1. Intro: Pacific Rim and the Resurrection of Kaijū Films.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
@2:01 AM
In July 2013, the long-awaited Guillermo del Toro movie, Pacific Rim, was finally released in theatres around the globe. The trailer contained the ultimate attention-grabbing combination of humans, giant robots, monsters, famous cities, martial arts, and the apocalypse. As heard in the trailer below, the opening line to the trailer is, "Gipsy Danger, report to Bay 08. Kaijū Category 3." Without watching the movie, one would probably wonder; 1) Who or what is Gipsy Danger, and 2) What in the world is a Kaijū?
Unless, however, the one wondering is either Japanese, or understands the Japanese language - in which he/she would know the answer to the second question. The term 'Kaijū' originates from Japan, and literally translates to 'Kai' (怪) = Strange, and 'Jū' (獣) = Beast. Hence, "strange beast". The pioneer of the Kaijū film genre is none other than Gojira (ゴジラ), or better known to the rest of the world as Godzilla. Gojira rose to fame after his(?) first movie in 1954, and since then have been recognised as - in a way - the grandfather of modern Kaijūs. Most Kaijū films after Gojira are reminiscent of the film itself, Pacific Rim included. For instance, the general idea of a huge monster tearing its way through a big city, causing chaos to the human race. Also, the ever-so-familiar scene showing a huge monster slowly and majestically emerging from the sea.
From this, we can begin to see that even Hollywood movies are taking cues from classic made-in-Japan Kaijū movies. The whole concept of the genre appeals not only to the Japanese, but increasingly to audiences from the rest of the world.
As you will be able to see in the upcoming posts on this blog, this has not always been the case. It has taken years for the whole Kaijū concept to be more openly accepted by Hollywood movie-makers. This is not to say that today, the Kaijū concept appeals to everyone in the audience - as there will always be individuals who would probably think negatively of the film. For instance;
As we can see from these two citations, there are bound to be some individuals who view this Kaijū film's storyline as predictable, and, for lack of a better word, boring. However, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and there still are devoted fans to Kaijū film who appreciate the vintage costumes and 'predictable' story-lines. For instance, the renowned director of Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro himself states that, "All of my life, I felt out of place. The tragedy of every monster in every movie is that they are out of place. That's the essential plight of monsters" (as cited in Coyle 2013). Just as Del Toro was able to empathise with these oversized monsters, so did the Japanese audience of older Kaijū films, especially Gojira. This point will be further elaborated in upcoming blog posts.
Kaijū have evolved over the years with the advancements in Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), which over time took over the traditional method of using actors in rubber-suits. This advancement, coupled with modern 3D effects, better sound systems and taking out the placeless-ness of a film makes modern Kaijū films more 'realistic' compared to the older films. Pacific Rim boasts the idea of humans using massive robots to defend their city, reminiscent of Urutoraman and the Ōrenjā series.
One way or another, the success of Pacific Rim shows that Kaijū films still have a fighting chance in the modern film arena. Del Toro has definitely revived the Kaijū film genre - especially by introducing (or reintroducing) the term 'Kaijū' into his audiences' vocabulary, and also managed to attain a wider variation in terms of age of its audiences. My questions are, (i) Will Hollywood continue to produce more Kaijū films upon the success of Pacific Rim? (ii) Will Japan produce more Kaijū films and re-claim their throne in the Kaijū film arena as they did with the Gojira franchise?
References
Bellarius. (July 13, 2013). Pacific Rim (Film Review). In The Good the Bad and the Insulting. Retrieved
September 9, 2013, from http://thegoodthebadtheinsulting.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/pacific-rim-film-
review.html.
Coyle, J.. (July 7, 2013). Director's 'Pacific Rim' Resurrects the Kaiju Film. In TheLedger.com. Retrieved
September 9, 2013, from http://www.theledger.com/article/20130707/ent/130709571?
p=1&tc=pg&tc=ar.
