We Must Destroy What The Bomb Cannot

[@BigJoel]

truly pumped that this series is over lol. hope you like it! Also I know I said Hiroshima when she said Nagasaki. That was actually really intentional and a test and you all passed it.

[@golgarisoul]

Hey, on the bright side, easy engagement. Downside: a bunch of people yelling at you. So it goes.

[@boldofyou1094]

Have you seen shin Godzilla Mr Joel?

[@BreezyBeej]

It is a great series of videos. It also encourages a kind of lateral thinking. Stepping back and viewing seemingly disconnected events or ideas and finding the ways they do in fact connect to each other and inform each other.

[@Jackenn_Cooper]

which videos are the others in this series?

[@MadsOcto7]

@@boldofyou1094 show some respect 😜 it's Big Joel

[@Foggybuildings]

I find it interesting that every time big Joel says "you can't help but think/ask" it's usually something I was never gonna think unless he said it

[@paulhorneschillings1212]

You can't help but ask "is 'you can't help but think/ask' a rhetorical device he uses to further his point towards a conclusion he stamps with 'and the answer is...'?" And the answer is... yes.

[@splitprune]

@@Foggybuildings it made sense to me after a couple reads, i think it's written to be confusing

[@Cwyrm]

But I am always glad that he does think or ask :)

[@exart8409]

@@paulhorneschillings1212 f(g(x))=

[@buttercupbab__]

Literally why I love his channel! He always takes it somewhere I’m not expecting at all!

[@glitchedoom]

It's important to remember that Godzilla himself is also a victim of the bomb. The blast that awoke and mutated him is implied to have killed the family he was hiding in the ocean with, and his skin is burnt and scarred by the event. He is a parallel to Serizawa's character, a man disfigured by war who created something that could have greatly benefitted humanity, but ultimately had to sacrifice himself to prevent the devastation we would instead use it for. Watching both of them die for no real reason at the end of the movie is so impactful for this reason, the wasting of lives that could have changed the world due to our hubris. This movie is about the cycle of violence humans continuously put ourselves in, robbing ourselves of the things that would benefit us the most. This is my favorite movie of all time in no small part to these themes. So happy you talked about it.

[@Dragoryu3000]

I think that Serizawa sacrifices himself in part because he realizes the parallel. We're shown the moment when he decides to do it: it's when they're watching scenes of Godzilla's destruction on TV. That's the sort of devastation his own work could cause. From his perspective, if Godzilla must die, so must he. It's chilling to watch a person come to the conclusion that he himself cannot be allowed to live.

[@zillafire101]

"Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too big, too strong, too heavy for their own good. That is their tragedy." Ishiro Honda.

[@BreezyBeej]

I've always seen Godzilla less as The Bomb and more as "This is the monster after the bomb. The new era of warfare where entire cities can be demolished at a whim. A monster that cannot be defeated with more bombs and weapons. It's the monster that the modern world thought was quelled already but it is awakened by this horrible weapon. The ending of Godzilla, where the humans come together and essentially sacrifice the ocean to defeat the monster, shows that the damage of awakening this monster can never be undone. Even if we defeat it, we have already lost something vital in the aftermath. But if we want to continue to exist, we have to defeat it. Even if the world on the other end is in tatters, we have to overcome the destruction that is warfare.

[@lordchaa1598]

Well said. 👍

[@skeetsmcgrew3282]

But Godzilla has essentially given up at the end. And he is just a sad animal who wants to eat and survive. Warfare isn't a creature, it doesn't have a life of its own. It's just people. Not saying you are wrong with your interpretation, maybe just that I disagree with the message. Especially since the Japanese started the war for reasons of pure greed and imperialistic bloodlust. Maybe the reality of war was just not well understood by the populace until then. We already had the ability to wipe a city off the map, it just took a lot more planes and a lot more bombs. Maybe their ignorance lead them to believe we had entered a new era when in fact we had entered it decades before. It just came to roost on their doorstep

[@BreezyBeej]

@@skeetsmcgrew3282 I get what you are saying. I was thinking more like "If one bomb does this, imagine a carpet bombing of them. You could annihilate cities and their surrounding suburbs and the countryside." And from there we escalate to countries, and then continents. Like, the ultimate weapon opened pandora's box of truly unfathomable firepower. Godzilla had given up at the end but that's with the new knowledge on mankind's side that Godzilla could just come back again later, maybe. We need to eliminate the possibility of this kind of devastation entirely because we can't survive it again, most likely

[@Mantis42]

I see Godzilla as the fundamental forces of nature that modern man is at last able to awaken, destroy and be destroyed by. He's not The Bomb but closer to The Atom. That's why someone like Yamana can see his potential for good.

[@CrabTastingMan]

