It’s a Weird Time For ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ To Celebrate Conspiracy Theorists
They may have casually destroyed most of Hong Kong, but Godzilla and King Kong seem to have somehow saved the theatrical movie industry. Yes, Godzilla vs. Kong is a huge hit at the box office and a streaming success with those still stuck in our homes watching kaiju movies amongst stacks of delivery boxes and jars of urine. But as crowd/sad loner-pleasing as the movie might be, there's some weird stuff going on too ...
Not unlike the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, Godzilla vs. Kong weirdly validates internet conspiracy theorists … at maybe the worst time in history to do so. One of the movie's heroes, Bernie (played by Brian Tyree Henry), hosts a conspiracy theory podcast, Titan Truth, which espouses, say, bathing in bleach to disable organic tracking devices. Also, the logo seems to be both a reference to the Illuminati and the crappy '90s Godzilla movie.
Warner Bros./Columbia
These ideas may sound ridiculous, but Bernie is right about a lot of other stuff, including his suspicions about the powerful Apex corporation. Which kind of implies that his other insane musings may not be totally implausible. And the fact that his show is popular with impressionable children is supposed to be a good thing. Of course, the movie couldn't have anticipated that it would be released in the midst of a global pandemic that some attribute to cell phone towers, and for which there is an effective vaccine that allegedly contains a microchip created by Bill Gates, according to people who have presumably never heard of Windows Me.
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Anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers are a real problem right now, and a lot of dangerous disinformation is being spread on podcasts. And it's not just Bernie; one of the movie's other heroes is Dr. Nathan Lind, who has been ostracized by the scientific community for his book promoting the idea of the "Hollow Earth" and forced to work in a Fox Mulder-like basement office where they don't allow haircuts or razors apparently.
Warner Bros.
Of course, the" Hollow Earth" theory is an actual pseudoscientific hypothesis that dates back to the 17th century. In Godzilla vs. Kong, this outsider's failed book, which has been resoundingly rejected by his academic peers, somehow turns out to be totally accurate! There is a hidden world below the Earth's surface, like a Kinder Egg full of monsters. Which makes sense in a franchise in which the characters from the previous movie randomly stumbled upon the Lost City of Atlantis and didn't care, but it seems like kind of a weird time in history to watch a movie that glamorizes un-scientific thinking – even if it is between scenes of a giant ape punching a mutant lizard creature.
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Top Image: Warner Bros.
