Transnational Mobility and Trans-species Hybridity in the Godzilla Franchise

The Godzilla franchise was created in 1954 with the release of Ishiro Honda's film, Godzilla (Gojira) and is owned by the Japanese production company, Toho. In Hollywood, Godzilla has been absorbed into the MonsterVerse, a multimedia franchise and transmedia universe that includes other kaiju characters owned and created by Toho, as well as King Kong. This article considers why Godzilla is constantly reawakened and regenerated as fictional monster and as transnational franchise. Moving beyond industry-centered answers, I also question what Godzilla represents in this constantly revived transnational franchise, and what is prioritized in the invocation of these monsters (kaiju, now rebranded as Titans) in the 21st century. I begin by discussing how Legendary Pictures is trying to rebrand the globally popular Japanese monster as a transnational Hollywood franchise, and then I examine the process of designing and animating the Titans, specifically using visual reference, performance reference, and motion capture. This article focuses on Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Michael Dougherty, 2019) to consider how the figure of the constantly regenerating, reanimated monster troubles the boundaries of species and traverses national and regional contexts. I suggest that two identities are conferred on these monsters: 1) transnationally mobile creatures with monstrous and mythical attributes; and 2) trans-species hybrid composites of animal bodies and human performances, envisioned through an anthropomorphized lens and also deified for their destructive and regenerative powers. By highlighting transnational mobility and trans-species hybridity, this paper aims to examine how our interpretations of these monsters can change when we consider the evolving techniques of digital production and the expanding ecosystem of a global franchise.