Godzilla Movie

Those who hate Mothra or do not understand her popularity

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godzillafan1995

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-15-2014 3:13 PM

i didn't undertand the popularity of mothra and how she could be liked but then i watched this video and i understood why mothra is one of the best good kaiju in terms of personality

here's the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9YgqsUMFTA you can skip to 0:50 as the guy who made the video talks about personal stuff.

seriously watch the video before you reply.

it gives a great personal opinion on her personality and also gives why she deserves to be popular.

she is incredibly brave, she is pure good at heart and she only fights for the greater good or if she has no choice.

13 Replies

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaFeb-15-2014 10:55 PM

He doesn't really bring anything interesting to the table until the 7 minute mark when he starts comparing Mothra to fairy tales and ancient Japanese stories. But even then how he articulates his thoughts and carries his language really turns me off. I won't be listening to any more from this guy.

That said it's a fairly accurate defense for Mothra as a character and a creation. I've always liked Mothra, in part for some of the reasons he states. (Although it didn't need to take up 23 minutes of my life to get the point across.)

There's a certain irony to the fact that Mothra is one of the most anthropomorphic monsters in the Godzilla series since she's not actually brought to life by suitmation. Perhaps it's what helps me take her a little more seriously, since I'm already suspending my disbelief through the art of suitmation with other creatures. Had Mothra's character traits been used strictly for a suitmation beast, it might have been a bit harder to swallow.

Her character traits are, in fact, what this guy here listed: honorable, brave, caring. Basically she's the only kaiju with a sense of ethics. Her ethical code is completely pure making her, ultimately, perfect which is why it's so interesting to watch her as an underdog. In some cases you could compare her to the tragic heroes in Greek mythology.

The monster's purity, mixed with a widened demograph aimed at women and personality unlike the majority of the monsters in the series makes her quite interesting and lovable.

I think the reason that a lot of fans don't like her is because they continue to see the forest for the tress. The idea that a giant moth, whether adult or larava, can defeat a giant radioactive beast seems preposterous. (Which is hilarious because the entire genre is built on being preposterous.) But they miss the character drive in Mothra that leads to her victories and write it off too easily as an excuse. But that "excuse" is rarely seen in most monsters. She's a wonderful fantasy creation and an excellent addition to Godzilla's popular canon.

That said I don't want a "dark" Mothra reboot. That's like saying Captain America should be rebooted to be more like The Dark Knight. Dark does not mean better. And it doesn't fit every character. Mothra is not a character in need of dark storytelling. Just good storytelling.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Incredible Fulk

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-16-2014 1:18 AM

Honestly, even though the guy brought some valid points; I'm still not a major fan of Mothra. Godzilla is and will always be a hero in my eyes. Whenever I see him lose to Mothra, it makes me hate her so much. There are times when I did understand the outcome like Mothra vs. Godzilla. But Godzilla means so much more to me and I hate seeing a beloved hero lose to a freaking moth. Something I dread.

I respect the traits that make Mothra a good character. But I feel Mothra gets too much credit over monsters who deserve it more like Rodan and King Ghidorah. The biggest time I liked her was in Ghidorah the three headed monster, where she convinces Godzilla and Rodan to put their hate of humans aside and work together to save the earth. So I do love it when Godzilla and Mothra work togther to take on a big threat like KG or Destoryah (Rulers of the Earth #4) But I'm still not fond of Mothra and she is not in my top 10 favorite kaiju list.

I really pray Mothra is NOT in the 2014 film. I do NOT want to see Godzilla lose to Mothra in the new film. I want to see Godzilla kick ass and win the fight against the Muto monster, not get his ass kicked. 

Durp004

MemberBaragonFeb-16-2014 8:16 AM

Yes mothra is brave, pure, and always good, but that is 1 of the things that I personally don't like about her. I really think that kaiju should have a more antihero type personality. That's why I like the heisei so much most monster besides mothra and spacegodzilla are not directly evil or good. Sure they all destroy things but they're giant monsters roaming around of course things will be destroyed, it's never made clear that they directly are attacking people, the fact mothra is always good and always in the right takes away from her for me. It's fun seeing a character with different sides. 1 you can hate, disagree with, and want beaten at times but still enjoy. Mothra is sort of the Superman of Toho, for the following reasons, always in the right, always the winner, and never, NEVER see any side that could borderline one maybe slightly bad intentions. That just makes the character boring for me. He says that no1 has done her right, but that's because basically all her movies were repeats of Mothra vs Godzilla which was her best. The heisei era changed it slightly actually having her go through her metamorphis rather than being a moth getting beaten and then having twins beat godzilla, but Tokyo SOS is literally Mothra vs Godzilla with MechaGodzilla thrown into the mix. 

