The cultural impact of Godzilla is undeniable. Godzilla is a total baddie, sometimes sweetie, always ready to rumble. And, lest we forget, a deep rooted metaphor for the impacts of nuclear warfare after the horrific bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
To summarize? This queen slays.
And, while it goes without saying Godzilla is always close to our hearts and minds, he had quite a year last year. For one, Godzilla Minus One took home an Academy Award, and while only tangental, the guy sort of responsible for the original Gojira‘s influence took home seven. (Let us know in the comments if we claim Bobby Oppenheimer as the grandfather of Godzilla.)
And what about one of Godzilla’s most notable rivals, King Kong?
Kong hasn’t gotten as much love as our beloved Godzilla, but is still a cultural icon all on his own. Say what you will, I’m a fan of both Peter Jackson’s King Kong and the recent MonsterVerse iteration of Kong: Skull Island, both movies showing the contrast of different directions to revamp character.
To celebrate Godzilla and Kong’s big day day of friendship in Godzilla x Kong, please enjoy this very in depth video essay on the making of the original King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) from video essayist Big Action Bill.
Did you know Kong was originally going to fight Frankenstein? That Godzilla vs. Kong was originally intended to be a satire of commercialization? Are King Kong and Godzilla actually best friends?
Find out all of this plus some interesting history of stop motion in Big Action Bill‘s video essay below.
Oh, and yes, we do debrief on our fave titans friendship, too.
The History of King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) by Big Action Bill
Are King Kong and Godzilla Friends?
Though this video essay doesn’t quite get into their friendship at large (lame), it does get into a lot of the politics between the Japanese and American film markets.
There is a lot of crazy back and forth on the two different versions of the film considering John Beck stilled owned the rights for American distribution and recut a ton of scenes from Honda’s original directorial release.
If nothing else in terms of friendship, King Kong Vs. Godzilla does expose the tensions and rivalries of producers and directors existed long before Apocalypse Now, Blade Runner or Justice League of our world.
That leaves it up to us to uncover the true hidden secrets of Godzilla and Kong. Is Hollow Earth just a high school lunch room waiting for our heroes to meet and realize they aren’t so different after all?
Let us know if you think King Kong and Godzilla are really friends in the comments.
Author: Grant Vance
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
