Godzilla Over the Years The Changing Landscape of Godzilla Movies

Join scholar and Godzilla Fanatic Bill Tsutsui, President and CEO of Ottawa University, in conversation with Japanese Film expert and Harvard Professor Alexander Zahlten as they explore the cross cultural histories of the Godzilla Franchise.  We will start the program with an introduction by the Consul General Ohmori of the Consulate General of Japan in Boston.

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Bill Tsutsui is an award-winning scholar and teacher, an experienced academic leader, and an outspoken supporter of the public humanities, international education, and more inclusive, accessible colleges and universities. He researches, writes, and speaks widely on Japanese economic and environmental history, Japanese popular culture (especially the Godzilla movies), Japanese-American identity, and issues in higher education. He is highly opinionated about BBQ, proud to have once driven the Zamboni at an NHL game, and slightly embarrassed to be Level 40 in Pokemon Go.

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Alexander Zahlten's research interests center on film and audiovisual culture in East Asia, with a focus on Japan. Zahlten's publications have examined the role of postcolonial fantasy in Korean “remakes" of Japanese films, the role of a character such as Doraemon as shared media memory in East Asia, the metaphors of world in the media mix environment of Japan, the history of German sexploitation cinema, or poststructuralist media theory in 1980s Japan. Zahlten was Assistant Professor in the Department of Film & Digital Media of Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea for one and a half years before joining Harvard in 2012.

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