Genre Therapy

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Genre Therapy

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By Ben Elliott

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Godzilla is more than a big fire-breathing monster.

First brought to the screen in 1954 by director Ishirō Honda, the original Godzilla depicted the destruction and trauma that the Japanese people experienced during and after World War II, specifically the firebombing of Tokyo, the dropping of atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the radiation poisoning suffered by the crew of the fishing boat Lucky Dragon No.5 following the hydrogen bomb tests at Bikini Atoll.

Godzilla 1954

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Rather than recreate these horrific events, Honda reimagined them as the result of a rampaging dinosaur, giving audiences an emotional distance to engage with the film and process the trauma that they were still dealing with. And that’s what great genre movies do: they allow filmmakers to tackle difficult subject matter in a way that makes it easier for audiences to engage.

The two films opening at The Triplex this week carry on this storytelling tradition while exploring the lingering impact of the events that inspired Honda’s original Godzilla 70 years ago. Legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki’s semi-autobiographical The Boy and the Heron is an animated story of a young boy fleeing the horrors and loss of WWII by escaping into a fantasy world. Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One takes the franchise back to its roots by letting the rampaging reptile loose on post-war Tokyo.

Boy and the Heron

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These titles are unabashedly genre movies — a fantastical anime and an effects-heavy kaiju tale — but they’re also deeply emotional, human stories. They're reminders that to explore what makes us human, one of the best things a movie can do is leave our world behind.

Or bring a fire-breathing monster crashing into it.

Showtimes

Showtimes Freakier Friday | 1:00PM, 3:30PM, 6:00PM, 8:30PM The Life of Chuck | 1:15PM, 4:15PM Highest 2 Lowest | 1:45PM, 4:45PM, 8:00PM The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg | 7:00PM

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