Godzilla as predator and balance keeper doesn't work in 2014
The problem with describing Godzilla as a predator is that he doesn’t act like a predator. Even if the only thing that Godzilla eats are the MUTOs, Godzilla never actually eats either one of them. He kills them, he bites them, but he never actually feasts on either one.
Predators typically kill for food, though there are cases where animals will kill for procreation if the competitor doesn’t submit and feeding rights. While it is easy to believe that Godzilla is hunting these creatures, if they are truly his food source, he wouldn’t hunt both to extinction unless not given a choice. The other reason given for Godzilla’s appearance is that he is there to restore balance. Balance in nature is predicated on there being more prey than predators. Larger predators like the lion occur about 1 per 100 prey. In Godzilla, the predator to prey ratio is 1 to 2. If nature was thrown out of balance by the MUTOs, it has been thrown even further out of balance by man. Godzilla’s appearance to wipeout man would make more sense if balance was the reason for his existence. Instead, Godzilla is sent to protect nature with man as the ultimate expression of that nature. While Godzilla’s motivations aren’t the only ones in question in his 2014 incarnation, it would have been nice to have some sort of recognition to the difficulty of ascribing motivations to something that is clearly not something science could understand at its appearance. Godzilla doesn’t need a reason to exist; he just needs to destroy cities while killing evil monsters. That is something that Godzilla 2014 forgets. |
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