BW Filler Video: King Kong Vs. Godzilla Vs….Television?

The original King Kong Vs. Godzilla is rather important one in the Godzilla franchise and helped Kong get wider exposure. Their battles ended in stalemates so nobody has to watch their favorite lose, but it was still exciting to watch them battle. However, there’s also the human element, this time surrounding a pharmaceutical company looking to increase ratings to their TV shows, which is a way companies used to promote themselves–sponsoring a television show. I guess Japan didn’t stop as early as the US did on that account, where they shifted to ads and shared promotional consideration rather than “Acme Presents This TV Show” or something.

In a recent video by Tokusatsu v-long channel Monstrosities host Matt Burkett handed the reigns over to writer and kaiju chronicler Patrick Galvan to look into the history of this movie, the commentary on television that shows up throughout the flick, and how remaining issues between Japan and the US fought through professional wrestling played a role in the movie, as well as other fascinating behind-the-scenes information.

I posted this comment to the video:

I never saw Classy Freddie Blassie wrestle but I do remember his time as a manager in the then WWF. This was a story I hadn’t heard before either. It’s kind of interesting how the history of TV in Japan is so similar to its history in the US, including businesses using it to draw in potential customers.

I’m also copy/pasting the links to Galvan’s various postings on the subject.

• ►Toho Kingdom: https://www.tohokingdom.com/blog/auth…​
• ►SyFy: https://www.syfy.com/author/patrick-g…​
• ►Our Culture: https://ourculturemag.com/author/patr…​
• ►Off Screen: https://offscreen.com/view/The_Tragic…​
• ►Kaiju Masterclass: https://kaijumasterclass.com/​
• ►”Man of Action: The Films of Jun Fukuda”: https://youtu.be/1H85qGDPGM8​
• ►”Atomic Requium: Akira Ifukube’s Atomic Bomb Trilogy”: https://youtu.be/AtYPIVgn9zg

And don’t forget to check out more Monstrosities on Matt Burkett’s YouTube channel.