Japanese themselves had nukes. Stop taking Japanese apologism seriously, it is like sympathizing with Germany getting bombed. What you are doing is akin to heeding the words of NeoNazis except Japan itself is a NeoNazi as a whole nation. *You would sympathize a murderer crying about police brutality?* Japan had 2 nukes of their own on top of chemical and germ bombings of Asian cities for years (conventional city bombing goes as far back as 1914 Siege of Tsingtao, so for 31 years Japan butchered entire cities). 1/3 of the 250,000 nuclear casualties of both cities, were foreign slaves + foreign slaves forced to clean up for Japan and their bodies dumped in the Ocean to hide Japanese war crimes and blame it on America. Hiroshima was Japan's poison gas production hub, Nagasaki was a giant Mitsubishi slave war factory complex. Yet Japan does everything it can to hide this. 2 Nagasaki mayors were assassinated just for saying their government was to blame for getting their city nuked. (1990 Hitoshi Motoshima, and 2007 Iccho Itoh. Motoshima barely survived an exact bullet to the heart. Even as an ultranationalist xenophobe right winger he was not forgiven so he was shot). 250,000 was the number of how the Japanese personally invaded Quzhou in China and butchered people by their "holy yamato spirit samurai katanas." In one city alone. The government itself STILL teaches the Japanese to be unremorseful but keep on scapegoating others when they themselves murdered 30 million just in WW2 alone, starting in 1937. Did you know Japan was developing nukes and Germany was not? F-Go and Ni-Go. 1 Billion Asians cheered at their timely liberation from the massacres, cannibalization _(2 of 3 million Japanese soldiers experienced cannibalism. It was so rampant that there were even official rules from Daihon'ei high command on the correct way to cannibalize, like never eat a fellow soldier, eat the slaves and natives instead)_ and human experimentation and only a few of the 500,000 girls in the span of 30 decades according to Griselda Molemans, were sent to officially built sex slave camps where each girl got rape quotas from 40 to 80 men per day, many were knifed with their unwanted, forcibly impregnated fetuses, or at the end of war, many who just barely managed to survive were killed anyway and buried in a ditch or dumped in the sea anyway so Japan can play victim. When Jan Ruff O'Herne in the 90s came forth with other few surviving victims in the 90s, the Japanese and Japanese Australians called her a racist bigot against the poor innocent Japanese who are nothing but victimized angels. The Japanese government has for decades paid off anyone around the world who agreed to erect memorials remembering the 500,000 violated girls from 35 nationalities. While Germany in contrast, actually encourages erecting Holocaust memorials in all the continents. Holocaust memorials exist in 40+ nations today iirc. In fact Germany refused to take it down a few years back, and the city council were bombarded with Japanese government using false German accounts sent emails using poorly translated German using suspiciously Japanese idioms in literal translations. Countless babies were able to be born because the war ended then and there. Millions of slaves were liberated thanks to America, and they were able to get married and have children. I am one of them. Just 5 years in Vietnam alone, Japan butchered 2 million, and 1 million of them were just in the last 10 months, because the more the Japanese were losing the more they took it out and butchered others to make up their losses. This all ended with Japan's surrender. Look here, are the lives of these victims so worthless that you'd sympathize 30 million over 1% of the people who killed them? *You would sympathize a murderer crying about police brutality?* Are you going to sympathize with Germans too? I know some Jewish families who despite being apologized for multiple times, still made it a family rule nobody is ever going to buy any German products, ever. Are these people just bitter butthurt idiots for not loving Germans then? Unlike Germany, all the Japanese soldiers were allowed to rob and steal and kill victims on their way back to Japan and most were not prosecuted. 30 million were killed. Also, the same political families from WW2 are still ruling Japan, and have on multiple occasions in public rallies, said they will kill again and Taro Aso the 2nd man in charge of the same one-party rule that has been ruling since 1955 especially, said numerous times he will be there to shoot them himself as he used to be a shooter in the Olympics (his family wealth came from WW2 slave labor and he is proud of it). And the people keep on electing them for decades and decades. The "Japanese Civilians" fallacy shows you think they are separate. Japanese civilians are largely retired invaders who have been warring in Asia since 1870. Note that even in 1945, 3 million of 70 million Japanese were soldiers, this massive size of the army many times normal size was only able to be supported by invading and robbing 12+ nations. Their fathers were invading soldiers, their grandfathers were invading soldiers. They also were slavers beating foreign slaves in their war factories, and the families that gleefully sucked and grew fat on the blood of others. Japanese civilians, not the military, murdered (6000 foreigners were lynched by Japanese civilians in 1923, blamed for the Earthquake. All the while taking relief aid from America, then answering with bombing USS Panay and bombing Pearl Harbor to force America to lift export bans on Oil. Yes, *THIS IS THE REAL WAR FOR OIL.* They needed oil badly to continue the war in China so they invaded Vietnam for grain and Indonesia for oil when US refused to further empower the Japanese war machine.), robbed, and enslaved them to death worse than Porsche, Krupp, and Nestle. In fact, at the end of the war, slaves were murdered so they can't talk about reparations (example 5000 Koreans were tricked to go aboard a ship that was supposedly "heading home" were packed onto the Ukishima which was sailing off course then deliberately blown up from a delayed charge from the inside some time after ALL the Japanese crew disembarked on life rafts, then blamed on American depth charges when they weren't even there) while Japan play the race card and start incriminating Americans. It didn't work until the 90s. The Germans time and time again repeatedly say the civilians are also to blame, but Japanese will do everything they can to scapegoat. It's ingrained in their culture since the bloodthirsty feudal samurai oppression where they taxed people 3 times the average contemporary ratings and even Nobuhiro Sato in the 19th century gave specific numbers per region, of infanticides and concluded 1/3 of Japanese households were killing a baby each year (note that this was an era before contraceptives existed). To make money for their "progress" they continued their Karayuki-san ("Miss-Gone-to-China" where "Kara" did mean China but also used as a catchall term for all things foreign) human trafficking all over Southeast Asia. This is no small money because even big politicians like Yukichi Fukuzawa (featured on the old 10,000 yen note) and the like have noted them, and praised their "(involuntary) sacrifice for Japan" and euphemized them as "Joshigun (Army of Girls)". 300,000 Karayuki-san were sacrificed in the Meiji Restoration period alone, pimped out by their own men. _(This is just an extension of what Oda Nobunaga started in the 1500s. He earned money to import muskets to gain a edge over his enemy Japanese, by setting up Japanese brothels in Philippines so he can use the money to fund his war to kill more Japanese. Soon his rival samurai all started following his example so as to not lose the rabid arms race. Blood thirsty samurai oppressors selling girls to Portuguese slavers for muskets became so rampant Hideyoshi, Oda Nobunaga's successor warlord, officially had to ban this and said samurais must instead pirate, capture and sell foreign girls for muskets instead. It was in this time, also, that Luis Frois, a Portuguese missionary, traveled and wrote what he saw in Japan, and he wrote that mothers of Japan would kneel on their babies' throats if they thought they couldn't feed them, and the practice was so common that women didn't think much of it, and rationalized it that this is returning babies back to the spirits and demons, because babies didn't count as full humans yet. The practice was called MABIKI and it was done right into the late 19th century and even early 20th century in the more rural areas)_

[@lbcyber]

There are a few reasons why later Godzilla films toned down the themes of atomic weaponry, and they're fairly interesting as indicators of Japanese politics at the time. The post-war American occupation of Japan had a dramatic impact on Japanese art and filmmaking. While the original Godzilla performed extremely well in Japanese cinemas, its biggest success was in an altered version, Godzilla: King of the Monsters! made for American audiences that almost entirely wiped clean the messaging about the atomic bomb and instead focused on the monster-movie spectacle of shock and awe. The American cut was so successful it overshadowed the original. Ishirō Honda, Godzilla's designer, wanted to keep the Godzilla story going with the atomic bomb as its central theme, but it became harder and harder for him to get his scripts approved by Toho, which wanted to see the kind of numbers the American cut of Godzilla got. Over time, the films became more kid-friendly and Godzilla himself became more heroic, especially after a rival studio produced Gamera, which was heavily marketed to children. But there was another, far more interesting reason why Godzilla's nuclear themes were toned down and eventually abandoned: By the mid-70s, Japan's energy grid consisted almost ENTIRELY of nuclear power, and painting nuclear science as a bringer of death no longer made any sense. Godzilla was no longer an evil monster, but a powerful protector of the status quo on Earth. ...until Fukushima. 2016's Shin Gojira was a direct response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, and it only made sense for Toho to bring the franchise back to the beginning with a reboot, and Toho's Godzilla (as opposed to Legendary's Godzilla) was once again a symbol of the horrifying consequences of nuclear cataclysm, and the human response a parody of political bureaucracy. The most important difference is its ending, where Godzilla simply can't be destroyed, only slowed down; And sprouting from his tail are misshapen human creatures frozen in agony; he is as much a part of we who created the monster as we are of him. We all come from a history of death and destruction.

[@ORLY911]

One thing I don't see brought up often with Godzillas sequels is that of learning to live with it. As you said, more of the world was running on nuclear energy, originally a means of conveying death became a means of providing for people instead, so godzilla becoming a heroic (albeit, still very destructive) force made sense in the 70's. He reflects the atomic age and peoples attitudes changing over time about it. Shin Godzilla people live with it, almost as if its just another thing everyone accepts and can't deny, a frozen monument.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

I would say Godzilla vs Hedorah was a definitive heel turn for the character for the rest of the Showa era, especially considering the film is literally meant to represent the superiority of nuclear energy to non-renewable resources and the effects pollution will have on the world if we don't prioritize nuclear energy. Godzilla is portrayed as much more intelligent than previously shown as well.

[@JohnDoe-nv5oe]

That's such a bizarre response... considering Japan's government actually handled the failures of Fukushima with care. Prior to disaster, the Japanese government warned the plant about necessary infrastructural changes, for failure prevention. During the incidence, the people within the potential radiation zone were evacuated to safety. Now, in the aftermath, they've carefully measured radiation levels and gradually marked out the returning safe zones. If anything, I'd say the best criticism would be towards the power company responsible for failing safety measures, or to the Japanese government for not being more strict with that particular company, especially after their failure. But Attack on Titan was also suggestive in ways that I doubt the author intended (I'm guessing because he isn't Jewish and hasn't read many Jewish authors), so it's probably just a misinterpretation, again.

