It’s been so long since I posted here that I haven’t even shared the latest episodes of my podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault. In which case, here are the YouTube versions of episodes 8-11.
Tag Archives: Ishiro Honda
The Monster island Film Vault, Episode 7: ‘Half Human’ (Mini-Analysis)
I was making so merry for Christmas I forgot to share the latest episode of my podcast here! That will be amended! Enjoy!
Merry Christmas, kaiju lovers!
As part of Nathan’s continuing series on films covered in his absence on Kaijuvision Radio, this mini-sode examines Ishiro Honda’s 1955 film Half Human, which is infamous for being banned by Toho. Heck, it was stashed so far back in the Island’s film vault, it took Goji-kun and Bro Kong (the podcast mascots and possibly Godzilla and Kong’s “little” brothers) a long time to find it for Nathan to watch. Strange as it may sound, it’s serendipitous that this episode was released on Christmas Day because the film takes place partly on New Year’s Day. It follows a group of scientists and students investigating the appearance of the Abominable Snowman in the Japanese Alps, where they encounter a savage tribe who worships the Snowman. Nathan’s analysis focuses on the natives, their parallels to the Ainu (Japan’s indigenous people), and how this portrayal got the film banned. He argues that, despite possible insensitivities, Half Human is unfairly censored and deserves to be viewed by a wider audience.
All this plus our first listener feedback letters and the Monster Island Christmas party—wherein Nathan learns that kaiju can sing Christmas carols (or so his intrepid producer, Jimmy From NASA, tells him even though he hasn’t fixed the ORCA yet).
Here’s the Kaijuvision Radio episode on the film: Episode 38: Half Human (1955) (Genetic Origin of the Ainu People).
Here’s the blog with the rules for the Destroyer novella giveaway.
This episode featured “We Three Kings” by Jay Man (OurMusicBox on YouTube).
See you in 2020, listeners!
#JimmyFromNASALives
© 2019 Nathan Marchand & Moonlighting Ninjas Media
Bibliography/Further Reading
- “Ainu people” (Wikipedia)
- “The Ainu of Japan: an indigenous people or an ethnic group?” by Kaori Tahara (Public Archeology, vol. 4, no. 2-3).
- “The Ainu People” (Ainu Museum; website now closed)
- “The Ainu: Reviving the Indigenous Spirit of Japan” by Sarah W. with art by Aya Francisco (Tofugu)
- “Half Human (1955) Kaiju Film Review” (YouTube) by Adam Noyes of AN Productions
- Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godzisewski
- Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda by Peter H. Brothers
- “The Untold Story of Japan’s First People” by Jude Isabella (Sapiens)
- “Who are the indigenous Ainu people of Japan?” by Isabella Steger (Quartz)
Check out the latest episode of my podcast, where I’m joined by my friend and fellow writer Nick Hayden. Enjoy!
Hello, kaiju lovers!
In the latest episode of the “Kong Quest” (which is finally mentioned by name on the air!), Nathan is joined once again by author and “Golden Ticket Tourist” Nick Hayden of the Derailed Trains of Thought podcast to discuss the wacky but fun King Kong Escapes. Like with the 1933 film, this is Nick’s first time seeing this 1967 Toho classic, which was the second (and sadly last) of Toho’s Kong films, as it was made in the last year they held the rights to the Eighth Wonder. This is a first for the show as it’s the first tokusatsu film directed by the great Ishiro Honda covered on the podcast. It’s a crazy nexus of ideas borrowed from other productions and some that seemed to anticipate others. For one thing, its villain, Dr. Who, is both a derivation and a precursor to the famous British TV series! Nathan and Nick also note some funny connections to Rankin-Bass’ classic holiday special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer given that they collaborated with Toho on this live-action cartoon.
The Toku Topic is how Toho’s Japanese-American co-productions paralleled Japan-America relations.
Stay tuned after the credits for a Marvel-style stinger and an important announcement.
Timestamps:
Intro: 0:00-3:25
Entertaining Info Dump: 3:25-11:25
Toku Talk: 11:25-52:57
Toku Topic: 52:57-1:19:25
Outro: 1:19:25-1:24:50
Stinger: 1:24:50-end
© 2019 Moonlighting Ninjas Media
Bibliography/Further Reading:
- “The Contradictory Nature of U.S.-Japan Relations” by Roger Baker
- “How the U.S. and Japan Became Allies Even After Hiroshima and Nagasaki” by Olivia B. Waxman (Time Magazine)
- Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa by Steve Ryfle and Ed Godzisewski
- Kaijuvision Radio:
–Episode 23: Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) (Human Genome Project, Ascension of Emperor Akihito)
–Episode 37: Shin Godzilla (2016) (Great East Japan Earthquake/Tsunami/Fukushima Meltdowns) - King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson by Ray Morton
- “The Kongs of Tsuburaya: Obie and Smoke” by Peter H. Brothers (G-Fan #48)
- Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda by Peter H. Brothers
- “King Kong Escapes (1967) Review – Kong-A-Thon Episode 4” (DMan1954)
- Kong Unmade: The Lost Films of Skull Island by John LeMay
- “The Myth Goes Ever Downward” by Paul di Fillipo (Kong Unbound: The Cultural Impact, Pop Mythos, and Scientific Plausibility of a Cinematic Legend [edited by Karen Haber])
- “Reflections on the History of U.S.-Japanese Relations” by Tadashi Aruda
- “Japan-United States relations” (Wikipedia)
- King Kong Escapes Wiki Articles and Etcetera:
–Wikipedia
–Gojipedia –Wikizilla
–IMDB
–Toho Kingdom
Year 2, Week 1 at Grad School
Last week saw the start of my second year of grad school. It was also the start of my third semester as a graduate teaching assistant (a very different GTA). I’m taking two classes and an independent study (well, one of the classes was turned into an independent study). These are Writing for Multimedia, Survey of Children’s Literature, and an independent study on director Ishiro Honda (hey, it lets me get school credit for the research I’m doing for my new podcast). This makes my schedule a bit odd, but I’m getting used to it.
This was the best first week of teaching I’ve had. Admittedly, I’ve only been doing this a year, but it was still the best. I’m more confident as a GTA and trying some new methods that should encourage my students to be more engaged with the material. That’s hard to do when it’s a gen ed freshman composition class. My students are the liveliest I’ve had yet, which is exciting, but it does present its own set of challenges. Now instead of trying to make them talk, I have to keep them quiet. It’s almost like me a substitute teacher again.
I might be having too much fun. But you can never have too much fun, right?
Right?!
Have you gone to grad school or worked as a teacher? What are some fun experiences you had?