Gift for larissabernstein by Jetpack Monkey (Godzilla - 1954-2004)

[fv_poster]

Title of vid: Sound the Bells
Recipient: larissabernstein
Vidder: Jetpack Monkey
Fandom: Godzilla series - Toho (1954-2004)
Music: Sound the Bells by Dessa
Summary: The sun rose from the West today. I doubt we'll see it set.
Content notes: No standardized notes apply
Signed length: 04:28
Signed URL: http://jetpack-monkey.dreamwidth.org/509475.html

Comments

[cupidsbow]

I really loved this. I think the thing I loved most is how you kept Gozilla as a kind of blurry, distant figure, with all the human action scurrying around. The disbelieved sailors. The scientists in dispair because of what they find out. The media coverage. The urban destruction in what should be safe spaces. The explorers who don't find what the expect. It's so much more of a commentary on the 20th century and WW2 than I remembered, even though I did know the films were obviously commenting on that. Kudos to you from bringing that theme out so strongly.

[isweedan]

Oooh, way neat.

[kiki_miserychic]

I really dig how you left Godzilla as a vaguely menacing aspect and made the vid much more about the people. Such an interesting and great choice. I really like it.

[larissabernstein]

Wow, this is stunning! I really love your work, dear Festividder! Thank you very much for making this beautiful vid for me! It has everything I have wished for in a Godzilla vid - you really manage to take the source back to what it had been supposed to be - a powerful story of destruction and despair, humanity's dalliance with nuclear power gone horribly wrong, a potent metaphor for war. Someone once called the first Godzilla film "Hiroshima in slow-mo", and this is exactly what I see in your vid. Not the monster takes centre stage but the people having to deal with the fallout of powers far beyond them. Gave me serious chills, and I can't wait to watch it on my big screen tomorrow! <3

[goodbyebird]

I really love your musicality in this and you handled the gradual build beautifully.

[bironic]

Oh, what powerful work. You take a source that's all too easily viewed nowadays as funny or simply action-packed, and strip it down to the human fear and mourning that has echoed through the years since WWII. Beautiful summary line, beautiful song choice, beautiful vid.

[leanwellback]

God, this is stunning. As others have said, the decision to focus on the people and leave Godzilla in the background was excellent. I think it's easy to see the now dated and sometimes silly looking creature effects and dismiss or forget the powerful commentary and metaphors for war behind that. You just brought all of that to the forefront and built the vid so brilliantly that when Godzilla actually does show up, he truly looks like devastation and death.

[violace]

Seconding everything everybody else already said about the focus on people. So stunning and powerful.

[valoise]

A beautifully crafted vid that brought two things home to me: first, I don’t think I have ever actually seen the first Godzilla movie and second) why didn’t anyone tell me Takashi Shimura was in it? I’ve never seen him in anything I didn’t like. So you’ve done your job, Oh Festividder, and recruited me to watch your source film.

[futuransky]

This was stunning. And timely since I was just reading about Gojira in a book about science fiction film history! Your focus on what the monster means, rather on the monster itself, pulls out the serious aspects of the film so beautifully and makes it feel resonant and immediate – I can't be the only one who thought of Fukushima.

I associate this song with Chaila's Pacific Rim vid, which added another layer of richness with thinking about the cinematic legacy of the Godzilla films.

[sanguinity]

Yes, absolutely, because I already associate this song with Chaila's vid, all through watching this one I was thinking about the power of Pacific Rim, and what that film owes to these, and the thematic throughlines between the two.

I have no idea if Anon Vidder intended us to draw those connections, but the close association between the two only makes both vids stronger, I think.

[streussal]

This is really potent.

[nicole_anell]

Oh wow, WOW, this was breathtaking and not at all what I expected. I don't know I can say that others haven't, but I love the *seriousness* you treated the source material with, your focus on the human element from military to scientist to panicked civilians. The monster as a real and formidable entity in-universe but also a metaphor for the war and nuclear devastation the country had so recently been through. Just an incredibly smart and well-executed vid.

[seekingferret]

This is really amazing.

[revolutionaryjo]

This is really fantastic, how seriously it takes the source and how much it focuses on the people rather than the monster. I loved it!

[no_detective]

Wow - what a haunting ode to a classic. Beautiful, thoughtful work.

[isagel]

This is so gorgeous and sad. Really stunning work!

[felis]

This is amazing. Seconding what was said about the vid's focus on the people and their reactions, the monster itself just glimpses and traces for the longest time. The way you built this is fantastic and I just adore the brilliant musicality.

[bingeling]

Really, really cool!

[fairestcat]

Oh, wow. This is fantastic!

[cherry]

Oh, wow. This was absolutely lovely. Soft and deep and rich -- and it sounds like I'm describing a cake or a duvet or something something but this is just gorgeous.

[starlady]

I associate the song indelibly with chaila's awesome Pacific Rim vid, and that just added another layer onto a really great vid. I love how you dug deep and found the story that is mostly forgotten when we talk about Godzilla, about how it's a disaster movie about nuclear fallout and its consequences. Really well done.