[@tvsonicserbia5140]

Absolutely not true. The 80s Godzilla films are also concerned with nuclear weapons through the lens of the cold war. And he is a villain or anti-hero(similar to GvK) in most of those too. In fact, Shin Godzilla is directed by Shinji Higuchi, together with Anno, who did the sfx on Godzilla from 1984 which was another film in the style of 1954 and a direct sequel.

[@ORLY911]

@@tvsonicserbia5140 yeah i find it a bit weird the heisei films were completely glossed over here, particularly 84 and Destroyah, which the latter connects directly to the first film and ends with tokyo being completely irradiated.

[@arskakarva7474]

I think the most interesting little addition made by Hideaki Anno in his masterwork reimagining of Godzilla, Shin Gojira, is that while Godzilla is an ancient organism that has been exposed in secret to radiation from nuclear waste for decades by an American corporation and studied by a Japanese scientist in their employ, this is not what creates Godzilla. It is when that scientist, finally unable to bear the suffering of his life (disgraced and exiled by Japanese society, and left without any support network as cancer slowly killed his wife), the closest we ever see of him on film is in the first shot of the film as the Japanese coast guard boards his abandoned boat and see his shoes neatly left by the door as the elderly scientist has committed suicide by sinking down to the ocean floor... And just like the radiation, Godzilla absorbs and metabolizes him and his emotions. And it's that exposure to human pain and rage against an unjust society that makes Godzilla surface and attack Japan. The other great addition is the elements of bureaucratic and political thriller, where the world reacts when it turns out that the giant monster attacking Tokyo can not only wade through the JSDF with impunity, it can survive the munitions of the US Air Force and more crucially it can detect and destroy the American B2 bombers attacking it. So the great ticking clock of Godzilla's attack isn't Godzilla itself, but the terrified reaction of America, Russia, and China to a monster that is simply too powerful for a military response against it to work, so they want to initiate a thermonuclear strike on Tokyo in a desperate attempt to kill it.

[@yemmohater2796]

Great interpretation

[@JLittleBass]

Ohh, is THAT what the significance of the scientist they mention at the beginning was supposed to be?? I've watched that movie twice, and I love it, but I could never figure out what the meaning of the suicidal scientist was supposed to be to the story. Your theory makes sense, thank you!

[@DoctorCyan]

I havent seen that movie since I was in high school, and a lot of the detail that Shin Gojira is packed with just flew over my head. I knew it too, but I blamed the language barrier. I didn’t know THAT’s why Godzilla attacked!!! I gotta rewatch it with fresh eyes!

[@FOX12-y2e]

Oh shit... is there anything written about that interpretation of the scientist? I'd be interested in reading it. I didn't know that was related to godzilla attacking. That actually adds some weight to the lyrics of the song that plays when godzilla is destroying the city. It makes him a kind of avatar of destruction on behalf of the scientist.

[@axemtitanium]

I didn't clock the connection with the scientist but that totally makes sense.

[@cerumen]

The podcast Imaginary Worlds did a great episode about Godzilla, and the conflict between the intentions of the composer, Akira Ifukube and the director, Ishirō Honda. Ifukube apparently saw Godzilla as the protector of Japan, its nature and national character, from the ravages of modernisation, globalisation and American military supremacy. Honda, the film’s director, saw Godzilla more as a representation of America and the atomic bomb. Both men were apparently aware of their differing interpretations. As a result, the visuals and the soundtrack are effectively engaged in a constant ideological Kaiju battle. Godzilla places Japan’s identity crisis right at the core of the cinematic experience. We’re left struggling to analyse and interpret the cacophony.

[@victoriawalker7792]

This reminds me of the argument over the interpretation of Lucifer in John Milton's epic poem: Paradise Lost. For hundreds of years scholars have argued whether Lucifer represents Charles the first, a king Milton hated (and wrote pamphlets to defend regicide in light of) or Oliver Cromwell, the puritan leader Milton had once so ardently supported, yet had become totally disillusioned by towards the end of his life. Both interpretations work and both are well supported by both textual and historical evidence. Some Milton scholars may learn from Godzilla. By allowing two interpretations to hustle for the star spot, we enable a drawing of similarity between the two. We enable a synthesis of ideas that may not be directly possible from the text itself. Perhaps, then, Godzilla is both the issue of imperial modernity and the bomb. Perhaps these two are inseparable, and together create that which the bomb cannot destroy: destruction itself.

[@cerumen]

@Kyuzo In the first four words of my comment, I immediately attribute the reading to somebody else, so "you're reaching a bit" doesn't make sense. To your point, I don't think the fact Ifukube reused the themes in later films necessarily challenges this reading at all. His work for Godzilla absolutely dwarfed the popularity of his other work as an orchestral composer, it practically made his career and was the original score for the film that launched a global franchise: it would not surprise me in the least if he (and/or his directors) came to see his themes for Godzilla as "iconic signature franchise themes", to be utilised in the manner of, say, John Williams' themes for Star Wars, Jurassic Park, etc. If anything, this directly parallels the way Godzilla as a character was originally created and utilised with specific artistic intentions, but is used very differently in subsequent films, even by the same directors.

[@lijeanneconde9591]

@Kyuzo stanley tucci can indeed reach higher in my opinion

[@BaldPerspective]

That's incredibly interesting to me as a musician & a huge Godzilla fan; I haven't heard that before. I always attributed the more bombastic music in Gojira to represent humanity, their efforts to defeat Godzilla, & to come together as a species, not to Godzilla himself. I've came to that conclusion based on how the same motifs were used by Ifukube himself in subsequent films where Godzilla is either anti-hero or straight-up hero who either fights with humanity or in place of humanity to defend against real evil, as opposed to the evil force Shodai-Goji was believed to be in the first film. If that's really how Ifukube saw the character from the complete onset, it really only further enforces Godzilla's Showa Era character arc from perceived evil to national hero & icon in some pretty interesting & complex ways. Thank you so much for sharing!!

[@blau6832]

You are the only person that has ever used the correct "their".

[@5Amigos32]

Little Joel Is like nice warm socks. Big Joel is like a big cozy blanket

[@uninterestingalt]

real

[@supershinigami1]

Many people are saying this.

[@deadfr0g]

Sometimes in the big blanket, you move slightly to try to get more comfortable and you suddenly find a fold of fabric that feels shockingly, jarringly much colder than the rest of it, and it essentially immediately confronts you to “pay” some additional amount of discomfort and/or conscious effort in order to either warm up that spot with your own body heat by dealing with it directly, or reconcile with the cold spot by shifting everything around again until the spot is now being consciously held in a new-but-more-comfortable position.

[@Jayanky]

Medium Joel is like a nice pair of pajamas

[@staceybd888]

You got that right, Booby Champ!

[@St1ckyGrape]

"The process through which we become people, and un-become people" is the most existential and horrific sentence I've ever heard. This video was a heavy watch for me.

[@JLittleBass]

Yeah, I found it very confusing but interesting. The only thing I could think of to help me make sense of the part where he's talking about "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" was the Hindu idea that all living things are embodiments or mouthpieces of "God", and that consciousness is basically the same for all living things, the only things distinguishing us are our experiences. But I still don't think I fully grasp what Joel is saying about the movie, I would probably have to watch it and then rewatch this video.

[@TheTrueChess]

i understood it as the idea that time changes us. we are no longer the person we were yesterday, nor the person we will be tomorrow.

