Godzilla 2014 is a Load of Imperialist Bullshit: and other reasons it sucks.

Godzilla 2014 is a  spectacle of a movie, but lacks the substance to warrant being remembered. The decisions made regarding its characters and structure reveal Eurocentric and imperialist attitudes disrespectful to the spirit of the Japanese original.

The movie starts us off in Japan and it must be said in case anyone was confused. No. Japanese elementary schools are not designed like feudal era mansions. Is that really necessary when they have a title give us the location in large letters in the middle of the screen? Later in the film, there will be a battle between monsters and the camera will come down to reveal swaying festival lanterns in San Francisco’s China town. As if it's a cool offsides reference to something. To what? I didn't know Godzilla was Chinese.

The film then takes us to the residence of our central character. Characters? It's not quite clear for a while. Anyway, for some reason the camera is dancing around the figures. Are they trying to surprise us with something? Oh! The family is white! So even though we're in Japan, we have a white, American instructing the Japanese scientists at the nuclear facility because, of course, the Japanese are imitators. Never innovators. They can't handle this technology without the direction that can only come from an American-born white man. Honestly it's as if Hollywood thinks American audiences are incapable of empathizing with non-white faces. As if we must go to whatever lengths necessary to alter the environment of the story in a way that provides us room for a white protagonist. There was a graphic novel released in which Dr. Serizawa (Ken Wantanabe) , a Japanese scientist who's father was killed by the atomic bomb, leads the story. He's in the film as well, but only barely. And so the message we're given is that Asian protagonists are ok for comic books, but in order to have truly mainstream appeal, the face must be white. 

( Bryan Cranston, in portraying the Scientist, Joe Brody, added a rasp in his voice whenever he spoke Japanese. His accent makes me cringe even as a semi-fluent non native speaker and I'm sure the difference in his tone is noticeable to those who don't speak Japanese. But I can't rightly critique that.) 

And of course, the problem isn't that the characters are white. The problem is that they are imposed on the story for no other reason then their having that trait. They aren't even characters. The filmmakers are simply throwing white bodies at us an expecting us to empathies. They seem to think that writing white character's buys them a pass from revealing what's universally human about these people. The wife apparently thinks her husband may be dead but she doesn't act like it until he calls her on the phone, what feels like an hour of screen time later. There are corny one-liners that lead to smash cuts and great opportunities for building the characters are ignored. When the father takes off his mask and says the air is clean, the son should keep his on and say he doesn't trust him. Instead we cut away awkwardly and return to him with his head exposed. As with any monster movie, it's a good idea to build tension and hold off the reveal but that doesn't mean the audiences appetite is never fulfilled. Don't show the monster in a POV and have double doors slam in front of us just as the fight begins!!! You can not have under developed characters in a two-hour Godzilla movie if you’re going to show the monster for less than seven minutes.

 After Ford's mother dies in the accident at the power plant, he and his father have grown distant. When his father ridicules him for his work in the military his response is " I stop the bombs." That is a great line for this movie. At least it would be if Ford didn't spend the majority of the film trying to detonate an atomic weapon or if, when he was approached with the plan, he showed at least some reluctance given what had been established of him before. Godzilla 2014 suffers from the same disease that killed Pacific Rim: random-white-guy syndrome.

Unlike the original Godzilla of 1954, the monsters in this film are not awakened as a direct result of American nuclear testing. We're not at fault for the destruction of the two cities in Japan and the lasting psychological and health effects. In striving to remove politics from Godzilla, a political stance is taken. The plan of the United States military is to kill the monsters with an atomic bomb. It's bigger, they say, then the ones used before. Despite the fact that these monsters feed on radiation, we somehow think we can kill them by giving them the itis. There is no strong critique of this plan in the film. And Dr. Serizawa's passing disapproval means nothing because he's given no power or importance. And why do the filmmakers seem to think that the corny cliché of a more powerful organization taking over operations (like the FBI to a police force) extends to the United stated military exercising authority over an INTERNATIONAL organization? Do the audiences think the same? No one seems to have found fault with this. So not only is our reliance on nuclear arms not in question but our supremacy over the other peoples of the world is absolute.

