Toho Kingdom

"King of the Monsters" probably only chose "King" because, let's face it, monster characters are more often than not male. King Kong, or most of Universal's monsters, for example. Plus, it's purely a B-Movie catchphrase... I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few other Kings of the Monsters floating around.

eabaker wrote:

Legendary Gojira wrote:Does the title "King of the Monsters" tell you anything?

But that's (ugh, I hate that I'm finding myself using this word twice in the same day on the same board, but, dammit, it fits) paratextual evidence, and so of secondary relevance at best.

Honestly, any evidence that anyone brings up either way in this argument can be summed up this way.

Most of the confusion comes from the existence of children, which are never explicitly said to have direct relation to him. I think kpa said the best explanation was that he found and adopted them. Which makes sense because Dr. Yamane alluded to the possibility of other members of his species existing. Besides that, there's nothing else leaning towards Godzilla being female except Toho has referred to him with gender neutral pronouns. Yet they haven't been consistent with this, as they have also used male pronouns.

Even when there were young, he was always refered to as the father or "papa", like in SOG.

edgaguirus wrote:Even when there were young, he was always refered to as the father or "papa", like in SOG.

But can we assume that those characters have accurate in-universe knowledge of Godzilla's gender? (Not that I think it matters, but others might.)

I mean, in the Showa universe, Godzilla is a pretty constant threat. It probably wouldn't be that far fetched to assume that scientists and the such put their all into understanding him/her as much as possible.

He's a male, but he reproduces asexually

I like how one person voted for "I think Godzilla is female only".

My thoughts, reiterated.

-He's a building sized fucking dinosaur who gives a sHIT.
-Male, probably, as pronouns say. Perhaps determined through harvest of skin samples, but would not put it past Japan to mount an expidition to look up the fucking kaiju's figurative skirt.
-See point #1.

I mean, whith all the male pronouns, I see no reason why he wouldn't be male.

Godzilla is totally male, but, in some scenes in the English dubs for the movies, they call him as HER.

Male. Nothing more, nothing less.

Godzilla2004fan wrote:Godzilla is totally male, but, in some scenes in the English dubs for the movies, they call him as HER.

That’s never happened.

Godzilla2004fan wrote:Godzilla is totally male, but, in some scenes in the English dubs for the movies, they call him as HER.

Yeah? Which ones?

Terasawa wrote:

Godzilla2004fan wrote:Godzilla is totally male, but, in some scenes in the English dubs for the movies, they call him as HER.

That’s never happened.

Yes, it happened. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Douglas Gordon says "Godzilla thinks HER last battle still going on".

Added in 59 seconds:

Maritonic wrote:

Godzilla2004fan wrote:Godzilla is totally male, but, in some scenes in the English dubs for the movies, they call him as HER.

Yeah? Which ones?

Douglas Gordon says "Godzilla thinks HER last battle still going on".

I haven't seen GFW for awhile. I'll need to look for that.

Between the imagery in the fight scenes throughout the series (especially G2000, lol) and the way Godzilla is portrayed as a parent, I view every incarnation outside of 54 as a male. GMK, Shin, and Earth are probably out of the equation entirely, given their origins.

Godzilla2004fan wrote:

Terasawa wrote:

Godzilla2004fan wrote:Godzilla is totally male, but, in some scenes in the English dubs for the movies, they call him as HER.

That’s never happened.

Yes, it happened. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Douglas Gordon says "Godzilla thinks HER last battle still going on"

I checked it out and you’re right, my apologies, although Don Frye was not dubbed. So it’s not really accurate to say that’s the fault of a dubbed version, as he said that on set. And in fact, in the English version he’s replying to the line “Captain, he’s following us,” and to my knowledge the pronoun “he” is used throughout the dubbed English dialogue. (Also, interestingly enough, the French subtitles suggest Gordon said something along the lines of “Godzilla still thinks our last battle is going on.” I wonder if that was the original line and Don Frye messed it up? With few other English speakers on set to notice it’s possible. I think he said “her” but I also have to point out the guy mumbles the line. Maybe he said “our” and it sounds like “her.” Whatever, this movie is not worth this much thought.)

So why is Godzilla a female according to this singular line? I’m not sure, it might have been simply a mistake of whomever wrote the translated English dialogue for this movie. (Or again, maybe simply Frye’s mistake.) I believe evidence in films should be considered over other sources, but I’m also hesitant to read intent in dialogue written in English for a Japanese production. Let’s face it, the Toho Godzilla movies are not known to have good English dialogue or performances of it.

As far as I’m concerned there’s no reason Godzilla can’t be female. I just don’t think that’s the case based on evidence in other films. And they can’t even keep it straight in GFW: doesn’t the narrator refer to Godzilla as “King of the Monsters” during the pre-credit montage? (Too late for me to check, I already put this piece of shit back on the shelf.)

Terasawa wrote:
As far as I’m concerned there’s no reason Godzilla can’t be female. I just don’t think that’s the case based on evidence in other films. And they can’t even keep it straight in GFW: doesn’t the narrator refer to Godzilla as “King of the Monsters” during the pre-credit montage? (Too late for me to check, I already put this piece of poop back on the shelf.)

Well, the English dub narrator does indeed say "King of the Monsters", I just checked.

Monsters are only ever female when the plot calls for it. Usually because there's an egg or babies involved or at least the threat off it. Both Baby and Minya were Godzilla answering to distress signals they gave off. You notice after killing the Kamakiras Godzilla seems initially intent to let Minya fend for himself.

The line by the way is "our battle" not "her battle" I mean her battle doesn't even make sense when you think about hard enough.