Title: Roars and Recuts: A Comparative Analysis of Japanese and American Versions of Godzilla 1954-1962
Stream: Film Studies
Presentation Type: Virtual Presentation
Authors:
Daniel Krátký, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Abstract:
This presentation explains how various American distribution companies rebranded the first three Japanese films about Godzilla. I propose these examples offer a unique meeting ground between two film industries and their narrative norms. By textual and industrial analysis with examination of marketing, I reveal the extensive modifications of all three films were done pragmatically. American distributors wanted to insert them into the popular cycle of low-budget monster movies. Hence Godzilla films became comprehensible to the cultural competence of the US audience while still maintaining some of its Japanese specificity. In three sections I examine (I) recutting and shooting new footage for Godzilla, (II) utilising pre-existing footage and dubbing in Godzilla Raids Again and (III) combination of both in King Kong vs Godzilla. These recuts were seldom studied for being considered a secondary product. This article, therefore, understands the US-specific distribution of Japanese science fiction as an extensive and diversified art practice. An approach widening discussions about recuts, adaptations and the concept of the original.
Virtual Presentation
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