In the original Godzilla, the scientist Kyohei Yamane (portrayed by Takashi Shimura of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai) wants to study Godzilla's resistance to the radiation. The film is a tragedy about the community's resolve to destroy the endangered monster rather than understand it. They are only able to do so by using the Oxygen destroyer, a invention that rivals the atomic bomb in destructive potential. And by the way the inventor, Daisuke Serizawa (played by Akihiko Hirata and apparently the father of the doctor from the current story) knows this and guilt ridden, commits suicide as the weapon he helped developed kills not only the monster but also all the fish in the surrounding sea. This film is much more like a Japanese equivalent of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, a dark , sci-fi social commentary. The last words spoken before a call to salute the fallen creature are, "I can't believe that Godzilla was the last of it's species. If nuclear testing continues, then someday, somewhere in the world, another Godzilla may appear."

So what do we understand from how Godzilla 2014 played out? The whole movie is about a useless human plot that has no outcome on the battle. Had the film followed Dr. Serizawa, the plot could have had relevance to the ending. It could have chronicled his struggle to prevent the use of nuclear weapons and perhaps when the American general illegally confiscated the equipment of the Doctor's international organization and ignored his advice, as he was prone to do in this film, the nuclear weapons could have strengthened the monsters and created an even greater problem. Then the film would take a turn as Dr. Serizawa gained more power and he was aided in assisting Godzilla. If this were a film truly inspired of paradigms in Japanese literature, the final battle would have a scene of the people of the city or even the world watching Godzilla and giving him their strength. That way when Godzilla appears to be dead. It has weight. That way when Godzilla awakens, returning to the sea, and the monitors of the football stadium declare him the people's savior and the King of the Monsters, it means something. As things are the there were absolutely no repercussions faced by anyone for the decision to attack the monsters with the substance that brought them about to begin with and these beats which are meant to be highly emotional, are not because they lack proper setup. What this film severely needs is a theme. And for all of you who think a film can be memorable without theme, for any reason other than being so bad it's camp, for any of you who think theme can't make DOLLA DOLLA BILLS Y'ALL!!! here is a list:

Thelma and Louise: freedom

Captain America 2: big brother and corruption

Starwars: hero's journey

The Matrix: belief

Goodfellas: rise and fall

Wolf of Wallstreet: conspicuous consumption

Scarface: Crime doesn't pay

Boyz in the Hood: finding normalcy amidst violence

Titanic: Love

The Shawshank Reemption: Hope

8Mile: Self reliance

The Karate Kid: a time an a place for everything

The Karate Kid 2: the old and the new

Big Fish: What is real?

Avatar: Imperialist vs Native

Invasion of The body snatchers: conformity 

Frozen: Skepticism vs naïveté / sibling true love

Peter Pan: growing up is necessary

Rocky: determination

E.T.: friendship 

Shrek: Ogres (and people) have layers

Godzilla 1954: technological advancements may come at a price

Just a few that come to mind.

Godzilla 2014: Boom boom boom!!!!

And I repeat: Godzilla 2014 is a  spectacle of a movie, but lacks the substance to warrant being remembered. The decisions made regarding it's characters and structure reveal Eurocentric and imperialist attitudes disrespectful to the spirit of the Japanese original.

Peaceful South Central

I'm not a man. Not considered one in the culture of my home. I'm not aggressive. I respect women and men.  I resort to words before my fist and that leads my society to view me as having lower masculinity.

I have those nights of deep thought. Typically torture of the heart attributed to some girl. I'm like a Roger Healey that way but I've never traveled the stars. On these nights when I must think, occupied with any variety of philosophical questions, I find it comforting to ride my castor board. The board glides over pavement with ease and takes little energy. It is an experience often compared to surfing.  It's smooth. It's peaceful. Being propelled by movements of my hips, it's the sort of leisurely activity that causes me to want to want to listen to A Tribe Called Quest. 

I skate around thoughtful but not mindful. I'm aimless but not lost. An hour in I see five young Black men. Boys my age and of the same diaspora. When I'm in the hood I always skate and never walk. Being on foot is for chumps. These boys were facing my way. We could have simply been passers by in a moonless night. But one diverged to the left of the others and when I sought to use the space he left empty to pass, he pushed me down. They were silent while forcing their bodies into intimidating poses. I don't bang. I got back on my board and skated hard. I sensed their puzzlement. I knew the leader, the one who pushed me, thought to run after. Just for a moment. But I wasn't a conquest for him. I wasn't and opposing male. Just some bitch nigga. He wouldn't gain status by lording over me. 

