts tradition dating to 700 AD. Yet that deeply engrained militarism as a core that is respected and their backbone, then is supressed both within and without.
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@AnhedoniaNightmare jap was just typed as a shortened word not a slur i guess i could have said anglo/sino or nippon
@karloff Yes that is highly possible.
Brits are people from Britain.
Swedes are people from Sweden.
However the name of Japan is actually Nippon sometimes spelled Nihon.
During WW2 either "Nips" or "Japs" was used as pejoratives associated with Imperial Japan. It is just a dated term that needs to go away.
It is offensive to the Japanese government and offensive to Japanese-Americans today.
It's as bad as saying the abbreviation for "Willy Old Gentleman" which was used in the British Empire in Africa, the Middle East, and India.
It's an innocent phrase as most are abbreviating.
@AnhedoniaNightmare fair point..my point however is that i meant no disrespect when i typed it but will not use it in the future
master
So these supernatural beings are sometimes depicted as huge monsters who can shapeshift into ordinary humans or even foxes and cats!
There actually are Japanese films in which women are considered possibly foxes in disguise.
Supernatural monsters could teach and be benevolent or could attack capriously. On a whim they might unlease terrible retribution.
It's plausible that the guardian Buddhist statue figures are evidence of this. There is one that is called "The power in reserve" and the guardian is calm but hypervigilant. Then another the Komokuden is "the power unleashed" and openly rages and their power is violent and all consuming.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nio
These Kongorekishi may be the origin or at least an early depiction of an elemental and fierce guardian of Japan from the Buddhist tradition. And so this conceptually may be the basis for kaiju film.
Here is a video depicting the Nio or Kongorikishi figures.
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expert
perhaps the figure of daimajin was not america but china as the name suggests, the actual name of ghengis khan and is speaking to japans fears of retrebution from china for the many attrocities they commited there.
@karloff Now that is insightful.
Historically the Japanese had little actual knowledge of the VAST extent of Chinese power to dominate nearby people as well as their own territory.
There is a story that the Japanese at one time sent a delegation to the Chinese emperor demanding tribute!
He smiled and sent them away when he could have massacred then.
They became such enemies that each demonized the other.
No invasion of Japan was ever successful until WW2 1945.
Your idea is likely at least one layer of who the Daimajin truly is. Historically the Mongels then end up dominating the Chinese during a dynasty so you have blending. Then fall from power. Likewise the Joseon (what is now Korea)were under the thumb of the Chinese at one time.
In terms of atrocities I presume you are discussing war attrocities. Let's not go there as the point is to discuss the film aspects and the meaning behind the imagery.
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expert
the statue and or giant golem is pretty clearly a mongol warrior and as i said Daimajin is the actual name of ghengis khan
@karloff Yes but metaphoricaly that is alluding to the American successful invasion in WW2.
Versus the two failed Mongol invasions (1274 and 1281 AD) that both were halted by tsunami/bad weather and so could not establish a foothold.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_i...
See? The artist is carefully skirting American censorship but the Mongols had failed while the Americans had succeeded.
The Japanese got it. They understood the symbolism.
expert
@karloff For anyone who is interested, I found a wiki that deals with kaiju and a listing which has details about the film but no "critical analysis" ie interpretation.
wikizilla.org/wiki/Daimajin
Then consider that in Japanese history twice suring the Sengoku period, several samurai clans attacked the Joseon and this failed as a stalemate since the Chinese helped the Joseon.
So in one sense, the artist is suggesting that invasions might appear successful but end up failing.
In the film this "Daimajin" is worshipped by three groups and can be neutral but then attack on a whim.
Thus America may have its Japanese admirers and even slavish worshippers, but on a whim may attack.
The literal translation is "great demon god" or "great demon being" in Japanese.
master
Daimajin is considered a yokai ie a spectre who brings calamity.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yōkai
These supernatural beings are appeased but always end up being destructive.
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master
Gojira was the first kaiju film. It was made in response to crippling angst by the survivors of WW2 Imperial Japan. They had been utterly destroyed when they had initially been descendants of a goddess.
Then that angst was trigger by continued nuclear testing by the USA and USSR.
Well at the same time, Ray Harryhausen was acting as a special effects supervisor and many films used his stop motion techniques and human actors to depict Greek and Roman mythos and other fantasies.
Now that then resulted in Daimaijin films. These are historial period dramas of the samurai plus these kinds of kaiju effects.
Take a look.
m.youtube.com/watch?v=Do_hmU-8Gj...
There are three on the site.
dosmovies.com/watch_movie/Daimajin....
It's been a long time but as I recall there is nothing objectionable. As long as there are subtitles, then your kids might like them.
You might compare and contrast them with kaiju films and Harryhausen films like The Voyages of Sinbad or The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao.
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