Godzilla Movie

Knew or meet anybody that did not knew who Godzilla was?

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4Kaiju

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-21-2014 10:27 PM

I honestly did meet somebody who didnt knew the character.

7 years ago when I was in Iran (Yes I was there) our history teacher asked me to draw him a picture of anything and we asked him do you know who Godzilla is? is and he said no.

I was kind of blowned away.

 

(Update): Godzilla is popular in Iran too, infact Iran TV use to show godzilla movies all the time.

17 Replies

Judge Baggins

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-21-2014 11:01 PM

I am not actually suprised by that. While I do not know someone personally who is unaware of Godzilla, it is really not a shock or wonder to me. There are several people around the world who are not aware of who Godzilla is. This is especially the case in our youth generation here in western culture who would not know. This is due to the fact that there is hardly anything of Godzilla shown on TV or any new films that have been released since Final Wars in 2004. The unfortunate thing is that many people do not take Godzilla seriously, and thus, less people are exposed to Godzilla's films, books, games, and so forth. 

Madison

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-21-2014 11:41 PM

Yeah why would you expect an an average person in IRAN to know who Godzilla was? They heavily restrict western media and entertainment over there. 

In the U.S. everyone I've brought up the character with knew who he was. Where most people here seem to be in the dark is the fact that a new movie is coming out. They either don't realize a new movie is approaching, or think all the buzz is just over a re-release of the original 1954 film. 

 

kaijusrock

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-21-2014 11:43 PM

i get super pised every time someone thinks zilla is godzilla in fact i said how zilla was rebranded and they acted like i was making stuff up  UUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!1111111111111111111111111111111

Madison

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-21-2014 11:54 PM

Zilla is Godzilla. 

Not my FAVORITE Godzilla, but Godzilla nonetheless. The movie was not any worse than most other Godzilla films, and in fact was BETTER than several of them (Godzilla's Revenge anyone?)

Yes, I know Toho has tried to disassociate the 1998 film from the continuity, but that type of fanboyism is an uphill battle that is just going to confuse and alienate people in the general public....whom need to be on our side if 2014 is going to be successful.

It's the same in ANY other franchise when studios update or change a classic character and comic book neckbeards get enraged about things that are now different.....the general public DOES NOT CARE about fanboy trifles. No purpose is served by trying to enforce it. Just let em' be. Transfer that energy instead to trying to build hype for the new movie.

Lyuztaven

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 12:02 AM

"Zilla is Godzilla"

Unfortunately I have to agree with that small phrase. Here in Mexico over 97% of the people think that Zilla is the original "Godzilla", and that the actual japanese Godzilla is a low budget rip off of Zilla.

Here in Mexico, people were very confused when Godzilla 2000 came out on movie theaters, a lot were like "Damn japanese! Why did they stole Godzilla from the americans!" and that false belief still persists (really strong) until this day.

Sorry folks, we've got to admit that Zilla overshadowed and banished the original Godzilla for mainstream audiences, so "Zilla is Godzilla" for the average moviegoer. Hopefully Godzilla (2014) will change that forever.

godzillafan1995

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 8:21 AM

same thing here in the UK zilla is seen as the 'only' godzilla, we have had less to no exposure to toho's godzilla since the 90's compared to you guys in the states

KaijuFall3

MemberBaragonFeb-22-2014 8:40 AM

i met somebody who thought godzilla was a giant monkey

"i dont know what weapons will be used in world war 3 but i know what wil be in world war 4...sticks and stones"Albert Eienstien

JRR

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 8:59 AM

lyuztaven i dont know in wish part of mexico you live in but here in the tamaulipas-texas border everione knows that godzilla is japanece but many think that zilla is the first film godzilla

Evacuate?, Godzilla is just a Legend!-Woman in GMK

Durp004

MemberBaragonFeb-22-2014 9:03 AM

I've never met some1 that wasnt familiar with the character, but I've met plenty who knew almost nothing about him.

doggiezilla

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 11:36 AM

Never

KaiJuuFin

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 4:13 PM

I saw the teaser trailer in front of Paranormal Activity - The Marked Ones and after the trailer had ended a teenager in front of me asked "What is Godzilla?"

It made me cry a little bit... 

