Movies
Giant Monster Reminds Us of The Virtue of Being Human
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Like many of you, I watched this movie at home on Netflix, but it was such an immersive experience that I swear I could smell popcorn. Godzilla Minus One tramples all the clichéd storytelling tropes of American cinema, and makes you feel like you are watching a ‘movie’ for the first time in a long time.
The most talked about thing about this movie is how good the visual effects are and that this is where it hits American cinema the hardest. But from a macro point of view, I think this film is the most obvious example of the triumph of Asian cinema, which has been demonstrated more and more in recent years.
Not only in cinema; Western civilization is morally, economically and socially decaying and losing its status as a ‘cultural power’. In the face of the western world becoming increasingly conservative and isolationist, and suffering economic and political instability, there is now an Asian market that is gaining self-confidence and making itself felt more and more dramatically in cinema, music, technology, etc.
Why do aliens always invade America? Because Americans made the movie. So their country is invaded and at the end of the day they win the war and become heroes! But between you and me, if the ‘western world’ continues its shortsightedness, we will soon see alien fleets flying over Asia. And they will win that war.
Let’s leave the economic dimension aside. In the past, the western world, which was the sole determinant in all the sectors mentioned above, had something more important than economic power: moral superiority. But when we look at the way this movie deals with concepts such as war, conscience and compassion, we see that there are people other than the Americans who can save the world.
In light of all these developments, I see this movie as a front in the culture wars between the west and the east and I think it should be watched from this perspective.
Result
Godzilla Minus One, with its spectacular visual effects and impressive cinematography, not only proves to the big studios that masterpieces can be created even with a small budget of 15 million dollars, but also reminds us human beings of our virtues, such as solidarity and the value of human life, which are trapped in a blind well in the deepest recesses of our souls.