[@benv3049]

One of the central teachings of Buddhism is anatta, "non-self." Learning to see the world like a Buddhist involves spending a lot of time un-becoming whatever you consider to be your "self."

[@david21216]

@@benv3049 at least the perspective I've always been in contact with, is that no-self is the understanding of you existing through your interactions with others and the world. No-self just mindfulness towards others and the actions you can control. Dont have to get rid of who you are to understand your place in interaction with the environment. Ofc never fact I'm sure it's perfectly fine to practice differently lol

[@rayafoxr3]

@@JLittleBassI’m not Hindu but honestly that’s sorta how I see things.

[@Julia-qt5wd]

Joel, remember. If you play Godzilla backwards it’s about a benevolent dinosaur who rebuilds a city and walks back to the ocean.

[@coyotedomino]

wake up babe

[@coyotedomino]

y’know i keep forgetting to watch on Nebula

[@old_channel160]

@hope. Don’t care

[@Pjays_]

RUn, RUN, RUUNNN, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD RUN

[@Hemostat]

5 more minutes plz

[@malikshakur1306]

i’m up i’m up

[@daltoncarneal9096]

Man I know that Joel has said he was disappointed in the reception of this video, but to me this is the most impactful thing he has ever done. I've watched this many times since its release. Maybe this video isn't important to him, but it is important to me.

[@fatheroflies]

I saw the restored version in the theater. Incredible experience. The mother holding her child, telling her it will be over soon as you hear Gojira's footsteps approach... almost like the sound of falling bombs coming ever closer. It's an amazing amazing movie, especially given that it came out less than a decade after the end of the war. As much as I love the rest of the series and fun kaiju nonsense as a whole, I do wish more people would watch the original as intended.

[@cooperkern4112]

This is probably my favorite video you've made. I've watched it several times, like I would another piece of art that I found truly engrossing. This is the type of media that convinces me that critique and analysis is its own art.

[@SM-fo5le]

hi, I've been having a depressive episode and "not to blow your mind but he is a dinosaur from the jurassic era" just made me laugh for the first time in two days and I snorted rice out of my nose, thank you

[@MaryamMaqdisi]

I hope you're doing well, sending you a tight hug

[@ernststravoblofeld]

It's so weird - I rewatched I'm Thinking of Ending Things two days ago. Read the book a while back, too. I think you nailed it. I have been baffled by the oddly shallow commentary on it in the online press. People just can't believe that two (or more) things can be true at once. A piece of a person's mind can be the main character of a story.

[@MCArt25]

I mean that is literally true for most stories anyway, most protagonists are characters created by an author, literally a figment of their imagination.

[@alfref]

thanks for pointing that out, i was actually kind of confused what the point of including I'm Thinking Of Ending Things was here

[@itsanu1420]

The book makes that ambiguity more clear tbh

[@ivyallie3688]

The commentary around Mulholland Drive is pretty similar. No allowance of nuance, just an attempt to tease out one definitive interpretation of the narrative as if was a Rubik’s Cube.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@MCArt25 right. The part of the script like “a figment of your imagination can’t be confused by what’s going on?” made me go “but that’s what 90% of my author pals are doing..!”

[@ebknowsflows]

man i was not at all prepared for that analysis of "im thinking of ending things." one of my favorites from the past few years. as soon as you started quoting people saying lucy wasnt real i knew where you were going with it. captured my feelings on the film perfectly. your video editing chops are getting extremely good

[@nosignal2568]

You always manage to make a shot where the camera is just looking at you unusually interesting to the eye. Thanks for that

[@AverageDayInside]

im convinced he is being held hostage in a mansion

[@notaperson9831]

He is becoming Jack in the Overlook Hotel.

[@Laeshen]

It's the variety of location and angle imo, it makes me examine the scene.

[@NaughtMax]

As a kid I was obsessed with the old Godzilla films, it was a large part of how I learned to read, watching with subtitles. My parents would take me to toy Tokyo who’s mascot was Godzilla to get more Kaiju from obscure movies from the series. I didn’t understand his greater context but him as a monster always resonated with me, and I mean beyond just him being a cool monster, I remember being on the verge of tears with his death, rooting for him in the sequels, being upset with the American Godzilla because he didn’t FEEL like Godzilla. And while I don’t think your analysis is wholly wrong I honestly believe as goofy as the sequels may be, godzillas role in those movies is important, the dichotomy of what he represents between the old and the new is expanded upon. Yes he is this collective trauma that brings great destruction but to me he’s also the strength borne from that trauma that carries Japan forward and protects it from future trauma. I dunno it’s been over a decade since I’ve seen these but Mechagodzilla 2.0 really stands out as an exploration of this, being built using the skeleton of the original Godzilla and inheriting his spirit. Even after defeating Godzilla, 2.0 sacrifices himself to protect him and bring him back to the sea which to me was really powerful moment as a kid. I dunno, the sequels are definitely silly but I do think they have things worthwhile to say about the original Godzilla and what he represents for Japan. Both being a collective trauma but also a connection to the past. I feel like the future films can mix the messages and it’s hard to square with the fact that we didn’t need to drop the bombs in the first place and that they did little to contribute to Japan’s surrender during WWII, but I still think they’re interesting.

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

Tokyo S.O.S. did have an incredible ending.

[@alnsmark4178]

🥜🥛🎉🥤🍵🥜🥛🫖🧃

[@evanbarth7173]

“Godzilla is The Bomb.” Well, spoken right from the heart, huh, Giant Joel?

[@1000g2g3g4g800999]

Pretty cool dino

[@supme7558]

Not

[@sabretoo]

This is a beautiful video; thank you for sharing it, and for your whole series. Your analyses are so interesting, and it's fun to try to think of the connecting ideas. Inflammatory Essays - the words are meaningless bc there are too many Conspiracy - the words are meaningless bc they are preordained I'm Thinking Of Ending Things - everything is meaningless without a subject there to be themselves And Godzilla is a creature with a self-contradictory identity, since he is a metaphor for the bomb, but he is also a metaphor for survival. Between these two opposites, perhaps there is hope for finding a deeper meaning. But instead we kill Godzilla, since we are too afraid to find meaning.

[@normanshoulda4749]

Agreed. I was a bit flabbergasted getting to the end of the video and never having seen a Joel production before. Like, is this guy just waxing philosophical with no point? Clearly he isn't explicating so we have to dig, huh Read another comment below and want to combine with this one: So we have Words/intention/spirit (human will as presented in Conspiracy, Godzilla as a multipurpose metaphor by the authors of the film, contradictory ideologies in the Inflammatory Essays, unsure about ITOET only as I haven't watched it carefully yet) vs meaninglessness (the natural unobserved order that exists before and after humans, rote survival at the bottom of the ocean by living off a routine-genocide of weird fishees by a radioactive dinosaur, the desire to seek meaning in it's absence as one realizes the cruel selfish pointlessness of getting everyone to 'agree' to the mass killing of human life by the state apparatus, the inability to distinguish a path when all ideas look the same on paper) vs the actual destruction of subjects (order observed then enacted then justified by those wacky German SS officers, the homicidal survivalism of any unthinking animal subject lacking in morality, the imagined characters trapped in a suicidal mind, Goddy being driven to the human world after an event destroyed local material resources, something from the essays I don't quite see yet). So, combining these two matrices, what are we to destroy that the bomb cannot? Two things that seemed especially relevant are the woman on the train making reference to Godzilla/destruction as sort of a modern inconvenience of living (meaning the characters live in the same trick of society most of us have at one point... That it's commented on by the characters because it's noticeably inconvenient, it's not how they thought the world was or should be) and the scientist's wonder about what we could be learning about radiation from Godzilla. Sorry just wanted to pull as many threads together and stare at it for a bit. I have reached no conclusions nor have I studied the actual visuals of the video to see if they imply part of Joel's point. I believe Joel is mapping out a way for us to begin seeking a way forward, and talking about the gooey self-defeating way we all know too much to take action but feel still that words can make sense of actions that have already happened. And everything just seems to happen all of the time now, so it's very relevant a path to find. Maybe it all relates to the thinking creatures awareness and fear of a meaningless death? Where a sacrifice is a meaningful death, if not particularly fun for the sacrificee. Idk 😐

