The Kaiju Connection

Giant Monsters and Ourselves

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by Jason Barr

Type

Studies

Subject

Genre > Fantasy

Keywords

monsters, fantasy, psychology, Japan

Publishing date

2023

Publisher

McFarland & Co

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 210 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)

ISBN

978-1-4766-9351-4

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Book Presentation:
What makes a kaiju a kaiju? What makes an ape a large ape, and why do we sympathize with some, such as King Kong, and not with others, such as Konga? And what makes a giant person become a “monster”? This book provides a new perspective on kaiju and reveals that our boundaries for the genre are perhaps not so solid.

This work focuses primarily on newer kaiju works, ranging from Colossal to Shin Godzilla to Godzilla vs. Kong, but also touches on classics such as King Kong, Mighty Joe Young, Godzilla Raids Again, and lesser-known works such as What to Do With the Dead Kaiju? and Agon.

Like our ancestors we have collectively adopted giant monsters into our culture, especially our pop culture. Within the domains where giant monsters walk, we experience the rigidity of our moral structures, and the fleeting borders of our definitions of humanity. Within the kaiju film genre rest our own assumptions about what makes a monster a monster, and, more importantly, what makes a human a human.

About the Author:
Jason Barr is an associate professor at Blue Ridge Community College. His work has appeared in African American Review, Explicator, The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, and The Journal of Caribbean Literatures, among others. He lives in Weyers Cave, Virginia.

See the publisher website: McFarland & Co