Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the
Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow
Speaker 2: Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time.
Speaker 2: This week on Weird House Cinema, we'll be discussing the
Speaker 2: classic nineteen sixty four Kaiju movie Mathra versus Godzilla, in
Speaker 2: which the Great Divine moth comes to humanity's defense despite
Speaker 2: humanity's obvious greed and corruption. Originally introduced in her own
Speaker 2: self titled nineteen sixty one movie, Mathra has continued to
Speaker 2: serve as a mainstay in the Godzilla franchise. In the
Speaker 2: nineteen sixty four film, we see that Mathra's physical form
Speaker 2: continually experiences death and rebirth via the hatching of an
Speaker 2: enormous egg. In fact, the egg hatches to reveal twins,
Speaker 2: providing the Great Kaiju protector with a strategic advantage over
Speaker 2: Godzilla in their final fight, despite the larval forms that
Speaker 2: she is restricted to. Now this led me to wonder
Speaker 2: if natural world moths ever hatch twins, while insects do,
Speaker 2: on rare occasions produce genetic twins, but there are also
Speaker 2: accounts of double cocoons among silk moths, as pointed out
Speaker 2: by Weighing at All in the two thousand and three
Speaker 2: paper Analysis of the Movement of two silkworms during the
Speaker 2: construction of double Cocoons, published in the Journal of Insect
Speaker 2: Biotechnology and Serachology. That's the study of silk. Two mature
Speaker 2: larvae sometimes jointly spin a large cocoon called a double cocoon,
Speaker 2: in which they both develop into adults. Furthermore, the practice
Speaker 2: seems to be more common in certain genetic strains of silkworm.
Speaker 2: Environmental factors such as crowded confines also seem to play
Speaker 2: a factor. Double cocoons are not ideal for silk production,
Speaker 2: but one can easily imagine why these occurrences might stand
Speaker 2: out as interesting curious. The emergence of twin larvae in
Speaker 2: Mathra versus Godzilla, of course, mirrors the Kaiju's twin fairy
Speaker 2: priestesses the shobitchin, though the main reason for the incorporation
Speaker 2: of human twins here was apparently to capitalize on the
Speaker 2: international popularity of identical twin Japanese singers the peanuts Emmy
Speaker 2: and Yumi Eto. The original screenplay draft for nineteen sixty
Speaker 2: one's Mathra apparently called for no fewer than four fairies,
Speaker 2: but it ended up being these two lovely twins instead.
Speaker 2: When Mathra battles Godzilla, we see her make use of
Speaker 2: an incapacitating dust attack on the King of Monsters. It's
Speaker 2: a great sequence that seems to play on the common
Speaker 2: observation of fine dust on the wings of natural world moths.
Speaker 2: As pointed out by Lewis Villason for BBC Science Focus,
Speaker 2: these are actually tiny scales made from modified hairs, as
Speaker 2: with butter flies. If handled roughly, the scales on these
Speaker 2: wings will rub off on your fingers and appear as
Speaker 2: some manner of fine powder. Perhaps Mathra really is making
Speaker 2: use of some otherworldly dust, but it could also be
Speaker 2: the power of her shed wing scales. Look, she's a goddess.
Speaker 2: She can do it she wants. And of course, the
Speaker 2: silk attacks used by her offspring in the film closely
Speaker 2: match up with the silk production of silkworms bombyx Moy,
Speaker 2: which clearly served as the major biological inspiration for Mathra,
Speaker 2: Queen of the Monsters. Tune in for additional episodes of
Speaker 2: The Monster fact The Artifact or Anomalius stupendium each week.
Speaker 2: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff
Speaker 2: to Blow your Mind dot com.
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts. Where are you listen to your favorite shows?