by Craig Colby
“It’s finally out.”
My 16-year-old son Shane rushes to tell me that the moment he’s been anxiously awaiting has arrived, the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer is here. We call it up on the big screen and watch it with my 12-year-old son Curtis and my wife Nancy. It’s a family moment.
The trailer is everything we wanted, two iconic monsters throwing down. However, it’s pretty clear that Kong is being set up as the good guy. “We need Kong. The world needs him, to stop what’s coming,” the hunky lead, played by Alexander Skarsgard, intones. After the trailer is over, I turn to Shane and say, “I’m cheering for Godzilla no matter what.” Shane nods.
We Love a Monster
I learned to love Godzilla when I was 7 years-old, watching the 4:30 movie on channel 50 in the sunroom of our Ann Arbor home. About 7 years ago, I was watching the 2004 film Godzilla: Final Wars with Curtis. Shane walked into the room, looked at the screen, and was entranced. Both boys became Godzilla fans, soaking up all the movies and every bit of information they could find. I had to scour ebay and overpay for a toy from the horrible-to-most but beloved-by-Curtis 1998 Hollywood Godzilla movie. In grade 5, Shane was asked to do a family timeline. While most of his classmates’ charts started with their birth and acknowledged the arrival of siblings, Shane’s started in 1933 with my parents’ birth and the debut of King Kong. He then marked every movie appearance of Godzilla, and King Kong too, adding family milestones along the way. I can’t make too big a point of this – he correctly identified 30 Godzilla movies by titles, year and subgenre (Showa, Heisei, Millennium and Legendary) and 9 Kong movies from memory.
When it comes to movie monsters, we are fully indoctrinated. If Godzilla is the big bad who wants to destroy the world, we will be on his side the whole way. I’m completely comfortable with our blind loyalty. Because these are just movies. And the world they can destroy is fictional.
We Only Love a Fictional Monster
Indoctrination and loyalty should not be reasons to support real world monsters. Case in point, the Republican representative for Georgia’s 14th congressional district, Marjorie Taylor Greene. She has unloaded a radioactive blast of words and ideas on society for years, the depth of which is only coming into full view in the last few weeks. She’s a QAnon believer, a following so odious I’m skipping the details. She advocated killing Democratic elected officials, harassed a Parkland shooting survivor, claimed that none of the school shootings, including Parkland and Sandy Hook are real, and that 911 was an inside job. She implied that the Las Vegas shooting was staged to change the opinions of gun owners. The topper is her claim that the California wildfires were caused by Jewish space lasers. If Godzilla had done half of that he’d be swatting off a barrage of missiles. Democrats are calling for Taylor Greene’s dismissal, but her own party’s response has mostly been the sound of crickets.
A few Republicans have condemned the crazy talk. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s spokesperson says the comments are disturbing and has promised to talk to Taylor Greene. But, Republican leadership also handed her a seat on the Education and Labor Committee.
Why? Because she’s on your team? Because of your fealty to a political party? If you shrug at her toxic outpouring, what is your cause anyway?
How Are The Heroes Treated?
It’s puzzling. We saw legitimate bravery from Republicans during the election. Georgia election official Gabriel Stirling went full St. Crispin’s Day Speech defending the process and results of Georgia’s close vote. Georgia’s Secretary of State held off Donald Trump in an hour-long full-court press. Republican Philadelphia City Official Al Schmidt and his staff counted votes while Trump supporters protested outside. These people are straight up heroes. Instead of being lauded by fellow Republicans, they’ve received death threats. They’ve taken more heat for doing the right thing than Marjorie Taylor Greene has done for stomping around school shooting survivors.
Lesson From the Movies
Marjorie Taylor Greene is laying waste to the lines of reason and decency we should expect from elected officials. That’s saying a lot after 4 years of Trumpzilla. So, for the politicians giving her a pass, or even worse, hoping to benefit from her, here are a few lessons I’ve learned from monster movies:
First, the monster can’t be controlled. Kong was brought in for a Broadway show and wrecked the town. We saw on January 6th what happens when you let dangerous creatures loose in the real world.
Second, the monster usually destroys you too. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the villain who tried to control the gigantic beasts for her own goals was killed by them. The Capital Building riot ruined any legacy Trump hoped for.
Finally, if you cheer for the monster, it keeps coming back. Godzilla and Kong have been in 46 movies, including the one my family is waiting for. Putting this Georgia Congresswoman on an influential committee is the exact wrong thing to do. Marjorie Taylor Greene must be removed from office. Her path of destruction has just started and will only grow if you let her have power. She’ll rampage on behalf of her own ideology. Any Republican who doesn’t side with her will be stomped on. If it suits her needs, she’ll do the same to the party. We just saw Trumpzilla do just that. Come on people! How many times do we need to see this monster trash the town?
The trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong makes a bold promise, “one will fall”. I just hope when I finish watching the movie in March, the two monsters left standing are fictional.
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Craig Colby is a television executive producer, producer, director, writer and story editor. He runs a storytelling consulting and production service for businesses.