[@notnotkavi]

I think the old man' story about sacrifice in Godzilla is about the nature of the Japanese empire. It had strength, but it did so via violence, and Godzilla (foreign attack) was held at bay, now it can't be. Idk feels almost kinda icky, given how bad the Japanese empire was

[@BigJoel]

Oh right yeah, I tried to convey this lol but didn’t really go into it

[@That_One_Xatu]

I think that was the point, or at least one of the two ways the filmmakers intended the story to be interpreted.

[@Thebdippy]

It's hard for westerners to speak earnestly about because those stories aren't part of our cultural narrative, but I do suspect there's a distinct element in the movie of Japan's violent imperial past coming back to bite them in the ass.

[@chrisriverata1917]

@@Thebdippy What do you mean I'm from the US and I also thought it was about Japanese imperialism coming back to bite them in the ass

[@Thebdippy]

@@chrisriverata1917 yeah but we don't have the intimate cultural understanding to fully know how and to what extent that theme is applied

[@MF-fd2ug]

One thing about the Wannsee-conference: The person who did the protocol (a man by the name of adolf eichmann) has said that he was explicitely instructed by heidrich to omit certain parts of the conversation from the protocol and the people actually used words like exterminate, kill and such. i am inclined to believe him.

[@benjaminchaulk6269]

He said it under duress and pain of torture from the allies. The Nazis didn't dabble in wordplay. When they said evacuate it's because that was actually their intention.

[@christofferadolfsson8217]

You are wrong.

[@freewilly1193]

@Benjamin Chaulk good job defending nazis. It doesn't matter. He was a nazi, they all were. Torture was too good for him. He deserved worse.

[@benjaminchaulk6269]

@@freewilly1193 You're a dime a dozen and not nearly as smart as you think.

[@MF-fd2ug]

@@christofferadolfsson8217 i am actually. i looked it back up and what he actually said was that the more explicit parts about murder were omitted from the protocol

[@callanhutchison1871]

If your look closely at the end when everyone is holding their hats to their hearts Dr. Yamane is the only character not doing so. He is so disgusted by Serizawa having to kill himself, the murder of Godzilla and the destruction of Tokyo Bay that he’s walking to the opposite side of the deck just staring out at the horizon.

[@alectucker9439]

when i first watched I'm Thinking of Ending Things, I got to that final scene and started it right back over again. Analysis of films like that tends to frustrate me, they reflect this desire to assign coherent, believable narratives that make the ending into a cheap Shamalyan twist. I see it a lot with Over the Garden Wall, too. But that type of analysis is just depressing, it closes off so much of the beauty and meaning these works contain. Your words might be the first that helped me see more in the film. It's also just so daunting to break down because it's like, 2 hours of fascinating dialogue mostly between two characters. thanks for the thoughtful vid, as always.

[@thewarriorofboros]

Godzilla is less a representation of fear of the bomb, and more fear that it could happen again. The movie starts with a flash of light that kills all the crew of a fishing boat, in a direct reference to bikini atoll and the tragedy of the Lucky Dragon 5. Japan was in a position where it had been subjected to an unspeakable horror and weren't allowed to talk about it and they were terrified that they couldn't control whether the bombs came back.

[@TheMaplestrip]

The Oxygen Destroyer was the concept in the movie that stood out to me the most; the invention of a terrible new weapon of mass destruction and everything that it entails. Japanese fiction has been deeply concerned with weapons of mass destruction since, perhaps because they actually know what it feels like to live with this type of harm. The earth is griefly injured from space in _Yamato, Gundam,_ and _Macross,_ but people always continue to live there. An apocalyptic past lies in the past of stories from _Nausicaä_ to _Zelda._ Sometimes, humanity declines more peacefully, other times the world is turned into a barren wasteland, but rarely is the worldending cataclysm halted. You cannot halt such a thing. That sort of American wish-fulfillment doesn't connect in a land frequently hit by earthquakes and typhoons. In this video, I particularly loved your analysis of the scene regarding the traditional dance. It was something I didn't even remember about _Godzilla,_ but you're right, it touches on the major questions within the Japanese existentialism, and I think can be connected to many of these anime apocalypses too.

[@gameworkerty]

With 'I'm thinking of ending things', the difference between the book and the film is so intense and the subjectivity of Lucy is so strong, I really came away with a regretful, transgender read, not unlike Kaufman's other movies. I think she's a genuine self, maybe of the janitor, and her character is resisting the janitors failed self conception. All of us who want to transition or did transition kind of have this imaginary self conception that is painful and confused and misbehaves in our own fantasy.

[@ealusaid]

Oh wooow the idea of bringing the self you wish you'd become to meet your parents packs a PUNCH. What a read.

[@Jan-gh7qi]

This is amazing. Also, conceptualizing one self as a rotting pig might be the most brutal metaphor for body-dysphoria, I ever witnessed.

[@gameworkerty]

A lot of Kaufman's movies revolve to greater or lesser extents around characters who either literally transition (Being John Malkovich), or are about older men who have failed self conceptions of themselves strongly tied to gender (Anomalisa, Synecdoche) or in Antkind where the entire plot of the book spirals out from the protagonist searching for an early transgender film and breaking down from a failing self image around his gender race, class etc. I like Thinking of Ending Things because it's an adaptation, and like the actual movie Adaptation, the most important part is how it differs from the source material. His strongest trans (egg?) work to date.

[@cunktclappr3368]

i miss when people would just accept themselves and not get reconstructive surgery cause they cant come to term with reality

[@filth.8839]

@@cunktclappr3368 Hate to break it to you man, the only reason people "accepted themselves back then" was because you'd be fucking murdered for it if you did or there was no feasible way to actually get reconstructive surgery. I really hate the notion that things just suddenly "pop into existence" when they've been a thing for a very very long time (and just haven't had the chance to actually be put out into the open for, yknow, obvious reasons).

[@aniaramarcusse5467]

Hey Joel, I want to thank you for covering a bit of I’m thinking of ending things. It is my favorite movie and I feel like most blog post don’t go far enough into the real meat of the story, which for me also kind of shows a trans allegory, with old Jake viewing everything as Lucy rather than young Jake. This whole series of art at the end was amazing. From the bottom of my heart, thank you

[@moonfestal]

It's one of my favorite movies too, but I've never heard of this interpretation before, which is a shame bc I like it a lot--going back in time as the person you wish you had been, rather than the one you feel like you've ended up as.

[@oftinuvielskin9020]

Yeah, I haven't seen the movie myself (I definitely will now though) but from the clips that seems like a pretty compelling reading

[@ms.aelanwyr.ilaicos]

From the clips and analysis given in the video, this reading of the film definitely resonates with my own experience of trans identity.

