mischief

Research Methodology for Kaiju_Love_Care_Futures_02026

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Research Methodology for Kaiju_Love_Care_Futures_02026

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Introduction

We would like to thank Director Stevens and Deputy Director Rowen for the opportunity to conduct this research and for their belief in a better world. We are also grateful to the work of Harvey Rowe, who worked as the esteemed Curator, Antiquities, at The Smithsonian during the mid-1990s. This research would simply not exist without the foundation laid by Dr. Rowe.

The question guiding this research is:

What might the future look like if humankind were to implement lessons from The Godzilla franchise about love, mutual trust and collaboration, anti-facism, the world, and ourselves?

Put simply, we ask: how might the Godzilla franchise guide us into a more just and equitable future? One might say we are taking a Science Fiction approach to analyzing a Science Fiction franchise. We prefer to call this Sci-Fi-Sci-Fi, or Sci-Fi².

The purpose of this document is to outline our methodological approach to answering this question. We will provide detail about the following elements of our methodology:

  1. Research Philosophy
  2. Research Approach
  3. Research Strategy
  4. Sampling Strategy
  5. Data Collection and Analysis
  6. Research Limitations and Considerations
  7. A Note on Fidelity
  8. Conclusion

Methodology

Research Philosophy

Our research philosophy most closely aligns with what is known as an interpretivist approach, which focuses on understanding and interpreting human behavior and social phenomena through the lens of subjective meanings and social contexts. The Godzilla franchise sits at the intersection of popular culture, political commentary, nostalgia, and art-as-activism. Like the oceans Godzilla inhabits, The Godzilla archives are vast. Because of this richness, we believe an interpretivist approach is the best way to explore our research question.

Research Approach

Due to the nature of the Godzilla archive (comprised primarily of film- and text-based data), we will conduct qualitative research, with an additional focus on what are sometimes known as Big Feelings. This might be considered a mixed methods approach, but instead of including quantitative data we will take into consideration whether or not one or more of us cries.

We should note that our approach will borrow from many disciplines: from the Futurists, we will borrow Backcasting. From Science Fiction, we will borrow imagination. From Academics, we will borrow lots of words. From Theatrical Practioners, we will borrow fake mustaches.

Research Strategy and Design

Our research strategy most closely aligns with a Grounded Theory approach. We will:

  • Develop our theories as we work and make observations
  • Conduct data collection and analysis in parallel
  • Let the data “speak for itself”

Our Guiding Principles for this research include:

  • This is a Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI)-free project. We will not use Generative AI in any of the work associated with this research. We will use tools such as Google Search, which we acknowledge relies on AI to some extent, but we will not use any GenAI chatbots or other similar tools.
  • We believe that mischief is a political act, and therefore so is this research.
  • Knowledge should be treated as a public good.
  • Lessons for the future can be found everywhere—especially in works of art.
  • None of us knows everything, together we know a lot.

The lenses through which we will conduct this research include:

  1. Love is an action and a commitment we can choose every day, as articulated by bell hooks.
  2. Abundance is not a myth: resources exist for all humankind to thrive, we just need to redistribute them.
  3. Migration is an inherently human activity; forced migration is not.
  4. Interdependence and mutual trust require conflict literacy and emotional honesty.
  5. We are of nature, not separate from nature.
  6. Facism, white supremacy, xenophobia, and imperial violence are ideologies we can divest from, if we choose to do so.

Sampling Strategy

While our artifact review is comprehensive (the Godzilla archives are well-documented and catalogued by pioneers in the field), we will use non-probability sampling for the other phases of our data collection: Artmaking and Collaborative Sensemaking. Our outreach methods include:

  • Online outreach and community engagement aimed at Godzilla and Kaiju scholars, Futures Practitioners, and known goofballs via

    • Substack

    • Bluesky (specifically, the “Godzilla” Bluesky feed)

    • LinkedIn

    • Email

  • Promotional flyers shared throughout New York City and any other place members of our research team find themselves

We are relying on the “network effect,” where others share information about our research with their networks, their networks share with their networks, and so on.

Data Collection and Analysis

Due to this research’s reliance on a Grounded Theory approach, data collection and data analysis will be conducted in parallel.

There are three phases of data collection and analysis; repeated for each of the five eras of Godzilla films.1

  1. Discovery: The Godzilla Mission Field Office will identify lessons for the future via an Artifact Review, conducted through the lenses outlined in the research design section of this chapter.

    1. Artifacts for review include:

      1. Films: The team’s list of films can be accessed here.

      2. Reference Texts:

        1. Ryfle, S., Godziszewski, E., Carpenter, J., Odaka, M., & Tomiyama, S. (2025). Godzilla: The First 70 Years: The Official Illustrated History of the Japanese Productions. Abrams Books.