So I skated hard 'till I could perceive their red and black shirts only as I would perceive a lady bug's. I skated back crying. Like I always do when shit goes down. Because I'm sheltered. And I don't believe in that.

Maasai Mohandas Singleton

~ The Soft Spoken Rapper

Project I.R. - [MC] Maasai Warrior

Raps and Cartoons: Bakshi and the Warrior

I don’t have many favorites. I don’t have a favorite rapper, I don’t have a favorite actor, I don’t have a favorite football team; I am not a Christian – I don’t have a favorite god. I do, however, have a favorite animator: Ralph Bakshi. The man chiefly responsible for such features as Fritz the Cat, Wizards, American Pop, Heavy Traffic, and Coonskin. While I was lying in bed, a few days ago, thinking about Bakshi, a thought went through my head: we are hella fucking similar. Check it:

An ordering of the similarities between Ralph Bakshi and Maasai "Warrior" Singleton:

-Both are frequently misunderstood 

Both convey messages that are commonly misunderstood by people who do not take the time to observe and understand their art. Conservative people find sex and profanity in Bakshi films over the top and have almost no chance of understanding while being offended. People with little exposure to Hip-Hop will associate Maasai Warrior with a detrimental culture they dislike and never hear my songs.

-Both have a love of comics that began in childhood

Bakshi has said that he originally had the dream of becoming a comic strip cartoonist. When he was a child growing up in Brooklyn, he would forage through garbage in search of comics. When I was a kid, I would routinely lock myself in the closet to read 80’s Marvel comics scored cheaply at garage sales, thinking the exposure would prepare me to be a better writer.

-Both grew up surrounded by cultures outside their own

When Bakshi was nine, he lived in an all Black neighborhood in Washington D.C.  and, attending the local school, was the only white child in a sea of brown faces. When I was nine I was the single Black child in my own school. Bakshi has been quoted as saying “All my friends were black, everyone we did business with was black, the school across the street was black. It was segregated, so everything was black. I went to see black movies; black girls sat on my lap. I went to black parties. I was another black kid on the block. No problem!"  The difference, of course, was that I had problems.

-Both are interested in social criticism

For Bakshi, examples would include the hypocrisy of Fritz the Cat, or the depiction of urban Black life in Coonskin(and everything else). For Maasai Warrior, it would be the three songs I've done relating to child abuse, or the ones I've written about bullying or perhaps even "Teddiursa", the song about the detrimental effects of mainstream ideas of female body image.

-Both make use of parody of pop culture characters

Bakshi is known to have short cameos for Disney characters in his features. A prime example would be Mickey, Daisy, and Daffy’s silhouettes which are seen atop a skyscraper cheering on the US Air Force as Harlem is bombed in Fritz the Cat. A Maasai Warrior example might be “Cartoon Hero’s” or “PedoBat” a song appearing on the album, which releases tomorrow, about combatting Batman having found him in the process of sexually abusing one of his Robbins. 

-Both speak up about real world problems through fantasy.

Bakshi’s Wizards, simply put, is a story about the destructive power of technology and the influence of propaganda. Maasai’s (upcoming) Moon Bitch is about low self esteem - looking at it through the eyes of a God’s avatar, seeing himself as merely a pawn.

-I can't describe this one

Bakshi has said, "Ghettos for other people are all prisons, places to escape from but that wasn't it for me so many beautiful things in Brownesville-freedom". During my four years of boarding school, the first order of business upon return to Los Angeles has always been a skate down the hill and around Crenshaw. Next year: The University of South Central.

-Both are indie artists

We enjoy what we do and a lot of people don’t know who the fuck we are. 

A Freed Mind and Creations Follow: Teamwork in Hip-Hop

I am exceedingly wealthy – in knowledge compared to many others my age; in friendships because I have friends I’ve grown to call brothers; and in hair because I haven’t cut mine since last August. So despite the fact that I am a poor, unemployed USC film student, I do have a few things going for me. One of those things that I am very grateful for is my freedom to create. You see, I only did decently in school because I enjoyed most of my courses, I’ve never felt the need to prove myself by cramming words and numbers into my head, reiterating them, and then forgetting and repeating the process. Most of my merit, I suppose, comes from my spirituality (Mother Earth guide me!) and my ability to write. This August I start at the University of Southern California as a major in Writing for the Screen and Television. Writing is my passion; I am also drawn to create comics (Somebody needs to do something about this Moon Knight problem), Video Games, and, as you probably know from reading this particular blog, raps.