Wilding, J.. (June 16, 2013). Josh Wilding Reviews: PACIFIC RIM; "Imagine The Worst Syfy Movie
With Decent Special Effects". In ComicBookMovie.com. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=83376.
Images from Tumblr.com
As you will be able to see in the upcoming posts on this blog, this has not always been the case. It has taken years for the whole Kaijū concept to be more openly accepted by Hollywood movie-makers. This is not to say that today, the Kaijū concept appeals to everyone in the audience - as there will always be individuals who would probably think negatively of the film. For instance;
"There's no doubting the impressiveness of the action scenes with the gigantic Jaegers and Kaiju, but is any of it REALLY something we haven't seen before? There aren't any truly original ideas on display here. There's nothing memorable or a scene which will leave you gasping at the sheer scale of the battles on screen. They're undeniably exciting and in terms of special effects are great, but in an age of countless big CGI laden movies, Pacific Rim does nothing to stand out from the fold. It wouldn't even be fair to call it a brainless popcorn movie you can sit down and enjoy because you have to endure such tedious trash between the fights. There's no real story to speak of. It's generic, cliched and boring." - Josh Wilding (2013)
"Pacific Rim is one of those films where all you need to know really is in the trailers. There are giant kaiju rising from a portal at the bottom of the sea, humanity is making big robots called Jaegers to fight them, Idris Elba is their overall commander and they're on the verge of defeat. Anything you don't know you're told as a plot development and nearly all of the story is one big excuse to get huge fights." - Bellarius (2013)
As we can see from these two citations, there are bound to be some individuals who view this Kaijū film's storyline as predictable, and, for lack of a better word, boring. However, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, and there still are devoted fans to Kaijū film who appreciate the vintage costumes and 'predictable' story-lines. For instance, the renowned director of Pacific Rim, Guillermo del Toro himself states that, "All of my life, I felt out of place. The tragedy of every monster in every movie is that they are out of place. That's the essential plight of monsters" (as cited in Coyle 2013). Just as Del Toro was able to empathise with these oversized monsters, so did the Japanese audience of older Kaijū films, especially Gojira. This point will be further elaborated in upcoming blog posts.
A creative 'evolution chart' showing the evolution of Kaijū from the golden days of Gojira to the new age of Pacific Rim.
Kaijū have evolved over the years with the advancements in Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), which over time took over the traditional method of using actors in rubber-suits. This advancement, coupled with modern 3D effects, better sound systems and taking out the placeless-ness of a film makes modern Kaijū films more 'realistic' compared to the older films. Pacific Rim boasts the idea of humans using massive robots to defend their city, reminiscent of Urutoraman and the Ōrenjā series.
One way or another, the success of Pacific Rim shows that Kaijū films still have a fighting chance in the modern film arena. Del Toro has definitely revived the Kaijū film genre - especially by introducing (or reintroducing) the term 'Kaijū' into his audiences' vocabulary, and also managed to attain a wider variation in terms of age of its audiences. My questions are, (i) Will Hollywood continue to produce more Kaijū films upon the success of Pacific Rim? (ii) Will Japan produce more Kaijū films and re-claim their throne in the Kaijū film arena as they did with the Gojira franchise?
References
Bellarius. (July 13, 2013). Pacific Rim (Film Review). In The Good the Bad and the Insulting. Retrieved
September 9, 2013, from http://thegoodthebadtheinsulting.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/pacific-rim-film-
review.html.
Coyle, J.. (July 7, 2013). Director's 'Pacific Rim' Resurrects the Kaiju Film. In TheLedger.com. Retrieved
September 9, 2013, from http://www.theledger.com/article/20130707/ent/130709571?
p=1&tc=pg&tc=ar.
Wilding, J.. (June 16, 2013). Josh Wilding Reviews: PACIFIC RIM; "Imagine The Worst Syfy Movie
With Decent Special Effects". In ComicBookMovie.com. Retrieved September 9, 2013, from
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=83376.
Images from Tumblr.com
