WHO HATES... Showa...!? Whaaaat? (Ignoring '54)

[Breakdown]

Guarantee the person who voted that they "literally hate" these films was just being a dumbass.

Wow man, you must be some sort of prophet or something. Who could have ever figured that out if not for Legion1979 and his impeccable insight?

[eabaker]

Okay, this thread seems to be a low-key trolling "gotcha" response to the equivalent Heisei thread, and so far it has largely consisted of snark and sniping. Clean up your acts pronto.

[Voyager]

Gigachad Voyager just saying he loves these films while refusing to elaborate:

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

Man....this thread will most likely end in fire. If it devolves into stupid arguments and jabs at one another it'll be closed immediately.

[Voyager]

Man....this thread will most likely end in fire. If it devolves into stupid arguments and jabs at one another it'll be closed immediately.

Don’t worry, we’ve already gone through the notions. Things have seemed to calm down for now

[edgaguirus]

And may it stay calm.

I understand that some may not hold these in high esteem, but based on what I've read on this board, the Showa films are not hated. A few get mixed reviews, but no hate. IMO many of these films are creative, enjoyable, and have memorable music scores and performances.

[Chrispy_G]

There is a lot of "rose tinted glasses" stuff going on with the overall Showa era. They are NOT old crappy garbage, but they DO have over-inflated reputations and value. All fans are guilty of ascribing much more weight, hindsight-value, historical significance and quality to their old favorites...there is nothing wrong with it. I'll be the first to say that even if the filmmakers intended zero meaning or weight in their work, that doesn't stop a viewer from finding weight and meaning in the work. It is just important to keep a realistic perspective.

Many fans are also influenced by the norms and standards of the fandom. There was a time when it was in vogue to bash all Dubs and demand the subs. Now it is much more common for people to fight for every obscure edit and Dub that ever existed just because that is what was played on TV when they were young. Then they throw shade at the dubs of more recent films that an entirely different generation grew up on. "my stuff was good, yours is bad. The old stuff I grew up with was actually great, and yours isn't"

So Showa love is genuine in many cases, but Showa hate is also treated like a taboo. You aren't at the "cool kids table" if you dissent.

Every excuse in the book is made for their shortcomings, while other lesser entries in the franchise "had no reason to be bad"...I'm sure EVERY not-so-great film has sob stories behind the scenes, it doesn't stop them from being bad. Films are judged by the final result.

Bluntly...the Showa Era has some of the very best AND some of the very worst of the franchise. Some of them are STILL so prominent that their absurdity is used to this day as ammo for scorn against the franchise. Some of these films did decades of damage to the reputation of the character and franchise.

People in the "normie" crowd have no idea what the heck a "Final Wars" is or what a "SpaceGodzilla" or "Megaguirus" are, but they know that Godzilla flew once or did a super drop kick one time, and thus "Godzilla is corny as hell"

They just as often have made Godzilla infamous for cheeseball moments as they have made him famous for great moments. "Iconic in a bad way" as one podcaster put it.

The Showa sequels laid the groundwork for the franchise, and introduced all of the pillars and tropes, the foundation all the rest stand upon, but they are not infallible.

Basically, it is absolutely 100% okay to be highly critical of the Showa films, it isn't against the rules, there is a lot to criticize just like any other era...and acting like Showa criticism is somehow blasphemy or only exists ironically is absolutely ridiculous. We should not under-value them, but we also shouldn't put them on unnecessarily high pedestals.

These are not sacred cows.

[JAGzilla]

Bluntly...the Showa Era has some of the very best AND some of the very worst of the franchise. Some of them are STILL so prominent that their absurdity is used to this day as ammo for scorn against the franchise. Some of these films did decades of damage to the reputation of the character and franchise.

People in the "normie" crowd have no idea what the heck a "Final Wars" is or what a "SpaceGodzilla" or "Megaguirus" are, but they know that Godzilla flew once or did a super drop kick one time, and thus "Godzilla is corny as hell"

They just as often have made Godzilla infamous for cheeseball moments as they have made him famous for great moments. "Iconic in a bad way" as one podcaster put it.

If people are driven away from the entire franchise by a few minutes of off the wall silliness, do we really want those people in the fandom? From a financial standpoint, sure, I guess, but otherwise... Ehh...

[Chrispy_G]

If people are driven away from the entire franchise by a few minutes of off the wall silliness, do we really want those people in the fandom? From a financial standpoint, sure, I guess, but otherwise... Ehh...