        2. Skipper, Graham. (2022). Godzilla: The Official Guide to the King of the Monsters. Welbeck Publishing.

    2. Discovery research protocol:

      1. Film Review: The Field Office Team watches each film. During viewing, the Team notes observations, questions, and feelings in their Mission Logs.

      2. Reference Books Review: The Field Office Team reads the relevant chapter for the film reviewed, takes notes in Mission Logs.

      3. Team compiles notes in shared document, identifies key lessons for the future.

      4. Team writes Field Report, submits to Mission HQ.

  1. Imagining New Possibilities: The Godzilla Mission Arts Department will imagine and illustrate futures based on the lessons outlined in Field Reports.

    1. Artists and creatives, in their chosen medium, will create art that imagines what the future might look like if humankind were to implement some of the lessons outlined in the aforementioned Field Reports. These might be illustrations of the futures themselves, or imagined artifacts that exist in these futures. Excluding the prompt, Godzilla Mission Arts Department artists will have full creative license. They choose:

      1. Timeline (20, 50, 100 yrs in the future)

      2. The lesson or lessons on which they focus

      3. The aspect of the future they illustrate (an artifact, a feeling, a moment in time, a place…)

    2. Artists may approach the Godzilla Field Office team for ideation and thought partnership. Aside from offering the original prompt, the Field Office may not ‘direct’ artists.

  1. Co-Creating New Possibilities: The Field Office and Mission HQ will partner to host in-person and virtual Community Sensemaking sessions.2 These sessions will center around community Backcasting exercises. We are planning on facilitating six sensemaking sessions (five for each era of Godzilla films, one for the entire franchise) between Summer 02026 and Fall 02027 to answer the question: “what will it take to achieve a version of these imagined futures?” (five sessions, one for each of the five eras). The hopeful outcome of these sessions is an understanding of what we can change or adopt now in order to make these futures more likely. While we will iterate on session design as we learn more via the project’s Artifact Review, we are planning on using the following session flow:

  1. Based on the Field Reports and Artists’ renderings of possible futures, attendees will work together to articulate a shared vision of the future.

  2. Attendees will participate in a facilitated Backcasting exercise to:

    1. Imagine their shared vision of the future: what does it look, feel, sound like?

    2. Understand what it might take for us to start making that future real: what actions—within our spheres of influence—might we commit to to begin building toward this new future? How can we bring people along?

    3. Articulate shared commitments: each participant will commit to one or two actions they can take in the short-term.

  3. Attendees will be encouraged to stay in contact and build community.

We would like to note that, in addition to the Reference Texts outlined above, we will draw on books in the Mission Field Office’s Library as needed. Interested Parties may request to access an up-to-date Annotated Bibliography by emailing thegodzillapapers@gmail.com.

Limitations & Considerations

This research has the following limitations:

  1. As of March 02026, our research team is rooted in the United States. We acknowledge that, regardless of the team’s political education and beliefs, we have deeply rooted Western biases and viewpoints that will no doubt influence our findings. We are hoping to work with collaborators from all over the world who might bring other viewpoints and experiences to this work.
  2. Due to time, space, and budgetary constraints, this research is not a comprehensive analysis of every piece of media related to the Godzilla franchise. Fan Fiction, Think Pieces, Interviews, and other media were not selected for inclusion simply because we cannot tackle this amount of research. The team have full-time jobs, this project is not currently funded, and we cannot reasonably spend our whole lives on this project.
  3. We acknowledge that the subject matter of Godzilla and other Kaiju might preclude some from participating in community sensemaking or artmaking activities. We will work to communicate to the public that a knowledge of the subject matter is not required—all participation requires is a love of humanity and the belief that a more just future is possible.
  4. The Chief of Mission is a dog. This prohibits him from meaningfully engaging in certain mission-related discussions.
  5. If fellow academics take issue with this methodology, please remember that this is a made-up project and none of the researchers have “real” or “advanced” degrees or official Research Advisors. It should also be noted that none of us “know what we are doing.”

A Note on Fidelity

We reserve the right to change these approaches at any time.

Keen-eyed supporters of this mission might identify inconsistencies in our research approach. These detail-oriented sleuths should not be concerned: it is fine, do not worry about it.*

We are allowed to do this because this is a fake (and also unfunded) research project that no one asked for, therefore:

  1. We are accountable to no one (as of March 02026)
  2. We like having fun

*If any Foundations or other potential funders are reading this, we are willing to change this approach to something more consistent as a condition of project funding.

Conclusion

In the coming months, we look forward to sharing several answers to the question:

What might the future look like if humankind were to implement lessons from The Godzilla franchise about love, mutual trust and collaboration, anti-facism, the world, and ourselves?

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    1. The Showa Era: 1954 - 1975

    2. The Heisei Era: 1984 -1995

    3. The Millenium Era: 1999 - 2004

    4. The Reiwa Era: 2016 - Present

    5. The American Monsterverse Era: 2014 - Present ↩

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