Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 2, August 2001 | Page 47

Toho’s G odzilla

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receptacles for a film’s ideological content, Tulloch and Jenkins trace the notion of
an “active” reading position back to David Buxton, who argued that the television
series Star Trek “cannot be seen in monolithic terms as the 'perfect’ expression of
a dominant ideology” (17). Tulloch and Jenkins use this notion of ideological ten
sions and contradictions as the basis for their own theory of fan participation in
popular culture because “it suggests formal, textual spaces which invite an 'active
audience’ process of working on the text” rather than simply positioning fan activ
ity as occurring outside the text (44). For example, the recurring contradictions in
the Godzilla series, its utopian desire for global peace coupled with its constant
recreation of mass destruction, its call for nuclear disarmament coupled with its
recreation of the justifiable response scenario, and its critique of America’s coloni
zation of Japan coupled with its fascination with American culture, work to create
ambiguities in the text which allow readers to develop their own reading forma
tions. And American Godzilla fans are working not only to resolve these ambigu
ities, but also to respond to the larger contradictions created by the mainstream
culture’s reading of the texts, particularly American movie reviewers’ claims that
Godzilla represents Japan’s national identity and that the films voice anti-Ameri
can sentiments. Godzilla fans frequently construct their own narratives about
Godzilla, illustrating their active engagement with the films and their awareness
of how the films are structured. These “fan fictions” often depict Godzilla interact
ing with American characters, such as Godzilla vs. Beavis and Butthead, Godzilla
vs. Pinky and the Brain, or even Godzilla vs. Xena, which indicates a desire to fit
Godzilla into mainstream American popular culture, to resolve the tensions be
tween the American and the Japanese Godzilla, and thus to transform Godzilla
into an American icon.
In the past, critics have often dismissed American Godzilla fans as imma
ture, at best, and, at worst, as agents of American colonialism. For example, at the
same time Noriega claims that Godzilla’s political meaning is lost in its importa
tion to America, he adds that Godzilla films, for Americans, merely “resolve and
alleviate the contradictions inherent in childhood and puberty” (77). This claim is
supported by much of the fan literature, particularly pieces written by fans who
grew up in the '70s, during the period when Toho was marketing Godzilla films
specifically to children (roughly 1969-1975); many fans vividly recall the moment
in their childhood when they first saw a Godzilla film, and they are often senti
mental in their characterization of these episodes (Conte; Kalat 243-244). How
ever, Noriega’s approach to fan culture focuses on the “reading position” the text
creates; he argues that the films’ ideal reader is Japanese, and that the “other” in
the film represents America, which is why the American reception of these films is
bereft o f meaning. In other words, Noriega disregards the activities of these fans
because he ignores the possibility of textual ambiguity, which is the foundation of