Overview

"The Kaiju (strange monster) film genre has a number of themes that go well beyond the """"big monsters stomping on cities"""" motif. Since the seminal King Kong (1933) and the archetypal Godzilla (1954), kaiju has mined the subject matter of science run amok, militarism, capitalism, colonialism, consumerism and pollution. This critical examination of kaiju considers the entirety of the genre-the major franchises, along with less well known films like Kronos (1957), Monsters (2010) and Pacific Rim (2013). The author examines how kaiju has crossed cultures from its original folkloric inspirations in both the U.S. and Japan and how the genre continues to reflect national values to audiences."

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9780786499632

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Reviews

Jason Barr's lively and fun study (subtitled `A critical study of the cinema's biggest monsters') is both an enthusiastic celebration of an often despised genre, written with both a fan's indulgence and a scholar's hard-core grasp of information. Ambitiously, Barr is not content to simply tackle the Japanese variety of destructive behemoth, but adduces American films such as the remarkable Kronos, with its bizarre Cubist-inspired robot machine and the much-loved British film Gorgo, with the title monster's mother, no less, laying waste to such London landmarks as Tower Bridge. For aficionados of the genre, this is splendid stuff. - DVD Choices, July 2016

Jason Barr's lively and fun study (subtitled 'A critical study of the cinema's biggest monsters') is both an enthusiastic celebration of an often despised genre, written with both a fan's indulgence and a scholar's hard-core grasp of information. Ambitiously, Barr is not content to simply tackle the Japanese variety of destructive behemoth, but adduces American films such as the remarkable Kronos, with its bizarre Cubist-inspired robot machine and the much-loved British film Gorgo, with the title monster's mother, no less, laying waste to such London landmarks as Tower Bridge. For aficionados of the genre, this is splendid stuff. - DVD Choices, July 2016

"Jason Barr’s lively and fun study (subtitled ‘A critical study of the cinema’s biggest monsters’) is both an enthusiastic celebration of an often despised genre, written with both a fan’s indulgence and a scholar’s hard-core grasp of information. Ambitiously, Barr is not content to simply tackle the Japanese variety of destructive behemoth, but adduces American films such as the remarkable Kronos, with its bizarre Cubist-inspired robot machine and the much-loved British film Gorgo, with the title monster’s mother, no less, laying waste to such London landmarks as Tower Bridge. For aficionados of the genre, this is splendid stuff."" - DVD Choices, July 2016"

Author Information

Jason Barr’s work has appeared in The Explicator, African American Review, and Stories of Complicated Grief: A Critical Anthology, among others. He lives in Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.

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