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K. Waste posted:The etymological route to "Mothra" is not "Moth + big," it is "Moth + ra." "Moth"/"Mosl" is a foreign word, implying the exotic and alien To your point, rendered in Katakana モスラ/mo-su-ra does explicitly have a notion of being foreign or exotic. That is that Katakana is often used to denote foreign load words in Japanese. So inferring the three syllables here as exotic is right on the nose even from within the originating language itself. It maintains its meaning even when it transitions to a different form of, for this purpose, English. Though I would interject that the pun of "ra/la"/ラ and the association with song is potentially relevant. The existence of the creatures creates their inspiration, where the words that were available only go so far, so the creatures create their significance retroactively. But really this is about sneaking in a question: What movie was Godzilla put to sleep by Mothra where there were, I think a trio/triplets who were singing some kind of incantation? Might be a mash-up. Where the whole idea for me of "La" being a fragment representing not size, but punning on sound/song as well as just its signification for "moth", is getting jarred from this memory. I haven't seen the movie or movies where this might come from in some time.
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Nov 30, 2017 06:17
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| # ¿ Jul 19, 2025 03:06 |
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No one's really arguing about the external reasoning for these terms. The confusion is who's talking about the narrative here. What scene in the movie is it where the wikipedia article or production staff tells the villagers or the various scientists the reasoning behind these names? Really, there's an inability to see how funny it is to try to apply the logic of said portmanteau to the character of Gojira. Imagine a scene of that being rationalized by an observer. "He's bipedal... like a Gorilla!! He's big... like a whale!" Godzilla/Gojira doesn't drag his knuckles/walk on the outside of his knuckles. I don't know the last whale you saw that was larger/as large as a skyscraper. But this isn't to speak to some notion of confusion, since no one was actually pondering the production/creative staff's external reasoning. Names characterize these Kaiju as well as the world around them. Like, the best that the world can manage to describe these creatures are terms that don't really adequately describe them, because that's not the point. The creatures themselves end up creating their significance in the way the narrative's various characters and objects respond to them. The names and their lacking reinforce this.
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Nov 30, 2017 22:46
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SuperMechagodzilla posted:Gojira is explicitly the name of a (fictional) minor kami specific to Odo Island. The Shinto ceremony shown in the film is fairly legit - it features offerings of food and sake to Gojira, and a satokagura performed by dancers in tengu masks to chase away the 'impurities' thought to have provoked the attack. It, 生贄/ikenie, can also apparently mean scapegoat. I had an epiphany that Chrono Trigger is a Kaiju narrative thanks to you though. Corrosion fucked around with this message at 09:09 on Dec 1, 2017 |
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Dec 1, 2017 09:06
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Detective No. 27 posted:I never thougt of Lavos as a Kaiju. In fact, he's closer to The Center, a sentient ancient alien island from DC: The New Frontier. They both even feature psychadellic scenes when someone goes inside. Another derail from me, but I think it has more formal qualities in common with Kaiju. Its characteristic attack invokes the remnant anxieties of the Cold War, the remaining ICBMs. Its signature roar is similar to Godzilla's. When I was describing how funny it would be to see someone rationalize the external naming rationale of Gojira, I realized that very scene exists in Chrono Trigger when Ayla communicates to the party, "Ayla's word! "La" mean fire. "Vos" mean big." I think the hallucination part is fitting because it's really not as good as Godzilla in terms of the logical extension of what it does, the size it exhibits... the scenario is interesting but I just feel like it was only worth locating because seeing the word 生贄 reminded me of the less good 生贄と雪のセツナ, which was a spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger. There's a Wizard of Oz/Charlie and the Chocolate Factory style hallucination in the core battle, which I think is actually fitting to how Lavos is kind of a sham Kaiju. I'm still stewing on whether there's a sort of Anti-Christ/Anti-Semetic quality to it all. But Lavos isn't an island, Lavos burrows and is the basis of certain religious imagery/cultural eras. Suggesting it's similar to a landmass is kind of missing the point, as that similarity is really superficial in face of all the other formal stuff. Though the times when Lavos is more of a Chronotope similar to something geographical can be pretty cool. Specifically "Death Peak." The whole time travel conceit is more like going through therapy so it's kind of a waste in ways.
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Dec 1, 2017 15:39
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Maybe this isn't correct, but it also just looks like Ghidorah in the shot there is encased in ice and I like the implication if that's so that it's the Anthropocene that has freed Ghidorah in the first place. I'd love for that to intersect with a space origin.
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Dec 14, 2018 21:51
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Cythereal posted:It's not correct, ecoterrorist lady is consciously blowing up Monarch facilities and freeing the kaiju because she thinks she can control them and they'll restore Earth to a paradise because we've been destroying everything. Or so interviews have said is the gist of her character. I am curious in context what that substance holding Ghidorah is, though not so much an interview explanation. They're reiterating plot, but that doesn't really give a sense of what is shown to explain how the facility came into unearthing/containing Ghidorah. At the very least I can say the still shots and trailers alone are thought provoking. Because I'm not saying Ghidorah melted from the ice then emerged in a single stroke, I'm saying it looks Ghidorah is tied into imagery related to the Anthropocene. Like when you say she's an ecoterrorist and stuff, the Anthropocene is very much the culmination of ecological horrors man has wrought on Earth. It remains to be seen, so this isn't saying "Well I'm for sure right" but I just want to make it clear I'm not looking for a plot summary to explain what I've seen either.
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Dec 14, 2018 22:18
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| # ¿ Jul 19, 2025 03:06 |
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Godzilla: he opened the shaft
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Dec 14, 2018 22:22
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