“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” — More Than Just a Monster Mash
Raise your hand if you like watching movies with monsters smashing things and fighting each other. Well, I’ve got a movie for you. “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” has blessed us with a bunch of creature action, but there is more to it than meets the eye.
Godzilla and Kong are rocking the box office having grossed over $463 million globally blowing both “Monkey Man” and “The First Omen” out of the water, or shall I say out of the Hollow Earth (for those who have already seen the film). Looks like Warner Bros. definitely knows whom to bet on.
Some movies exist for pure entertainment and yes maybe on its own “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is not teaching us any moral lessons other than basic “kick the bad guy’s butt”. However, what this film represents is a whole legacy of films that reflect on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings (Godzilla) and the roots of racism (King Kong).
Let’s start with Godzilla and the director of the first “Godzilla” (1954) movie — Ishiro Honda. He was drafted in WW2 and it left lasting impressions on him. After 8 years of fighting for his country two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan wiping away people, animals and vegetation. The horrors did not stop there. Millions died from nuclear radiation in the following years and to make matters even worse in 1954 the U.S. conducted the largest hydrogen bomb test next to Japan killing even more people and starting a real hysteria.
After seeing the success of monster movies in the U.S., Japan decided to bring its own monster to the spotlight to help promote the anti-nuclear movement. Ishiro (the director of the first “Godzilla”) said that he wanted to make the monster so unbelievably destructive that he applied the qualities of an atomic bomb to the monster. If you watch the first “Godzilla” you’ll see that the depicted events are almost exactly what happened when the atomic bombs were dropped, indicating that Godzilla is the atomic bomb. There is even a scientist in “Godzilla” who is almost exactly parallel to Oppenheimer — the father of the atomic bomb.
The first “Godzilla” film had a dark and somber feeling to it reflecting how the Japanese felt about the horrors of nuclear attacks. Today’s Americanized Godzilla is the polar opposite. Meant for pure entertainment it is full of excitement and where before Godzilla was a destructive nuclear monster now he is a hero that helps humanity. He is still very destructive (using the Coliseum as his bed) and still nuclear (charging from nuclear power plants) but a hero who paired with King Kong saves the world again and again. You would think that after Avengers and all the other superheroes the world is finally safe but no there is always a risk of some titan from the underworld wanting to ruin it once again.
So what is the deal with King Kong? How is that gigantic ape culturally important? When you break it down it is obvious how the original “King Kong” (1933) story is similar to that of the slave trade. A group of white men and a white woman travel to an unexplored island inhabited by defensive natives. The men capture the natives’ god — King Kong, chain him down and display him in New York in front of more white people. Kong escapes with a woman in his hands just to be killed by heroic white men as another spectacle for the audience. A parallel to interracial relationships can also be drawn as Kong wants to be with a white woman, he is killed for that, and she is reunited with a white guy. Over and over the same tropes are exploited until “Kong: Skull Island” (2017) mixes things up introducing more creatures and more awesome monster action.
Once again Kong becomes a hero who saves people steering away from the immoral past of the original King Kong movies. Much like Godzilla he is now a friend who will save the world. And what is better than one beloved creature saving the world? Of course, two creatures doing it together! That is exactly what “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is. In one film they were fighting each other (“Godzilla vs. Kong” 2021) and now they are besties saving the world from another crazy gigantic monkey (Skar King) with another huge nuclear monster (Shimo). And hey, I am so down for it!
However, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” still has a major modern relevance. Have you seen all the wars going on right now? War in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are the scariest political conflicts that happened in a long time. Parallel with the film could be drawn from the war King Kong and Godzilla have with the Skar King and Shimo almost destroying Hollow Earth and Earth’s surface. The Skar King can even be related to the ruthless dictators leading their countries into conflicts today, wanting to take control over territories next door. Similarly, King Kong fighting Skar King and Godzilla fighting Shimo can be viewed as a metaphor for people fighting their own kind — other people, pointing out the brutality of the modern world.
And of course, where there is a war there is talk about atomic bombs. Will someone soon drop another bomb? Are we on the path to WW3? I don’t think it was an accident that the film “Oppenheimer” was released in 2023 either. War is on everyone’s mind and I think it is a good idea to be reminded about all the destruction, atomic bombs, and cruelty to one another brought to our planet in the past.
Final thoughts: if you are willing to look a little bit deeper “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is the same cautionary tale and commentary on the cruel earth the original Godzilla and King Kong movies have always been. It is masked by all the flashy action and cool visuals for the modern audience but it still has the essence of an important cultural message underneath all that. Maybe the film is not explicitly saying that war, atomic bombs and inequality are bad things but quietly echoing that message from the legacy of films that came before.
So I definitely recommend you to check out “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” and all the other films about this sweet couple because a) It is a good time and b) It makes you think about what is actually going on under the surface.
Resources:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/best-king-kong-movies/
https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3351937793/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godzilla_x_Kong:_The_New_Empire
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXJHBNMQCv0