I just meant it in terms of the silly reputation of the 70s keeping superficial "normies" from giving ANY Godzilla film a chance. A "one bad apple spoiling the whole batch" kind of thing.

[Legion1979]

In response to Chrispo's "rose colored glasses" comment.

Its 2022. Godzilla '84 (part of the Heisei series if not the Heisei era, but whatever) turns 38 in December, the same time Godzilla vs Biollante turns 33. I'll bet these movies are older than a lot of fans on this board, who don't know a Godzilla series that doesn't include them. Don't you think there's the same level of "rose colored glasses" thinking with them too. Shit, I was 10-16 when Biollante through Destroyah came out and absolutely did the "rose colored glasses" thing with those movies too until I slowly began to reevaluate the entire Godzilla series around the time I hit 30. Those films occupy a very important time in my life and I'm extremely nostalgic for them. But at 43 I've hit the point where they just don't work for me as films anymore the way the older films continue to do. I dont think this is all as cut and dried as people want it to be.

[Spuro]

Bro who voted they hate them

Added in 28 seconds:

I hate the Showa era. The only people who like it are prehistoric boomers.

It was you! Damn you! I will curse ye with Godzilla Earths from all Loot Boxes!!!!!!!!!

Hey, we had someone vote for literally hating Heisei as a joke, may as well continue to tradition.

[Legion1979]

Actually, two people have voted that they "literally hate" these films now. And one person...has never seen them? How have you not seen the most accessible Godzilla movies?

[JAGzilla]

^ The most accessible Japanese Godzilla movies, that is. The Monsterverse is far more readily available, 4K disks on every Walmart shelf and all. As much as it pains us, A LOT of Godzilla fans in this day and age will have never seen a Japanese movie, let alone a cheesy old Halloween costume one.

There's also an extremely real chance that the vote in question was a troll vote, probably hoping to get an incredulous reaction like that out of you specifically.

[Legion1979]

True. I guess we ARE now in a time where "Godzilla fans" might have only ever seen 3 American made CGI heavy films.

[JAGzilla]

True. I guess we ARE now in a time where "Godzilla fans" might have only ever seen 3 American made CGI heavy films.

Eh, it's a start. No need to question anyone's fanhood. It's probably counterproductive if you do.

[Legion1979]

I guess the question is, can you really be a "fan" of a character if you ONLY like one specific series mades decades after the bulk of the characters other films and by a studio on the other side of the world from the studio that created the movies that made him famous in the first place? I mean, I guess you could, but wouldn't that make you more of a fan of those specific films instead of a fan of Godzilla himself?

Lol it's like saying you're a big Bugs Bunny fan but admitting the only films you've seen him in are the two Space Jam movies.

[Spuro]

True. I guess we ARE now in a time where "Godzilla fans" might have only ever seen 3 American made CGI heavy films.

The prices that some of the older physical releases go for these days doesn't help matters there.

And, well, modern twenty-somethings and teenagers who refuse to watch anything from before the 80s, but that's a whole other can of worms.

[Marciosss]

True. I guess we ARE now in a time where "Godzilla fans" might have only ever seen 3 American made CGI heavy films.

The prices that some of the older physical releases go for these days doesn't help matters there.

Plus, new releases are mostly super exclusive collector items, that cost my liver (i'am from poland and assure it isn't in good shape )

[Legion1979]

True. I guess we ARE now in a time where "Godzilla fans" might have only ever seen 3 American made CGI heavy films.

The prices that some of the older physical releases go for these days doesn't help matters there.

Come again? There are only three Japanese Godzilla films that aren't currently in print on disc. In fact, all the Showa films are not only on physical media in one box set, but 14 out of 15 of them (KKvsG excepted) are streaming on HBO Max AND are legally up on YouTube for FREE. Plus, many of them air pretty regularly on Comet TV. And all the films made between 1993 and 2004 are still available in bluray sets that cost $12 a pop on Amazon.

It's never been easier to see the majority of this series.

[JAGzilla]

I understand and agree with what you're saying; hell, I tell my teenage sister the same thing all the time. But I'm a total hypocrite when I do. I call myself a huge fan of DC and Marvel superheroes, for example, but I became a fan through cartoons and novels written several decades after the characters' creation. About eighteen years into my fandom, my exposure to comics older than I am is still very limited, just a few dozen issues, the majority of which are the New Teen Titans series. But despite never having read any of his important comics, or even seeing most of his movies and TV shows, I still like Superman. Am I not allowed to? Am I an inferior or illegitimate fan for it?