Mechagodzilla i kobieta cyborg. Technogroza triumfu nad naturą

Abstrakt

Interpretations suggested in this article are based on the fourteenth and the fifteenth God-zilla films, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) and Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), featuring the eponymous icon of the kaijū-eiga (monster films) genre and global pop culture.
An analysis of diverse contexts (visual, narrative, structural, and genre) of the cinematic fight of Godzilla (the epitome of Nature) with Mechagodzilla (the epitome of Technology) makes it pos-sible to reveal details of the expression of the desire to acquire and maintain control over technology and, through that, over nature.
In the context of the genre of both the analysed films, frightening elements characteristic of a horror film are overcome by mechanisms derived from science fiction, i.e. science and technology, with the concern of civilisation about threats or fatal consequences of the use of devices which get out of control.
In the cinematic discourse of images of the conflict of fear of nature with anxieties of civilisa-tion, a technological demon emerges, Mechagodzilla, in an ultra-modern body made from titanium, accumulating the horror of atavistic monsters attacking humans with the new terror of powerful alien machines. The techno-terror of Mechagodzilla is contrasted with original nature, unspoilt by technological interference, which transforms Godzilla, the frightening monster and an archetype of the chaotic and destructive force of natural disasters, into a sympathetic defender of humanity.
The sensitivity and cultural tradition of a Western viewer of the films, which serves as the point of departure for the analyses, initially made it difficult to derive a complete interpretation of the message; when the interpretive apparatus was broadened, however, by rooting kaiju eiga in Japanese culture, this helped overcome the problems of interpretation and enriched the reading of Godzilla symbolics with a spiritual element referring to nature.