Pacific Rim: Campy Sendup Of What, Exactly?

[woodwardiocom]

Over on Facebook, someone described Pacific Rim as "a campy sendup of the genre".

I'm a little baffled.

To be a campy sendup, there would have to be a substantial body of mecha-vs-kaiju work that was notably more serious than Pacific Rim. And, to my knowledge, there isn't. The original Godzilla, sure, was very serious. A lot of mecha TV shows have their serious moments (e.g., in original Gundam and Gasaraki). But still, the vast bulk of the genre is light-hearted at best, and downright goofy very often (G Gundam, Son of Godzilla, Gurren Lagann).

Not that Pacific Rim doesn't have its moments of silly (like the bit with the desk toy), but it also has its heartwrenching moments (Tokyo). I think it is firmly in the middle of its genre. Opinions?

Comments

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Well, the only kaiju vs. mecha work that I'm aware of is Neon Genesis Evangelon (and possibly Blue Gender). Compared to those, anything else is practically the Marx Brothers.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

Most of my familiarity with the genre is with the goofy movies of the "Gamera vs. Aliens!" variety. (I don't recall what it was called, but it did have Gamera and aliens...) So I would've been inclined to call it a more serious take on the genre. But if it's being compared to some of the more serious anime... Middle of the genre, sure.