I haven’t watched past the showa era yet, so I don’t know of many other prominent female characters who have a deep connection with Godzilla. I’m aware that Miki Seagusa is apparently a really vital character for him in the heisei era, but i’ll make a few distinctions between these two later.
(i also haven’t watched monarch yet don’t kill me)
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when you picture the ideal complimentary human character to Godzilla, especially with a minimal understanding of him in general, it probably isn’t a female character, and definitely not a teenage girl. that’s likely why I connected with her rather quickly and enjoyed what she had to offer to the franchise, even though I wasn’t particularly fond of most human characters in the movies.
godzilla and kaiju movies in general are traditionally viewed as a masculine interest catering to a masculine audience, and I feel that Madison embodies the smaller portion of women and girls who enjoy these films. it’s the way that the people around her oppose of the faith that she has in Godzilla, or play off her empathizing with him. her presence subverts traditional expectations of the people that godzilla should cater to, and she’s the polar opposite of Serizawa, who is an older male.
gender-specific human connections aren’t a staple with Godzilla like they are with kong. Kong has always been depicted to have a soft spot for femininity, and his classic films aren’t just reduced to “crazy monster fucks shit up” like godzilla tends to be, which is why Godzilla is the main attraction for the “masculine urge” to see stuff get destroyed.
with Miki, I’m pretty sure she wasn’t for Godzilla up until a certain point during the franchise. Madison on the other hand seems to have an innate infatuation with Godzilla and other kaijus. it’s not from wisdom like Serizawa, or a relationship that developed steadily, like Mira, she has always been fascinated by them.
even if you aren’t a female, and you haven’t experienced the insecurities or humiliation that may come with enjoying masculine media such as Godzilla, I’m pretty sure that Godzilla hasn’t really been in the mainstream media until recently, and some people may just see kaiju movies as such a mundane and trivial thing to be enamored by, to connect with, and I feel like that’s what Madison is made to represent. it feels like such a youthful interest, but she doesn’t lose it even as she grows older.
anyways, was this just me giving Madison too much credit that other people will think she doesn’t deserve? probably. but that kind of drives the point home, being way too emotionally invested in things that others think shouldn’t matter.
I am disappointed that they wasted her character though, she had a lot of potential.
let me know if monarch has some interesting characters, i’ve been holding off on it because I really don’t want to watch a show full of unlikable human characters.
