Using Japan as a site, disastrous films are very relevant to the historical context of the place where continuous destruction and reconstruction take place. As a country threatened by natural disaster and man-made disaster, such as war, the place has used the opportunity to reorganise and advance, developing into a stronger nation. While the author thinks that these films, such as Godzilla, create optimism at the end, showing how strong men can be, to me, such optimism or moral lessons seem to be forgotten, due to the excessive production of the genre. Using the destruction of the city, monster and natural disaster as plot devices, in some daily animes or TV shows, the city has been destroyed countlessly. In other words, to the audience, these plots are cliches. Even though there is a strong message to be conveyed, with the excessive production of the genre, I doubt whether audience will take the message as a lesson and learn.
Name: Hong Sum Ho
UID: 3035695696
The cliches that you are referring to see audiences returning to them over and over again. To a large extent, Tsutsui’s description of the phenomenon of the slew of apocalyptic films is an analysis of the Japanese society and its evolving psyche – from the postwar years to the present. Therefore the audience is not a static one. From your reading and to your own understanding, how do you think the audience has changed along with the films?