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The meme that destroyed Tokyo

My record with Internet meme participation is somewhat spotty. Last time, precisely none of the people I tagged took up the challenge, which meant that my little meme tributary sort of dried up and died. How very sad! But now I’ve been tagged by Robert Silvey, blogger and rogue scholar, and must respond.

Silvey describes the task at hand, and provides his contribution, which follows:

Instructions:

1. Grab the nearest book (that is at least 123 pages long).
2. Open to p. 123.
3. Go down to the 5th sentence.
4. Type in the following 3 sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The nearest book to my chaotic desk is Ilan Pappé’s The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Page 123 is toward the end of chapter 5, “The Blueprint for Ethnic Cleansing: Plan Dalet.” Here are the three sentences:

US representatives on the ground were by now fully aware of the expulsions that were going on and had suggested to their chiefs back home to halt the implementation of the partition plan and try to work towards an alternative solution.

Already by 12 March 1948, the State Department had drafted a new proposal to the UN, which suggested an international trusteeship over Palestine for five years, during which the two sides would negotiate an agreed solution. It has been suggested that this was the most sensible American proposal ever put forward in the history of Palestine, the like of which, alas, was never repeated.

What will the Waveflux contribution be? I read the invitation this morning while sitting at the dining room table, and glanced about for the nearest book, and…

…well, it’s a kind of scholarship. Without further ado, I present A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series, by David Kalat (McFarland & Co., 1997). Seriously. From page 123:

This postmodern, self-referential argument was accomplished through the fact that Gigan introduces three new monsters, not one: in addition to the titular monster, there are Shukra and Mamagon. Of course, Shukra and Mamagon do not deserve to share the stage with Godzilla, Angilas, Ghidora and Gigan. Nevertheless, they remain highly visible throughout the film, both as the prominently displayed layout sketches in Gengo’s apartment and as plot devices; whenever Gengo is caught snooping around World Children’s Land, he makes up some excuse related to his monster designs.

Now that’s the kind of fun you don’t have every day.

The background here is the marketing strategy used by screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa to guide his composition of Chikyu Koegki Meirei: Gojira tai Gaigan (Earth Destruction Directive: Godzilla Against Gigan), or as Western audiences knew it, Godzilla vs. Gigan. Author Kalat maintains that the film was a pure product of marketing with the sole purpose of keeping Godzilla “alive in the public imagination so that more toys could be sold.” Kalat further proposes that the multiplicity of monsters in the film intentionally provides a critique of the commercialism behind the movie.

Well, er, this is a topic which is close to my heart.

Now: whom to tag? I’m not sure. Whose responses would I be curious to see? Who might actually respond?

Bitty, OW, Kona, Terrance: comin’ to ya. Not five as the rules dictate, but four will do.

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