Linkzilla

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 4:18 PM

@Madison No, Zilla is not Godzilla. If a movie was released that was called "Superman," but was about an ordinary human vigilante who fights crime while wearing red and blue clothes, would you say that that character was really Superman? If a movie called "King Kong" was about an ill-tempered marmoset, would you call it King Kong? GINO is the same thing- Godzilla is a dinosaur awakened and/or mutated by nuclear testing that has a nuclear breath weapon (or at least fire breath) and cannot be harmed by any modern weapons, while Zilla is a mutant iguana with shoehorned in flammable breath that can be brought down by a few missiles. It is not hated because it is a worse film than all real Godzilla movies or because, as you so kindly put it, "neckbeards get enraged about things that are now different," but because it claims to be about Godzilla, and yet the monster in the film shares none of the essential characteristics that make Godzilla who he is. It is, at best, a completely different monster that happens to share Godzilla's name, but even that is technically not true, as Toho legally changed it's name to Zilla after Tristar's rights to it expired (proof). And it doesn't matter whether the general public cares about it or that they probably can't understand why they are separate (for now, at least), it doesn't change the facts of the situation, and it doesn't mean that people who do know better should have to pretend that they are the same just to avoid confusing John Q. Public.

godzillafan1995

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 5:19 PM

i'm pretty sure toho was fine with zilla, even in the bbc godzilla documentary has toho members stating it was interesting and apperantly the desginer of zilla said that they showed toho the desgins and they were fine with it, the only reason they probably changed the name and claimed they hated it was becuase both the japanese audince and some of the godzilla actors hated it, if the japanese liked it, or liked it more than the fans outside of japan they probably would've kept the name to godzilla.

Madison

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 5:23 PM

Godzilla 1998 is not as different from TOHO's monster as the hypothetically exaggerated examples that you bring up. And even if you're hell bent on believing that those are similar examples, it's still not a constructive attitude to put forward when looking at Godzilla 2014. 

1. TOHO's Godzilla is NOT IMMUNE to conventional weapons. Godzilla's durability in the TOHO movies varies from film to film. I know there isn't a film where conventional weapons kill him, it always winds up being a monster or super weapon that kills him, but they never claim that conventional weapons are physically INCAPABLE of killing him....at best they imply that it would take a crap ton of work or ammunition to kill him. But in several movies Godzilla and other monsters are wounded/harmed/deterred by fairly regular weapons, such as Godzilla 2000 for example. So having Godzilla be killed by conventional weapons in 1998 doesn't actually violate canon.

Granted, I do think Godzilla was presented as way too fragile in the 1998 movie. I would definitely have preferred a more durable Godzilla. 

2. Godzilla is NOT ALWAYS a dinosaur. Even in the TOHO universe, different films give different explanations for Godzilla's origins. I know none of them claim that he came from a modern reptile, but his origins are allowed to vary and stray off the dinosaur path. GMK is a great example. And I imagine Godzilla 2014 will pick an alternative to the dinosaur route as well, given that it's kinda absurd if you actually think about it. So again, Godzilla 1998's origin story doesn't violate canon, because there is no universally consistent canon for Godzilla's origins, even in the TOHO films.

3. This one is perhaps the one that frustrates me the most, as Toho DOES consistently give Godzilla an atomic breath weapon. It still is debatable, since Godzilla 1998 does use some type of breath attack in the movie. I agree that whatever it was, it was not an adequate substitute for Godzilla's regular atomic breath.....but it is there!

Basically, besides the upgraded sleek reptilian design they gave Godzilla in the 1998 film, the character isn't actually all that different from TOHO's Godzilla. I'm not saying I LIKED every decision or difference they made with the represenation....but I don't feel like any of the differences or depictions are unreasonable. They all fall within the realm of creative liscense in my opinion. 

And even if you're hell bent on treating them like separate characters.....there is NO CONSTRUCTIVE purpose served in getting hung about it. You don't HAVE to pretend you think they're the same. You don't have to do anything. 

But the smarter choice is to let it go. The 'Neckbeard' line is not meant to describe you or the Godzilla community at large. It is meant to represent the general public's view of us when we get hung up on trifles. It is in our interest as a community, and it is in the interest of the success of the 2014 movie to have the general public on our side. They won't be on our side if we come across like the comic book vigilantes who hated Samuel L. Jackson's 'Nick Fury' because he was black.

Again, you can do what you like, but the more constructive choice is not make a big deal out of it. 

And as a side note, AS A GODZILLA FAN, I truly believe Zilla is Godzilla, I liked the 1998 movie, and I think the amount of rage and hate against the movie is unjustified and unwarranted in my opinion. 

Linkzilla

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 5:25 PM

@GodzillaFan1995 My comment had absolutely nothing to do with whether or not Toho "liked" Zilla whatsoever (and a company can't like or dislike anything anyways, since it's, you know, not a person). And they renamed him because he is quite simply not Godzilla, it had nothing to do with whether it was a good monster design or not.

