The U.S. Giant Monster Movie

Ebook available to libraries exclusively as part of the JSTOR Path to Open initiative.

Given the USA’s long-held “taste for the monstrous in all its forms” (Scott W.Poole), coupled with its love for “the colossal, the exaggerated and the brash” (William Tsutsui), it is not surprising that the giant monster movie has long been a key part of the nation’s cinematic landscape; yet up until recently the genre has been largely neglected by scholars. The US Giant Monster Movie: Size Does Matter addresses this gap, providing a richly detailed and compelling critical account of this vital but often overlooked instance of popular cinema. Using Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of the carnivalesque to help inform a discussion of examples ranging from The Lost World (1925) and King Kong (1933), up to recent CGI blockbusters including Cloverfield (2008), Pacific Rim (2013), and Godzilla vs Kong (2021), the book charts chronological developments in the form; examines its wide-ranging thematic concerns; and explores the reasons for the continuing commercial success of the US giant monster movie.

This comprehensive study will appeal to those with an interest in Film Studies, American Studies, popular cinema and culture, as well as anyone who wants to know more about this most spectacular and often subversive of genres