Japan's Green Monsters: Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema - Paperback

by Sean Rhoads (Author), Brooke McCorkle (Author)

In 1954, a massive irradiated dinosaur emerged from Tokyo Bay and rained death and destruction on the Japanese capital. Since then Godzilla and other monsters, such as Mothra and Gamera, have gained cult status around the world.

This book provides a new interpretation of these monsters, or kaiju-ū, and their respective movies. Analyzing Japanese history, society and film, the authors show the ways in which this monster cinema take on environmental and ecological issues--from nuclear power and industrial pollution to biodiversity and climate change.

Author Biography

Sean Rhoads is a film historian, Japanologist, and lifelong monster cinema aficionado. He has taught courses on East Asia and published on Godzilla and environ-mentalism in G-Fan magazine, and lectured on Japanese monster cinema at G-FEST. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario. Brooke McCorkle is a Japanologist, double bassist, and a visiting assistant professor at SUNY Geneseo. She has published in Horror Studies and the Journal of Fandom Studies. She lives in Rochester, New York.