'Holy Mackerel! What a Show!': Spectacle and Spectatorship in Giant Monster Films
Department of English lecturer Brad Congdon (PhD) will be presenting this Literature Matters: Literature in the Community event
Date: Wednesday, Sept. 25
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Grace-Westminster United Church Social Hall
505-10th St. E., Saskatoon
This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Department of English.
About this event
When a character in 1933's King Kong first encounters the giant ape, he shouts, "We came here to get a moving picture, and we've found something worth more than all the movies in the world!" We all know how that works out for Kong. From the beginning, giant monster films have focused on the twinned themes of exploitation and spectacle. This talk discusses kaiju (“giant monster”) films such as Godzilla, King Kong, and Nope to analyze how filmmakers have used monsters to embody historical, cultural, and systemic fears and anxieties.
Upcoming Events
7 Nights of History: An Inconvenient Ally: Margaret Thatcher and Climate Change
Oct 29, 2025
A community lecture by Dr. Jim Clifford (PhD) of the Department of History
8th Metropolis Identities Conference
Oct 29-30, 2025
Department of Sociology professor Dr. Kara Somerville (PhD) co-chairs this Saskatoon conference on reaffirming Canada
Greystone Theatre: Doctor Faustus and the Disco Inferno Cabaret
Oct 31, 2025
The wildly successful student-created masterwork returns