This reading has shown how deeply Tsuitsui reflected on how Japan viewed their past and portrayed into their film and other forms of arts. Atomic bombing and natural disasters; tsunami and earthquake had continuously happened within Japan, which did not even allowed the people to have time to go through their hardships. As written in the reading, the filmmakers attempted to overcome the issue by using the so called ‘monsters’ as a protagonist to materialize the reality of Japan into film and overcome by ending with a happy ending. Tsuitsui had comprehended such materialization as an attempt to beautify or neutralize the reality. Furthermore, the scene frequently seen in the films is that the protagonists are destroying the buildings in the film and it is repeatedly re-built in short time. Somehow, it may be perceived as the modernization/urbanization from the past to present/future.
Jeein Kim
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A good attempt at summarizing Tsuitsui’s argument on the monster genre in film. Appreciate that you’ve pointed out one of the positive roles that monster films had as a popular genre in Japanese society. In your point of view, do monster films in Japan these days take on a similar role in society? If not, how has the role change?