Now I’ve talked before about the Prejudice of music (and got trolled up the ass on Nerdcore Now), how one will consider the fact that a song has vocal percussion incorporated and immediately categorize the artist with ones they already know like 50 Cent who just did the Youporn theme song (Haven’t heard it yet; I always get sidetracked) or Souljaboy (Don’t beat me up. I have no grasp on what’s popular these days outside of One Direction -_- ). But when I write percussion, my music sounds nothing like theirs because our souls are very different. I – for one – accept women and men as equal beings and have never exploited steatopygous females in my music videos (Not just because I have yet to do one.) to distract from the lack of literacy apparent in my words.  I was surprised and disturbed when my  father told me he wouldn't have trouble with me writing songs about “Beat[ing] the pussy up up up up up up…”… you get the drift. The fact is I think ones music should be seen as art and an expression of oneself and the music of many artists shows me – quite frankly – that I don’t want them in my life or in the lives of my little sisters.

You see I am also vastly wealthy in ability to create because of my partner in geek, Keify K.

I met Keith Kilgore through Kilgore Gardner, a friend of a friend. Gardner had been showing me instrumentals of various hip-hop artist he had known and worked with and many didn’t fit (I heard a few of those so-gangster-it-can-only-be-popular-in-the-forgotten-and-abused-urban-neighborhood-it’s-from type beats and you know me; I don’t quite fit the gangster rap bill). But one of the beats he sent me caught my attention. It was smooth and funky and had a sample from the Hanna and Barbara cartoon the Jetsons (writing this now, I’m wondering why we never used that jam). I knew this couldn’t be your average beat junkie. And it wasn’t. This guy was cool. Like mad kool. He was fresh, had fun with the music, liked to experiment. (He took a break before doing the last two songs of Nerdgasm to play with crunk music and when he came back he’d learned something, “Hey Hey HEY!!) I told him about Nerdcore and gave him youtube links for some of my favorite artist. He said he really dug Megaran and so that meant he was studying K-murdock.

The short of it is that Keify-K is the other half of what makes Maasai Warrior possible. His programming has a rhythm that beats with my spirit and I have one hundred percent confidence going into a project that all I will have to worry about is my own part. And here’s the key: that’s why I can be me to the fullest extent. Keith’s beats fit the Warrior's style and his excellence leaves the Warrior to write, leaves the Shaman to conjure. In creating this next album, there were several songs that I put time in researching to create (I won’t give ALL the topics away here). 

Because I had no job this summer, I was freed up to watch Dateline and think about the murders and examine my philosophy. I saw the story of Etan Patz and was introduced to the idea of that change in American consciousness- you know how kids used to play in the streets and go to the mall alone at age ten but then that stopped because Americans were like “Oh shit, Pedophiles? They’re real”?  And they don’t all act like Humpert Humpert.

Well I wanted to do a song about that change in collective consciousness and I was told, by a more senior person that the case of Adam Walsh, son of the host of Americas Most Wanted, was more well known. I’ll tell you that the song came out in a way that made me proud but I won’t yet decipher for you the subtleties and the meaning behind it (You’ll have to download it in about a month. What? You don’t like free shit?). The point is I spent time researching that case; I saw the bio on Bio(that’s a channel right?) about Adams father, John Walsh, found out there was a 1983 made-for-tv-movie about the kidnapping, downloaded and watched it, read on the history of Pedophilia, read about it as a paraphilia, read about Ottis Toole the man who claimed to have been responsible (I’m still not sure.), found out that he was not, in fact, a pedophile and killed at LEAST one-hundred-and-seven other people in the company of his bearded lover whom he met in a Jacksonville soup kitchen and that, in prison, they admitted to a number of murders eventually exceeding six hundred. Then I wrote a song about it (Don’t worry there are happy songs and even some romance on “Shaman” too… oh shit did I just give out the name of the album?)

 The point is Keith is a dope producer and I’m a [Insert perceived level of skill here] writer and his taking over in his area of expertise frees me up to explore and be better at my own. So I have time to write more words than “Life sentence is enough nough nough nough nough...”

What we think of Pokemon Conquest.

NaS

Went sailing with Nas on my Dad's boat. He's an introvert. Which is further proof that no one who is constantly talking has much of worth to say and those who sit and watch are the Uatus of this universe.