| GENERAL
INFORMATION |
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| What better occasion to assess the legacy
of the unique film genre known as kaijû eiga (Japanese
monster movies) than the fiftieth anniversary of Godzilla's
debut on celluloid. Tôhô Corporation has itself announced that
it will discontinue production of Godzilla movies after this
year. Films featuring Godzilla and his fellow monsters are the
first Japanese cultural product to have won a truly global audience,
bulldozing a path that, more recently, such East Asian pop-culture
goods as Pokémon, Hong Kong action cinema, and anime (Japanimation)
have followed. One of the key elements of the kaijû eiga
lies in its outsized spectacle and globally hybridized iconography,
the result of which has been the creation of a visual culture
of monstrosity encompassing multiple national and cultural traditions.
Thus, in Italy, for example, Godzilla movies of the 1960s and
1970s were often billed under the name "King Kong" (with correspondingly
simian imagery on publicity posters), while in West Germany
these same films just as frequently bore the name of "Frankenstein."
The worldwide circulation of Godzilla movies, and of the visual
images and material objects attached to them, provides a key
to understanding how the globalization process has led, somewhat
paradoxically, to a multiplication and adaptation of local understandings,
rather than to a homogenization of culture per se. The present
exhibition focuses not only on Japanese and American materials,
which are the most widely known, but on the local reception
and transformation of Japanese monster imagery in a variety
of other cultural contexts, including Western and Eastern Europe,
South America, Africa, and Australasia. |
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The
exhibit is located in two areas of C. V. Starr East Asian
Library: the Main Reading Room and the Rare Book Room.
Entrance to Starr Library is from the third floor of Kent
Hall on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus, near the
corner of Amsterdam Avenue and West 116th Street (116th
Street Station on the 1/9 subway line). The exhibit is
free, and no I.D. is required for entry. Large-format
posters, the majority originating from Italy and France,
are displayed on the walls of the Main Reading Room, just
inside the library entrance. A glass display case at the
center of the room contains miscellaneous publicity materials
and photographs. The exhibit continues in the Rare Book
Room, which can be reached from the 200 level of the library
stacks (there is an elevator across from the Circulation
Desk). The first room features a selection of Japanese
monster-related materials from Starr Library's Rare Book
Collection as well as private collections. In the adjoining
seminar room are publicity posters issued around the world
to mark the release of the first Godzilla film, Gojira
(1954), which was retailored by Hollywood in 1956 as Godzilla,
King of the Monsters.
Please remember that Starr Library is a working facility,
and observe the following rules:
-refrain from loud conversation
-no food or drink
-no flash photography
-turn off cell phones and pagers |
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The entire exhibit may be viewed
only during certain hours; however, parts of the exhibit
are always accessible during library hours. The Rare Book
Room is open to viewers from 9 AM to 1 PM, Monday through
Friday. The Main Reading Room is open throughout the library's
working hours (M - Th, 9 AM to 11 PM; Fr, 9 AM to 7 PM;
Sat, 12 noon to 7 PM; Sun, 12 noon to 10 PM). For a detailed
calendar, including university holidays and extended/shortened
hours, please visit the Columbia University Libraries'
website at: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/services/hours/
Poster conservation by Chris Cloutier (at posterfix.com)
Photography courtesy of Lee Pennington
Web assistance by Kazuho Tsuchiya
Last updated 2004-10-14
| The C.V.
Starr East Asian Library, one of the largest
and deepest collections in North America,
has started its second century of supporting
the research and teaching on East Asia for
which Columbia University is famous. It is
currently in the middle of a $1.5 million
challenge-grant period, with commitments to
expand the collections, to digitize more of
its unique materials, and to upgrade services
for the 21st century. The campaign provides
an opportunity for friends of the Library,
foundations, and corporations to invest in
the future of the Library's collections and
services. |
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Godzilla (R), all related characters and the character designs are trademarks
of Toho Co., Ltd.
© Gregory M. Pflugfelder
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