[@aniaramarcusse5467]

@@moonfestal Its not really apparent or stated (I watched the whole movie like 4 times) but it was something that jumped out to me only when I realised that she was a part of the old man and not a figment of his imagination. Also important to note is that she is everything he wanted to be when he was younger (an artist, poet, biologist and physicist). To conclude, I dont think it was an intentional placement by the author of the book or the creators of the movie, but I read some parts as a trans allegory and that's what matters

[@jennahveer]

Hey I’m trans and this is also one of my favorite movies, genuinely thank you for giving me another lense to look at it through I hadn’t thought of that but I def see it

[@smthnCorny]

Big Joel always reminds me how little media literacy i really have! I have no idea what he’s talking about ❤️❤️❤️

[@extrules]

I find it interesting how the only person to grieve the ocean in this film (Gojira 54) was the daughter, Emiko. The men stoically stare, the old scientist mourns the lost knowledge, but only the girl speaks of the sea. The symbolism of the kaiju taking young girls as sacrifices, the pain Emiko experienced when she saw the ocean experiment in the laboratory... this movie has so much to say about womanhood (and the natural world by extension), but only from the perspective of a man. The goggles of the destroyer frame all, while the life-giver is only a sacrifice... We must destroy what the bomb cannot, but only because of how far men have already gone.

[@JLittleBass]

Ooh, that is interesting...

[@tentativegazer]

I'm sure this was very much not the intention, but as a trans girl the last two sentences of this comment, and by extension the thesis of it made me very sad. I have a lot of guilt over being born the way I was, and the emotional impact this comment left on me was one of hopelessness. This comment presents human nature as if men are inherently emotionless, and it is only women who are capable of true empathy towards the natural world. This is a generalization sure, but it would not bother me as much if not for the last sentence. "The goggles of the destroyer frame all, while the life-giver is only a sacrifice." This sentence presents two options, prescribes virtue and unjust sacrifice to those who have the ability to bear life, something which I will never be capable of, and therefore it leaves me feeling as if I am doomed to forever be the "destroyer." And after that the last sentence leaves me feeling that because I am incapable of giving life, incapable of virtue and empathy, I am responsible for the acts of all terrible men who preceded my time. Given how you are watching Big Joel I can almost guarantee this was not the impression you intended to leave on people, and the generalizations you made were for the sake of simplifying complex emotions and concepts, but those generalizations still had an unfortunately negative impact on me. This is not your fault, I am not accusing you of being insensitive, rather I felt it would be best for me to share my perspective if only to give others a better understanding of the effect words can have.

[@angelzashez]

@@tentativegazer ​ The op made a good observation about how youth and feminity were selected to represent an abstract idea of the film. I'm a 37 year old childless woman, so not a life giver. Is the OPs comment saying he believes I must be a man? C'mon. Obviously there could be male creators and female destroyers, but to represent the concept in the film they used the gendered trope. You absolutely have to get used to femininity being used (especially 70 year old movies) to represent certain things like connection with the natural world and creation without letting someone who is just pointing it out it make you upset.

[@tentativegazer]

@@angelzashez I was not trying to debunk the actual film analysis made in the comment, that was fine. I tried my best to acknowledge that my reply was based on emotional impact rather than logic, clarifying that I understand generalizations and tropes are used to simplify abstract concepts. My reply does not hold up well if you judge it as a critique of the ops comment, and so I tried to indicate as best I could that it was just me sharing my emotional reaction to the comment. As for the reaction I had, it isn't really something I can control. The reason I had the response I did was because the comment echoed of a lot of the anxieties I have about myself. The idea that I am guilty of all the actions of men before me, ("only because men have already gone so far") and the idea that I will be forever tainted, worse, just because of the way I was born. These anxieties are very personal to me and my identity, and respectfully I don't think it's fair of you to say I just need to "toughen up" when these anxieties are about my entire personhood. It's not just a feeling inadequate, it's feeling like I am a fundamentally awful person because of something I can never change. This isn't saying that my pain is more important than anyone else's, rather that my reaction to this comment was very specific to me and I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to express that in a non combative way.

[@rayafoxr3]

@@tentativegazer​that’s perfectly reasonable imo, even though I like the interpretation. A more inclusive feminist reading could definitely be workshopped. When I first read ‘life-giver’, I read it as ‘giving via the sacrifice’, not literal birth. Anyways, I hope you can become more comfortable in yourself soon. Demonizing men hurts no one (not saying anyone here is doing that) and it’s fine to feel upset that people do that. This is just some thoughts and I don’t have a cohesive thesis, sorry. I don’t want to accuse anyone of anything or undermine the original comment.

[@syntheticat-3]

Godzilla is one of my favorite fictional stories/characters of all time. Nice to see u covering him in your usual thoughtful fashion, Joel

[@bibitta]

Glad to see that Joel has moved into a Wes Anderson movie

[@PhysalisAngulataNicotina]

This feels like classic Big Joel way more than most recent videos but I'm not entirely sure why

[@PhysalisAngulataNicotina]

not that the new videos are bad but I had to check the date and if it wasn't a reupload

[@DearLillian]

maybe im influenced by reading kaufman's book antkind, where kaufman expresses a distinct sadness from not being able to follow his characters when the cameras are off, so to speak, but i always thought that lucy in im thinking about ending things, was kind of exactly that. she's a figment, an invention, but she's allowed to be frustrated at that, confused by it. like she has a potential full life that's being denied her, because she's a character rather than a person. it always appealed to me, especially because of how it ties into the movie's notion of suicide, because of how it relates to that feeling of being fragmented. when ideation, sorrow, grief, trauma, depression and disorder disallows you to feel like a whole universe, a coherent perspective, and you feel like a character. the idea that someone needs to be the pig infested with maggots suddenly makes complete sense in that moment. highly recommend antkind btw

[@S728-u9x]

Big Joel , sometimes i see u talking about how certain youtubers make u afraid of losing your job , but i have to say that even tho some of them are very good at what their do the vibes you bring to the table , are simply unmatched , and no amount of effort can change that, u will always be, truly the biggest

[@boateye]

Oh shit I thought this was a little Joel video. I was pleasantly surprised! I love this series of videos 💜

[@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342]

Lil joel = short videos bigger joel = long videos See. I go by this rule. That way I never look foolish like you!!!! I feel smart : )

[@mmiimw50360]

@@soyborne.bornmadeandundone1342 wrong, lil joel: lil videos bigger joel: bigger videos

[@cuzned1375]

Yeah, there’ve been so many Lil’ ones since the last Big one, it didn’t even occur to me that this one might be a glorious half-hour long.

[@pieofchart]

Little Joel would never, he's stuck in Shopify Mountain right now, someone tell Big Joel to go pick him up pls

[@jerodwolf5582]

You know, learning about art has given me a new appreciation for the whole medium, in that needing a meaning and interpretation of art is kind of stupid. I'm not saying that art doesn't have meaning, but its magic comes from within oneself. I suppose it's what I get from works in museums a lot, where I don't necessarily need the artist's intent, but I'm getting my sense of it. Art is cool in showing the wonder of the human mind when it's put to good instead of being weaponized for evil

[@bobothetransdimensionalhob2659]

if you had to learn how to appreciate something than your appreciation was lacking

[@greenone7070]

as a lifelong godzilla fan i really appreciated this video. the 1954 film is truly a masterpiece and this analysis was just amazing to watch, made me think about it in ways i never have before. instantly made me want to go and rewatch it. excellent work!

[@ghintz2156]

I love how you find a relevant, current issue and talk around it with such unique topics serving as a catalyst for these important conversations.