 

Sure she's the underdog and that's nice to root for, but after her first appearance, was she really? In heisei it was 2v1 and Godzilla was on the backfoot once that was established, in Tokyo SOS, well as I said same thing as Mothra vs Godzilla but throwing MechaG onto her side really made it seem like Godzilla had it worse. 

 

I do like the contrast between her and Godzilla as for me Godzilla represents destruction that can be created by technology and science while Mothra can represent the spirituality and belief people have. When they collide it sort or represents Science vs Spirituality. Not sure if that was intended but I always associate it

Overall she's an okay character I guess, but that's just because her first appearance in the franchise was soooooo good. I'd never put her on my 5 favorite monsters or anything.

FordBrodyLover99

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-16-2014 11:46 AM

Well, im a bigger Mothra fan than i am Godzilla fan so there is that...

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaFeb-16-2014 12:31 PM

@Dup004

The problem I see with all those complaints is that most monsters are villains or antiheroes and that gets boring much more quickly since the genre is so used to it. In that sense Mothra being a pure Superman-esque character is a breath of fresh air.

It's not simply that she's right all the time, it's that she's right in a world jam packed with creatures like her that have no ethical standards, no sense of right or wrong and no attitude that is remotely chivalrous. In that contrast, yes she's more interesting because those are odds she's constantly up against:

- Dieing while taking on Godzilla.

- Two newly hatched infants taking on Godzilla.

- Convincing Godzilla and Rodan to team up with her. They refuse at first.

- Taking on King Ghidorah by herself as an infant at first.

- Having the task of attempting to fight off both Battra and Godzilla when she hatches.

- Taking on a much larger and more powerful Godzilla on her own when King Ghidorah is either MIA or down.

- Dieing while fighting Godzilla again.

She's the only one in the scenerios whom makes these for the right reasons. No other monster did that initially. Godzilla's growth as a hero in the late 60s and 70s and Gamera's genesis are both products of what was a unique creation. Something more fanciful and less irreverent torward humanity. Mothra's exsistance helped expand the genre. Had Honda pulled another monster like Godzilla, Rodan or Varan with her, it wouldn't have been half as interesting. (Which is, in part, why Varan: The Unbelievable failed.)

Easily a top 5 monster for me.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Akagi

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-16-2014 1:03 PM

People forget that Mothra, in the original film, kills more people as she flies across the globe trying to find the shobijin(SP) than Godzilla did in Gojira. 

But that is another point entirely.

 

Mothra is popular in Japan because little japanese children don't want to spend their one movie night a month at the theater watching a movie where the title character is portrayed as evil (I.E. the Millenium Godzilla films did horribly in the theaters because of this, some had to be doublebilled with more popular films just to make up for the loss)-- either way, children like Mothra more, she is a hero, Godzilla is constantly re-vomitted as a 'metaphor' and children honestly don't care about that kind of crap.

I remember having a japanese friend who said that everytime he'd go to see Godzilla movies in the theater, the kids were always pissed on the way out. He remembered hearing a bunch of kids saying "Why can't godzilla be like ultraman" or "mommy why does the army hate Godzilla?". When they go and see a mothra film, they don't walk out wondering why the military hates Mothra, they walk out knowing mothra just somehow killed a giant three headed dragon.

Oh, and afore-mentioned friend said that the theaters were packed for the mothra films and barely anyone there during the Godzilla ones. 

He also mentioned that films WITH mothra in them, like Tokyo SOS and GMK had considerably higher number of asses in seats.

But that is all anecdotal evidence anyway. 

He is 350ft Tall people, those things on his neck ARE gills, and the Brazil photo is part of the final advertising design-- Deal with it.

Jazmyne

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-16-2014 1:18 PM

ask a little girl what she prefers, a butterfly or a lizard. everyone knows mothra is more popular with little girls than godzilla is and for obvious reasons.

The internet; immortalizing stupidity every day.

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaFeb-16-2014 1:56 PM

But that is all anecdotal evidence anyway. 

