King Kong Vs Godzilla is hard to talk about. In many ways, it is a classic that set the outline under which the rest of the Showa series would be based. Yet, the movie is even moreso a product of its time in the worst ways. Where the movie is in one sense a satirical, sardonic critique of the very capitalistic influences that lead to its creation, it is also deeply, deeply racist. This is a topic that is hard to reproach, as the Godzilla community is not emotionally ready to be told that at the core of many of the most important films in the franchise is a troubling view of indigenous peoples, as well as tropes that are best left in the past. But in saying this, I cannot review this movie without addressing the ways that its narrative and visuals are a result of harmful racist attitudes from a post-imperial Japan.
The film, acting as a metaphorical meeting of the east and west via their representative monsters, carries with it a lot of uncomfortable feelings about the recent history of mass-murder at the hands of the United States. The movie seems to resent the cultural influence America has had on Japan, and is frustrated by the way corporate greed has invaded the country. But at the same time, the American monster must come to the rescue of Japan in their time of need as their own monster destroys them, a fact which is not un-addressed, but somewhat ignored for the majority of the film. The movie likes to point and laugh at the idea of the American and Japanese monsters fighting in a WWE-styled clash, but does not consider the implications of this fight. There is some comedy found in this comparison, as King Kong, like stereotypes of Americans, is a bumbling, drunkard, goofball. Indeed, the way that they manage to trap Kong to bring him to fight Godzilla was by feeding him copious amounts of alcohol, causing him to pass out. It is in this contrived King Kong Kidnapping that we see the movie's central thesis: capitalism == bad. The main villain is a greedy TV producer who wants to capitalize on the merchandizing and publicity that a monster mash would bring, arguing that seeing King Kong battle Godzilla, as silly of an idea as it is as a genuine way to stop Godzilla from destroying Osaka, would make him fabulously wealthy. Here, the movie creates a genuinely clever meta-commentary on the film itself, as it seems to suggest that the very existence of the film is silly, probably shouldn't be, but will make the producers of it fabulously wealthy, a fact which would prove prophetic, as the film is still to this day the most financially successful film in the series when adjusted for inflation. This meta commentary is the best aspect of the movie, providing more depth than the previous film Godzilla Raids Again, if still not getting close to matching the original. This aspect of the film is helped considerably by the fantastic performance from actor Ichirō Arishima, who provides a genuinely hilarious portrayal of promoter Tako. This, however, is where my compliments must stop.
As you have seen in the above clip, the effects have not aged well. Although the Godzilla suit is great, the same cannot be said of King Kong, who looks ridiculous. His arms are clearly not connected to his body naturally, the face looks as though he has a history of falling face-first, the fur looks artificial, and in general it is impossible to view him as a genuine creature. Where Anguirus in the previous movie looked fantastic, and was believable even accounting for modern sensibilities, Kong does not hold up in the slightest. The fight scenes as well lack the freneticism of later fights, largely looking more like Kong and Godzilla are cuddling, or dancing, than actually fighting. Although there are some moments of interest, like when Kong flips Godzilla, or shoves a tree down his throat, nothing ever looks good.
They do, however, look funny, and this comedy is supported by the aforementioned performance of Ichirō Arishima, but also the way the film frames the action. Even when people die, their deaths are only ever in the periphery. This is a big departure from the previous two movies, where character deaths, and death itself is always treated with a harrowing respect. Here, we may see a helicopter crash , a tank burn, or people be trampled, and it is only ever seen in a passing glance as we return to the action. The film is helped by this to a degree, as it keeps the flow quick, and energy high, but in losing the severity of death, the weight of the scenes is lost considerably. Where the stakes of Gojira are felt viscerally in the aftermath of the death of a mother holding tightly against her children, or the self sacrifice of Serizawa, death in King Kong V.S. Godzilla is casual, and incidental. The movie seems to operate under the assumption that no one is in any actual danger, and the only reason King Kong and Godzilla are even here is for the entertainment of on lookers. Although this does well in supporting the meta narrative arround the film, it does signficantly damper its effectiveness as a film, and more importantly, a Godzilla film. Having addressed all other aspects of the movie, there is no avoiding the conversation any longer: the racism.
King Kong V.S. Godzilla features brown face. This in itself would be enough to declare the film racist, but the movie goes further to directly replicate the "savages" tropes that were in the original King Kong film. The indigenous people who worship Kong are savage, primitive, and barely treated as people, instead barely viewed differently than Kong himself. They are treated as in and of the Island they inhabit; uncivilized, and outside of the bounds of proper humanity. None of this is unique to King Kong V.S. Godzilla, as most of these traits are in pretty much every rendition of Kong, but the way that it is used in this film is hardly better than the worst of it, namely the original Kong movie. Here, the light-skinned Japanese actors painted to look indigenous are at least not depicted antagonistically, which is a minor improvement over the original, but still not enough to remove the racism of the original. To be clear, it does not have to be racist to depict indigenous people who worship a monster, but the way that they are depicted here and in other places in the Godzilla franchise adheres closely to the noble savage archetype, which seems is yet another aspect of American culture that bleeds into this film. This is not to say that Japan of the 1960s is exonerated from racism, much to the contrary, but the way that the racism operates within King Kong V.S. Godzilla bares the same characteristics of American racism, and as such feeds a trend that the rest of the film holds of American culture and cultural expectations dictating the film's plot, characters, and very existence. Although the movie is critical of this, sardonicism in and of itself is not enough to operate as a full critique. If the movie is doing the thing it is criticising, the criticism is limp. Thus, the movie cannot escape its status as a racist film just because it is emulating the racist tropes of American cinema.
King Kong V.S. Godzilla is an important, but deeply problematic film. Its effects have not aged well, the action lacks weight, and although the meta narrative is interesting, the intense racism prevents the movie from being enjoyable to a modern audience with modern sensibilities. Although I love the design of Godzilla, and there are several geniunely good moments, the film does not hold up overall. Although this is a controversial opinion among the Godzilla fandom, I believe that King Kong V.S. Godzilla is one of the worst in the franchise, not one of the best as is the more typical stance. I will concede to the film's importance, and the fact that some of the best Godzilla movies simply would not exist without it, such as GMK, but as it stands, the movie is very difficult to watch, and I would not recommend be viewed today outside of historical context.
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