Go Go Godzilla, or Let’s Dance Until the Bombs Drop
Listening to the Crack of Doom on the Hydrogen Jukebox (part 3)Go Go Godzilla, or Let’s Dance Until the Bombs Drop
The original Godzilla released in Japan in 1954 carried a direct critique of American nuclear testing and underscored the fear of a nation that was the only one to feel the wrath of atomic weapons. A recut American version released two years later, which included the addition of scenes featuring Raymond Burr as an American journalist adding an American point of view, essentially gutted the critical elements but managed to fuse the general fear of the bomb that was an undercurrent of American culture in the 1950s and a sense of American exceptionalism and defense of its use. Beatdom’s special Kerouac Turns 100 issue included my essay “Women on the Margins of the Kerouac Legend,” which was conceived as part of Paradise Reconsidered. You can get the issue here. You can read the first installment of ‘“Listening to the Crack of Doom on the Hydrogen Juke Box” here. The second one can be found here. Another planned section, “Notes on My Early Beatdom,” can be read here. The earlier posts were free, but this and future posts from the Kerouac manuscript will be housed behind a paywall. Channel Surfing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber… Keep reading with a 7-day free trialSubscribe to Channel Surfing to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. A subscription gets you:
© 2022 Hank Kalet
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Hank Kalet 