[@normanshoulda4749]

Im stupid I'm dumb. Explicate a bit for us, Mr. Gangster Hintz, please?

[@ac3raven]

In the first bit I thought this was going to be an amateurish critique of Godzilla, but then you bring up Holzer and I became intrigued. When you say Godzilla represents modernity, not just the bomb, I think that is right on the mark. I will add that the Godzilla franchise movies up until now show Godzilla not as an enemy, but as a reckless ally precisely because Godzilla represents Japan's absorption of the aftermath of the bombs into its culture.

[@VentA_7]

Honestly the most interesting part of the movie is the Oxygen Desotryer, it’s by far the most literal metaphor of a nuke in the movie: it’s a weapon of mass destruction. It’s interesting both Godzilla and the OD exist in the same film while seemingly serving the same purpose as metaphors to nukes, but I think Godzilla has a different job in what apsect it covers for WMDs. Godzilla isn’t about the ethics of using a weapon of mass destruction, it doesn’t matter what was and wasn’t justifed: he’s the end result of choosing to use one and the sheer terror it is to behold the power of one. While the Oxygen Destroyer has lengthy monologues about the ethics of whether one should or should not be used to resolve the conflict, like the nukes for Japan: the OD’s job is to actually be the ethical discussion of using nuclear weaponry and what the ramifications it’ll have on society. Which I find incredibly interesting for a Japanese film to have, to be the only nation in the world to be bombed with nuclear weaponry, and have one of it’s most iconic films ever actually kinda stick it’s neck out for the use of nuclear weaponry, with as many caveots on the conquenses of doing so given: it’s very nuanced and mature.

[@varisleek3360]

he can subordinate the small joels to a great one

[@zillafire101]

The Virgin Nerdstalgic and Dr. Skipper vs The Chad BigJoel

[@dylanvickers7953]

In the new Godzilla Minus One, which is sent in the closing days and first two years of Japan recovering from World War 2 and they never mention the nuclear bombings. The only reference we get to it is one B-roll shot of testing at Bikini Atoll

[@odessawild7798]

I always thought about Lucy in terms of how our constructed worlds as artists are effected by our own thoughts, because eventually, every time, Lucy settles into this new truth, Lucy is trapped in a world that does not want to live anymore

[@Caligulette_]

Stoked to see you discussing (albeit briefly) the work of Jenny Holzer, my favorite living artist. And Conspiracy, such a great movie. Thanks for this thoughtful video and all your great work!

[@stevennicolo6485]

Billy Joel's "Lullaby" is gorgeous. When I was in college I was in a men's chorus and we sang a rendition of it that might be one of the best things I'll ever be part of.

[@lijeanneconde9591]

goddamn

[@Donyoku]

It's not an exaggeration when I say this is one of the best video essays I've ever seen

[@maybussell5099]

This video has an absolutely phenomenal title and I feel obligated to rewatch everytime I see it

[@dannimalcrossing]

The original Godzilla is so wild. I just remember the scene where a woman is cowering and holding a child telling them “we’ll see your father soon”. Stays with me to this day.

[@gscottanthony7483]

This video is really beautiful. Not just the music and visuals, though those are truly well assembled, but also in your script. The way you discuss this thesis is intriguing and well crafted. Mentioning the redemption of humanity by studying godzilla, analogous to our advancement or destruction through nuclear power, was a really nice touch and something I'd not have come across without your video.

[@robkomlo380]

I’ve loved this series! Really thoughtful stuff. Connected a lot of works I wouldn’t necessarily think to consider together. Probably some of my favorite videos of yours.

[@whatno5090]

This is the best video essay Ive ever seen about literally anything

[@rohiogerv22]

My favorite video in the series. I really appreciated the stubborn read on I'm Thinking of Ending Things. Lucy certainly exists, in any way that matters to the internal logic of the film.

[@michaeledwards6683]

this has my vote for the sickest thumbnail of all time

[@kaithecactus3714]

what a great series, big joel. your interpretations of films are so unique and thought provoking, i just want to give you a hug.

[@elainedeyoung7515]

I'm obsessed with this series, I've been watching them over and over again finding more to unpack everytime it's honestly so cool that this series about art stands as an incredible piece of art itself

[@d0gbug]

when you mentioned im thinking of ending things i immediately opened a new tab, watched all 3 hours of it, and then tabbed back to this to finish the video, it was an experience

[@rurubelle2920]

The book is pretty cool too.

[@itsanu1420]

The book is SOOOOO good imo

[@aimeekatz]

I wonder how it feels to have made one of the best videos on this entire platform.

[@nickchambers3935]

I like how Big Joel says “I didn’t watch his movies” as if Godzilla is a director

[@marcingolab6227]

I didn't know there was a "Big" Joel channel in addition to the main one, great content bro!

[@LogansBench]

The "As the world caves in" motif drifting in and out got me weeping Joel

[@doc7000]

The Godzilla roar is even worse then you think, it isn't that he is an animal but he has been scarred by an atomic bomb and his roar is a roar of suffering in pain as it is the same roar he gives when he was being ripped apart in his death.

[@NN-si6cl]

Little Joel has been fun, but I'm glad to see more Big Joel content

[@Chris-hh8vi]

Love this video. I’ve seen the original Godzilla so many times but I just rewatched it for the first time in several years the other day. Great timing putting this out as far as I’m concerned.

[@pacman5698]

As a mega Godzilla fan who is also big on media analysis, I think it's a bit dismissive to state all sequels bastardized the original version. There's still a few Godzilla movies that, while they do take different approaches and different tones, still adapt the monster to make other types of social commentary. King Kong vs. Godzilla was essentially a slapstick comedy critiquing the uncontrollable destruction caused by consumerism in a capitalist society, GMK makes a point that ignoring and trying to put a tarp over the horrific atrocities the Japanese government committed in WW2 will only bring the country itself destruction, and Shin Godzilla is all about the exploration of bureaucracy and how governments will clearly refuse to acknowledge massive disasters in a capitalist society.

[@pimpom5355]

What GMK stands for?

[@diegodankquixote-wry3242]

@@pimpom5355 GMK is short for *Godzilla, Mothra and King* Ghidorah: All Out Attack which frustratingly removes Baragon from the title

[@pimpom5355]

@@diegodankquixote-wry3242 Thank you! I will watch it!

[@avaragehomuraakemienjoyer]

I think there is room for both popcorn Godzilla movies like Godzilla vs Kong 2021 and for serious Godzilla movies like Godzilla 1954, they're all very cool to watch.

[@BoneLord303]

Man, that godzilla line the scientist said and the presentation of the video brought me to tears. Excellent video as always Big Joel.

[@TheRunningLeopard]

That realistic Godzilla eye is totally not freighting. I watched the British faux-documentary the War Games and a bit of Threads after watching “Godzilla! Kings of the Monsters”, and it was such a brilliant whiplash experience. If you can handle some body horror relating to radiation, I totally recommend doing this watch set up as well.

[@zillafire101]

I've always found his wide, unblinking eyes in the 54, 55 and Shin the most unsettling thing about him actually

[@XIN3OHd]

Before even watching the video, hands down best title I’ve ever seen. It is such a mix of intriguing, mildly disturbing, and makes me question what the story behind it is. Masterful work on the presentation.

[@theinsectgod]

That was really good. My favorite of your videos in a while. I know you didn't ask, but I would trade at least about 100 KZbin shorts for each thoughtful, developed, surprising video essay like this.

