6:10 p.m. - 2002-07-06
Godzilla takes Saturday afternoon
I've just been watching the movie "Godzilla". It's a crap movie, with little to no value (other than mindless entertainment) except for one moment at the end of the movie, that I thought was very touching and quite compelling.
The whole movie is spent trying to destroy this "threat" to the human race, as its giganticness destroys the city of New York in big displays of explosions and fancy digital effects. Finally, the mighty has fallen, and Godzilla lies dying on the streets of Manhatten. Matthew Broderick's The Doctor Who Knew It All Along character, looks into the beast's eyes and, we are lead to assume, the monster looks into his. The moment is relatively quiet - the army and various onlookers are dumbstruck with their victory - but in the background, you can distinctly hear the big guy's heart beat. And in that moment, I think a lot is said about the human race.
See, the way I see it, The Doctor is looking into the eyes of a simple living creature - not something evil and malicious, but an animal who is merely trying to survive, just like the poeple who have brought him down. That's what the heartbeat is about - it's the link. It's heart beats just like any other animal's, and, in the end, it doesn't really matter who wins, it's all the same.
But humans pride themselves on being the "lords of the planet", top of the food chain and we prove this to ourselves with every smash up the big scary monster movie we make. So what are we really saying about ourselves with these sorts of pictures? To be honest, I'm not sure. But what I do know is that Godzilla is saying something more than just "humans rule" and "America kicks ass" which is what we are lead to believe.
Now, I'm probably reading more into this movie than was ever intended. It was a cliched, predictable and totally inane Hollywood movie that flopped at the box office. But, then again, maybe not. Maybe if we looked at movies more closely, if we stop looking at what the movie is beating us over the head with and, instead, start looking at what's behind the motivation of the movie, we would gain a lot more insight into what makes humans tick.
Or maybe I'm just a big cook who has too much time to think about stuff on a lonely and boring Saturday afternoon.
