A podcast seeking entertainment and enlightenment through tokusatsu. Origin Story: After vacationing on the Monsterland Resort, professional writer/raging nerd Nathan Marchand got a job as the curator of the Vault containing the films about Monster Island’s many kaiju residents. Now he and his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA (who miraculously survived the infamous War in Space), record a bi-weekly podcast critically and academically examining each of the films in the prestigious Vault with one to four guest hosts chosen from Monster Island’s many tourists. Philosophy: Kaiju and/or tokusatsu fans will tell you these genres are undeniably fun. What’s often missed, though, are the deeper meanings below the sensational surface. Meanings entrenched in the story’s original historical and cultural context. That’s why this podcast believes in film appreciation. What’s that? It’s studying a movie’s script, direction, cinematography, and other aspects of filmmaking. It’s learning how and why it was created since movies aren’t made in a vacuum. This is especially true with foreign films. Non-native audiences are separated by both time and culture with them...
https://monsterislandfilmvault.podbean.com
Episode 4: Timothy Deal vs. ‘Son of Kong’
Hello, kaiju lovers!
After Jimmy From NASA flies him back to Indiana to get his microphone, Timothy Deal of the Derailed Trains of Thought podcast returns to Monster Island to continue the “Kong Quest” with Son of Kong, the almost forgotten sequel to King Kong. If the 1933 masterpiece is a grand myth, the sequel is a pleasant bedtime story. Screenwriter Ruth Rose, when talking about writing this film, said, “If you can’t go bigger, go funnier,” which is an apt statement about this film and sequels in general. Nathan and Tim’s lively discussion connects Son of Kong to the Russian film Battleship Potemkin, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day—and gives Jimmy a lot of work for “Jimmy’s Notes.” They also theorize about what happened to “Mrs. Kong”/Kiko’s mother, which actually puts this and the first film into perspective…sorta. The Toku Topic builds off of the previous one with a philosophical discussion of how 1930s filmmakers addressed the Depression in their movies, touching on themes like escapism and collective rage.
Here’s the Kaijuvision Radio episode on King Kong vs. Godzilla for you to listen to as part of MIFV’s Kong coverage: Episode 8: King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) (The Japanese Economic Miracle (The Golden 60s))
Read Jimmy’s Notes on this episode here.
Timestamps:
Intro: 0:00-3:49
Entertaining Info Dump: 3:49-9:43
Toku Talk: 9:43-56:24
Toku Topic: 56:24-1:19:44
Outro: 1:19:44-end
© 2019 Moonlighting Ninjas Media
Bibliography/Further Reading
“Culture and Politics in the Great Depression” by Alan Brinkley
“Escapism” (Wikipedia)
“Escapism and Leisure Time 1929-1941” (Enclopedia.com)
“How the Great Depression inspired Hollywood’s golden age” by Paul Whitington
Kaijuvision Radio, Episode 2: Godzilla Origins – King Kong (1933) and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
King Kong: History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson by Ray Morton
Kong Unbound: The Cultural Impact, Pop Mythos, and Scientific Plausibility of a Cinematic Legend (edited by Karen Haber)
Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island by John LeMay
Son of Kong Wiki Articles
–Gojipedia
–Wikizilla
–Wikipedia
Son Of Kong (1933) Review – Kong-A-Thon Episode 2 (DMan1954)
Tracking King Kong: A Hollywood Icon in World Culture (2nd edition) by Cynthia Erb
The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Imp
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