You know: in a foolish, undiscriminating way, I've been happy these last few months. I don't know why. I just am. I love my friends; I love my pupils; I love what I read; I -- dammit -- love my thoughts. I love the taste of oranges.
Thornton Wilder in a letter to Gertrude Stein, Aug 14, 1936

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

A DISTURBING VIEWING EXPERIENCE


On July 15, 2010, Amazon delivered my dvd of Godzilla Vs. Gigan. And I was excited. Not only is Godzilla Vs. Gigan the only available Godzilla movie I do not own, it is, to the best of my knowledge, the only Godzilla movie I have never seen.

On the evening of July 16, I had a light supper and sat down to watch the film.

About twenty minutes into the movie I thought, "This is really silly."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

In a couple of weeks I am going to be 59 years old. Which of the following statements is the more pathetic?

1) As I enter my later-middle age, I have possibly lost a source of entertainment that has never before failed me.

2) It took me 49 years to notice that Godzilla movies are silly.

I do have one thing to say in my defense. Godzilla Vs. Gigan was made in 1972, a period considered to be the nadir of the Godzilla oeuvre. But the whole experience has spooked me. What if this weekend I decide to relax with Godzilla Vs. Mothra, generally considered to be one of his best performances, and I have the same reaction?

Will I be reduced to nothing but a steady diet of Eric Rohmer, Rainer Fassbinder, Yasujiro Ozu, and all those other directors who have never made a film that features a giant lizard kicking the shit out of Tokyo?

(For the full spectrum of "Disturbing" posts, click on the "disturbing" label below.)

4 comments:

  1. I'm glad you appreciate vintage Godzilla movies. The 60's ones are my favorites.

    ReplyDelete
  2. At the day after turning 60 (10/31/2009) I rewarded my body & mind remnants with eighteen episodes of Dobie Gillis. Better than I remembered. Mark Smith

    ReplyDelete
  3. I wonder how you phonetically spell the way Maynard G. Krebbs pronounced "Work"?

    ReplyDelete
  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z_JGk6_WxY

    a voiced labialized velar approximate followed by a plosive nasalized mid vowel followed by a voiceless velar plosive.

    or some such.

    ReplyDelete