Linkzilla

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 7:38 PM

@Madison again:

It's called hyperbole, it's often used to help make a point. Alright, how about a hero who comes from a destroyed alien world and fights crime but has no powers, and an ill-tempered but normal size gorilla? Are those close enough to Superman and King Kong to really be considered incarnations of their respective characters? Because that's pretty much how close Zilla is to Godzilla. And I don't see what my comment, or even this whole thread, has to do with Godzilla 2014.

1. I'm sorry, I wanted to say that he could be harmed by some fictional weapons in a few films, but I couldn't figure out how to work it into a sentence, so I left it out of my original comment. However, Toho Godzilla is, at the very least, immune to ordinary conventional weapons (by which I mean artillery missiles, and bombs). While the missiles in G2000 were, I think, technically conventional weapons, they were not just ordinary or super-powerful missiles, they were more like giant, rocket-propelled arrows made from some very strong metal (hence the name, Full Metal Missiles), and were purely piercing weapons which were capable of passing through three huge concrete slabs without visibly slowing down. Even then, IIRC, I think the missiles still shattered on impact, despite not actually being explosive, simply from hitting such a tough object at high speed. And even a crapton of Full Metal Missiles hitting him wouldn't kill him, since he almost instantly healed the minuscule damge they caused anyways. However, simply being immune to run-of-the-mill tanks, missiles, and bombs is just Godzilla at his absolute weakest (e.g. in the later Showa films); most incarnations are much more durable than that. In several incarnations (and, in my opinion, the way he should always be), he is simply completely unstoppable by all of mankind's weapons, most notably in the original. If you don't believe me, consider that, in this documentary, at 3:35, Akira Ifukube says "Godzilla is undefeated by modern technology [which, in the context of what he's saying before that, includes nuclear weapons]. It doesn't affect him, not even electricity or missiles. He is stronger than the weapons that brought Japan to it's knees [A-bombs]." And, if even that's not good enough for you, in the film itself, when Dr. Yamane is asked if there's any way to stop Godzilla, he says "Impossible! Godzilla was baptized in the fire of the H-bomb. What could kill it now?" But, since not all incarnations are so unstoppable, I guess a better description of the bare minimum of what a Godzilla needs would be "outstanding durability at least high enough to prevent him from being seriously harmed by conventional weapons." Zilla still doesn't fulfill that requirement.

2. Well, yes, Godzilla doesn't really have to be a dinosaur, but he has been a dinosaur in every Godzilla film up to this point, or at least all the ones where they actually specify what he is. IIRC, GMK Godzilla is the original Godzilla, who was a semi-aquatic dinosaur (or at least an intermediate organism decsended from dinosaurs); the whole vengeful spirits thing is just how he was resurrected. Him being something other than a dinosaur is acceptable, but an iguana is just so silly and unthreatening. I mean, couldn't they have at least gone with a crocodile or a Komodo dragon?

3. I acknowledged Zilla's breath weapon in my comment, I just meant that it's not an acceptablt alternative. I don't know why I'm even arguing that, since you seem to agree with me about it.

Oh, yes, I'm not saying that his design strays too far to be considered Godzilla even if I don't think it's a good Godzilla design. It's the characteristics that are more than skin deep that he is lacking; that's why I could maybe consider Junior (from the animated series) to truly be an incarnation of Godzilla in his own right, though I'm still undecided on that because of how inconsistent the show was about whether conventional weapons could bring him down.

Alright, so, there's no "constructive purpose" of me stating my opinion... what constructive purpose is there to you stating yours?

Once again, this discussion has nothing to do with Godzilla 2014. And I quite frankly don't give a flying [frick] about the general public's view of us, and I somehow doubt they read enough discussions on Godzilla forums to know about these arguments anyways.

It's pretty hypocritical to say that I shouldn't make a big deal out of it when you were the one who first brought up the topic even though this thread has nothing to do with it (yes, I know Kaijusrock technically mentioned it first, but I doubt he was trying to make a big deal out of it, and probably didn't think that anyone was going to argue about it), and then responded to my long, rambling comment with a much longer, more rambling comment.

And finally, regardless of what you may believe, Zilla and Godzilla are legally two separate characters. Although GINO may still be called "GODZILLA," that is because the title of a movie can't be changed, and Emmerich never set out to really make an American Godzilla in the first place anyway, he just made his own monster movie with Godzilla's name slapped on to attract more people to see it (he has even stated that he hates Godzilla and everything about it).

Lyuztaven

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-22-2014 9:14 PM

@CATZILLA  I live in the State of Mexico, very close to Mexico City, and yeah, most people think that Zilla is Godzilla. Unfortunately the very few who actually know the real japanese Godzilla, either think that the japanese Godzilla is a rip off, or don't even take him seriously and they actually admit to prefer Emmerich's Zilla as a replace of the original Godzilla just because of the special effects.

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