With a good record of box office numbers to back it up...

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Akagi

MemberMothra LarvaeFeb-16-2014 2:07 PM

I actually had the box office numbers for the mothra films in comparison to the Godzilla films a long time ago but I've since lost them. I used to bring them up in conversations garnering my opinion on how Godzilla needed a change if it were ever to be successful as a tokusatsu again.

If I remember correctly though, some of the ultraman movies mopped the floor with godzilla and mothra both, as far as box office figures go. 

But I honestly don't feel like researching it at this moment, as I'm too busy watching toy blogs for toyfair updates!

He is 350ft Tall people, those things on his neck ARE gills, and the Brazil photo is part of the final advertising design-- Deal with it.

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaFeb-17-2014 12:56 AM

During the Millennium series especially, the Ultraman movies were much more popular. The box office reciepts weren't exactly always higher, but their rate of return certainly was. The Rebirth of Mothra trilogy arguably did as well as the Heisei series and generally better than the Millennium series... save for a couple movies.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

Durp004

MemberBaragonFeb-17-2014 5:23 AM

@Gman2887

I don't find monsters with the anithero persona boring even if all of them had that. It's more animalistic and suits them better in my opinion. Now if we want to talk about boring Mothra is the epitome of that. She had 1 character trait, so while monsters like Godzilla and Rodan can do any number of things Mothra will always follow the formula of the boyscout of toho. Always in the right. Even when compared to the human characters Mothra never stops being the ultimate form of good that can never be stopped. That sort of 1 dimensional trait makes her much more boring for me. True she is brave but like I said after the first move she fought Godzilla that really didn't get made better. In fact it was done much worse

 The bravery and odds you list really stop after fighting Ghidorah. In the heisei version she was born into that situation. She never had a choice between being there, and ran away after gettng thrown around. The 1 from GMK isn't really a trait directly related to Mothra as much as every guardian monster as they were all smaller and weaker than Godzilla. Mothra didn't really do anything that the other 2 didn't to make her stand out. Like I've said before Mothra and Ghidorah were put in that for appeal, not because it fit the story better. It's very likely the Monster who's place she had would have done all the same things. And finally as I said Tokyo SOS is essentially the exact fight sequence as Mothra vs Godzilla with MechaG thrown in. The fact she fought Godzilla as she was dying didn't really hold much weight as I'd already seen it, and done much better as there are plenty of problems with that story is SOS(for instance why did she volunteer to protect tokyo from Godzilla if they got rid of Mechag if she was dying, seems like sort of a lead on. Get rid of your best defense and I'll protect you even though I'm much weaker than I should be and there's no way in hell I can defend this all for the sake of letting the dead rest).

As I said I find her a decent monster, but after her first movie and her follow up in Godzilla the character really lost it for me. Nothing that makes her stand out personally

G. H. (Gman)

AdminGodzillaFeb-17-2014 8:50 AM

@Durp004

But her personality is still unique to kaiju. Anti-heroes tend to play a single note and it's why Godzilla in the Heisei series got so stale-- probably in the Millennium series as well, despite the multiple timelines.

Just because there's redundancy or a backstory where she's "born into a situation" doesn't make her any less palatable or interesting to the predicament she's surrounded by. Granted, this isn't typically a trait that makes for interesting characters with clearly anthropomorpic beings, but making it a staple with a creature that should, by all means, be aligned with Godzilla and Rodan to destroy the planet makes for a very unique creature.

The fact that she's more pure than even the human characters is even more fascinating. She's the one piece in the franchise that is an all, encompasing good and is, of all things, a monster. If that isn't a firm example of standing out, I'm not sure what could be considered otherwise.

"'Nostalgic' does not equal 'good,' and 'standards' does not equal 'elitism.'" "Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is your choice."

b.wer

MemberMothra LarvaeNov-16-2015 2:43 PM

Ok well here's my problem with mothra she's a moth with no powers each kaiju has his own distinct formidable trait that makes them threatening not to mention all kaiju in godzilla are a message about man kind and their faults about how the destruction and corruption of the world in general could bring man kinds ultimate end mothra however is none of those....just a moth who defends the world second mothra can't beat anyone without help in each movie she appears to fight big G someone helps whether it be another larva battra or other kaiju mothra sense of morality does not teach man about their faults instead she's just a cleaner who fixes man's mistakes

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