[@Sauer_Kraut]

If anyone is wondering about the music starting at 12:40, its _Toshifumi Hinata_ "Little Rascal".

[@melodye14]

This was so insightful. I hadn't realized that was the main point of Godzilla or I'm thinking of Ending Things.

[@ixfalia]

I love anything highlighting the deeper themes and questions in Godzilla, I appreciate you taking the time to take us through this analysis

[@thereluctanthipster6075]

The later movies are silly, but most still do ask questions of Japanese society and the use of Nuclear power or the aftermath of the bomb. From dealing with the pain, to acceptance and recovery of hope, realizing the potential to combating pollution, being stuck between Cold War US and Russia, the government's and people's disregard for not acknowledging their war crimes, to proposing nuclear armament. There are serious matters going on behind the wrestling rubber suits.

[@LotusReal]

To be clear, the most horrifying way possible at the time was the fire bombing of tokyo, which in a single air raid would see much more death and destruction than ever wrought by the early atomic weapons at a much cheaper and reliable price, and would of course do it in a much more violent manner. A wooden city being instantly vaporized and a wooden city being burnt to the ground with napalm, I think its obvious which is the worse. Nuclear bombs were revolutionary because of their scientific implications and later once they got big and cheap enough their strategic implications, not necessarily anything to do with their early power.

[@gentlydirking4912]

I've always thought a deep dive into the older godzillas would be fascinating. One of my earliest memories is watching the 1998 Godzilla on VHS when I was almost five. The death scene had me absolutely bawling, I'm not so sure it's even framed as a tragic scene, all I can think of is I liked animals and had a single mum. US Industrial Complex enacts violence on lone mother type beat.. might actually have informed my politics quite a bit in retrospect.

[@wadecrudgel6006]

I think this is my favorite video essay of yours I've ever watched. Really great stuff!

[@jexami]

Was just thinking about atomic bombs and when the next episode of this series was coming, what a coincidence! Very excited to see this, the other parts had some fascinating insight. Keep up the great work Joel Edit: Also would highly recommend Billy Joel’s The Stranger, an excellent album throughout

[@Vooblebooble]

Sorry I don't have anything to add but just wanted to say I love your profile pic 💜💖

[@jexami]

@@Vooblebooble Haha thank you! I’m not particularly sure i think it’s a “good” one, but it’s fun and i like that, glad to hear someone else likes it too ^^

[@thereservationatdorsia2618]

I was just thinking about sinchronicity then I read your comment, very cool combo

[@ktk44man]

I forgot that there was a big Joel. I'm in a little Joel world now

[@fairyeater]

great video! watched on nebula prior. :)

[@free_siobhan]

this series and also a lot of your other videos are kind of why i’m gonna study english in college. this seemingly mystical method you have of finding a meaning just one level deeper than what i can come up with is really, really inspiring. after having read im thinking of ending things, i think your interpretation really speaks to me, even if it’s not quite the same as the movie

[@supme7558]

You can tie meaning to anything if its vague

[@acetrigger1337]

Nothing is more depressingly human than finding a new power source, and then weaponizing it quickly without thinking of the consequences.

[@benst3r628]

**cough** **cough** Cordium

[@bogboog7734]

In my opinion, no matter how campy or silly he may become, the Godzilla always finds a way to warn the audience of something. Whether it be the dangers of corporate greed in Mothra vs Godzilla, the manifestation of pollution that is Hedorah, the gene splicing that created Biollante, the manifestation of the souls of war that is GMK, Shin Godzilla's Lovecraftian approach of governmental sluggishness, or the original allegory from 1954, Godzilla has always provided a warning. And this warning is usually solved within the movies, through some miraculous invention, or through Godzilla beating up a monstrous creature. This triumph is usually happy and joyous and optimistic and provides the audience with a feel-good ending. But for us, the audience, the people that the warning is intended for, we don't have that happy ending. We still live with the dangers of atomic and nuclear weaponry, pollution is still a very prominent issue, corporate greed is seen in headlines almost constantly, and we don't have a super weapon, or a Godzilla, to help us with those issues. Godzilla is the consequence of humanity's actions. He is a consequence of us not listening to the warnings. And as long as we ignore the warnings that these movies seem to be trying to bring to the forefront, who says we won't have our own Godzilla.

[@Juliett-A]

This is a refreshing change of pace from most video essays of the last few years.

[@effeilensucre]

I'm not quite sure how every segment of this video fit together, but this was a very nice watch.

[@CinnamonGrrlErin1]

17:15 you should meet the people in my dissociative daydreams, they've got all kinds of emotions

[@lilithwollstonecraft5763]

I had always understood Godzilla more as a metaphor for America than just the bomb

[@joeyfrevola5106]

Man I squealed a bit when I'm Thinking of Ending Things came up. Very happy to hear you talk about such an overlooked film, I hope more people here check it out thanks to this!

[@Mad_Possum]

I had never heard of this movie until just now, lol. Guess I should watch it.

[@Geefriable]

I really like this one, Joel. Keep up the good work.

[@KCrouch-t2o]

i have no idea what the conclusion to this video is actually trying to tell, nor how the break-off segments about the three films bear any relation to eachother.

[@Narokkurai]

It's about how all destruction is, at least in part, self-destruction. We are an integral part of the world we live in, and we cannot draw a line in the sand and say, "this part is me, this part is not-me". Suffering is always shared.

[@mooatthemoon538]

The conclusion gave me the impulse to cry at the end, thanks for that. I’m probably gonna come back to this video at some point because I love Godzilla

[@Creampuf1977]

Big Joel first thing in the morning? Oh hell yeah

[@benv3049]

Great video Joel, you're spitting some dharma in this one, keep up the good work!!

[@allynfornow]

Whoa!! Amazing video 👏 👏 I randomly watched thinking of ending things like a month ago.. so I was so stoked when you brought it up haha. I was so confused after watching that movie.. I watched it twice and still didn’t get it until now.. so thanks for that great perspective!!!

[@kinrateia]

Me listening to the beginning that's all philosophical and shit while being a person who actually was in a war just made me go like yeah it's not hard at all. Godzilla and the bomb both exist because a giant lizard is there to process nations war trauma. When you actually were under bombs, they're not a scary symbol of war anymore, they're a traumatic routine. I wonder what Joel will have to say about this tho

[@hucaseal]

a DID-diagnosed friend of mine once told me that 'i'm thinking of ending things' was a movie about DID to them and i think that really lines up with some of your analysis

[@cuzned1375]

1:15 Not Hiroshima, but Nagasaki. Guess that line’s not as iconic as Joel of Every Size thinks…

[@lorestraat8920]

Fascinating analysis of 'I'm Thinking of Ending Things' in this Godzilla video.

[@bfrpictures]

Here's the thing. I've become completely fatigued by film analysis. It is often so surface-level and flat that, even as a filmmaker, I can't stand to hear why 'this filmmaker made this choice' or how this moment is there 'to achieve this intended effect'. Big Joel is an answer to this frustration. He is so sincere in his analyses and treats films not just as spectacular entertainment or even as windows into history, but as dynamic, semiotic and emotional objects with material that offers insight into the world. I adore these videos. As a filmmaker though, I can't help but question - in all of this analysis, do you believe the filmmakers always set out to achieve these readings and interpretations? Or are these usually products of an intention to tell an interesting and engaging story? And on top of that, should I (and how can I) consider all of these things when devising a film? Or is it only in its completed state, when combined with a viewer that these ideas come about? Thanks for the amazing videos Big Joel!