The Apocalypse is Here: What is a Kaiju?
This week’s assemblage of films includes:
· Pacific Rim
· Cloverfield
· King Kong
· Godzilla
· Mothra
· 20 Million Miles to Earth
· The X from Outer Space
There is no particular feature film.
Last I wrote, I mentioned the Kaiju from Pacific Rim. I realized I forgot all about kaiju movies when planning this. Besides the previously named film, I have not acknowledged the role of kaiju in science fiction. This oversight is a true travesty. The whole point of writing this series was to have a self-guided odyssey into science fiction. So, to start, what in the world is a kaiju?
Kaiju itself means “strange creature.” That’s all there is to the word. Reading through the Wikipedia page informs me that apparently Clifford the Big Red Dog is a kaiju, as well as Barney and the Kool-Aid Man. This factoid seems off. I’m clearly not the expert, but I usually think of Godzilla when I think of a kaiju. Unless Clifford has suddenly turned malicious, this specific designation must be based on size.
Is that all there is to kaiju classification? Probably not, since my first instinct was to ask if Clifford was malicious or not. I would assume that behavior plays some part in the classification of a kaiju. While I may be woefully ignorant, I’m not completely unaware of pop culture. To try and get to the bottom of this, I began surfing numerous forums and trope websites for ideas. There were three things spoken about frequently, and following the fan logic, this article will try to address all three: what makes a kaiju a kaiju, kaiju classifications, and kaiju movie tropes. It turns out that the kaiju themselves are not the only thing disputed within the larger kaiju question.
Let’s look at Pacific Rim’s Kaiju. They’re large, vicious, toxic, foreign in design, and of an alien origin. Also, their arrival on earth was initially mistaken with an earthquake. They seem to be pretty safely within the realm of “kaiju.” Unless, as some posters on a Godzilla forum I found believe, a kaiju must be a monster of Japanese origin/creation. I respect this but find the logic faulty. Yes, the term kaiju is Japanese, and the kaiju film genre as we know it originated in Japan; however, it’s just a slightly more detailed (or intellectual, depending on how you approach it) version of the argument about what makes anime anime: the country of origin, or the art style? Just as my personal take on the anime debate is that it’s the art style, I will say that kaiju don’t have to be created by Japanese creators for the sake of this article.
There is still debate about the remaining features. Typically, they are alien in origin. They must be at least partially organic, and they obviously have to be large. King Kong’s status as an American kaiju is debated at times due to his size. The intent of the monster is another curious caveat: if you think that a kaiju must be malicious, as was my initial belief, then what about Mothra? And if intent is ignored, must the kaiju be sentient? The general consensus is that no one really knows what a kaiju is, but if you feel it’s right, just go for it. As MechaGoji-175 from Godzilla-movies.com says, “What makes a kaiju is us humans. We see anything different to us, we call it a monster…”
Interestingly, there are classifications to kaiju. My understanding of this is based primarily off of Wikipedia and noting which words were actually used in practice (i.e. within the fan forums). The Wikipedia article has a lengthy list of terminology, but for the most part it seems the terms used frequently are kaiju and daikaiju (“large strange creature,” as opposed to strange creature). Other terminology mentioned includes kaijin (“monster man,” referring to humanoid kaiju) and seijin (“star beings,” referring to extraterrestrials). Suitmation and kaiju eiga are also mentioned, but these terms refer to the movies and the style of monster animation rather than the monsters themselves.
What remains is one last question: what makes a kaiju film a kaiju film? Obviously, a kaiju. At the end of the day, that is a serviceable response. Environmental concerns are a recurring theme between these films, especially in those that are commenting on real environmental hazards. As such, disasters that are caused by the kaiju are a common trope. These kaiju are almost invincible, so there’s time for a myriad of attacks, including some that will do little more than look cool or involve a helicopter. These films either happen in populated cities or remote islands, and the kaiju tend to not be from this neighborhood of the galaxy. If how the kaiju is defined depends on the person, then surely the designation of a kaiju film also depends on the person regardless of the mainstays of the genre.
With this all in mind, it kind of makes sense that the Kool-Aid Man is a kaiju. He might not be big enough, but it’s not as if anyone is calling him a daikaiju. A sentient punch bowl that knocks down walls is indestructible, alien, malicious, and, most importantly, bizarre. In contrast, Clifford and Barney don’t quite pass the test. The gist of it all is that any Godzilla movie will quickly give you a visual as to the standards of the kaiju film genre, but only a deeper search both online and within will reveal the mysteries of the kaiju.
Indira Ramgolam is a Culture writer and sophomore in Columbia College.
