what movies would you recommend to non godzilla fans

@AKAGI what makes you think I will make them fans, they are interested in godzilla and want to watch a godzilla movie, I am not going to make them watch gamera because I only watch godzilla. Im not forcing them to become fans, where did I say im making them fans. So I am going to have them watch a godzilla movie.

Akagi,

That's a fairly cynical early statement that I can't agree with at all-- especially on a universal scale. There are at least three people I've turned into fans, one on a hardcore level and the others with a strong appreciation for it. A fourth became a fan on mere recommendation. Practically the day after.

Indeed there are people who will turn their nose up at it, but to claim it's an impossibility at an older age, or to suggest the route you've proposed is the most accurate, reads as sort of backwards thinking.

It comes down to the situation, the type of people you're speaking with about the franchise and where their tastes lie. To box all of that into one tiny conclusion is oddly head-tilting. It sounds to me GodzillaFan1995 already has a strong lead with it from his last post.

@Gman

Ah you know what, I originally wrote a big wall of text and I realized it was redundant. If you wanna recieve what I said like that, I can't change that. I guess my point is don't torture people with Godzilla unless they already have a mild interest in it, Godzilla isn't a love hate thing, its more like a love, sort of like, mildly curious, or hate thing. 

And my point still stands; most people aren't going to get into Godzilla unless they already have a mild interest in it to begin with, how they get that interest is subjective. It could be from a hardcore fan explaining it in a way that appeals to that person or it could be a goofy gif-meme on the internet.

But I know everyone posting in this forum right now didn't get into Godzilla that way, we were all more than likely under the age of ten when we first saw it-- and for that statement alone, my point stands. Godzilla fans are more often than not, raised, not magically converted.

If you wanna deny that, then you're free too, but Tomoyuki Tanaka made sure Godzilla was a franchise directed toward children throughout his life and not for us cynical, hard to please, internet debating, over analytical adults-- and we cynical adults have a hard time coming to terms with the fact that we like something that has been, since the sixties, aimed at children. 

The problem isn't accepting we're in a niche franchise that's not popular with a larger audience. On the contrary, I love the fact that it's something I can hold to myself. That said, while noticed you said "I'm not saying it's impossible" to grab new fans through Godzilla, your elaboration on the other possibilities was merely, "but yeah."

I'm glad that convoluted method seems to work for you, but with the people I know I'd have better luck hitting the moon with a slingshot ricocheted off of Kim Jong-Un's forehead while aiming from the inside of a refridgerator. Different strokes indeed.

It's not easy, but it's not necessarily a mission either. Most franchises require an adolecent mindset to be raised from. Sure there are people who like Batman, but who are the Batman fans? The ones raised from a young age. Who was Batman aimed at? The children. Can Batman be for adults as well? Of course. Godzilla's no different, it simply comes from a different culture, different time and different mindset. Luckily I've grown to appreciate that mindset, understand it and, naturally, enjoy it. For those who trust me and want to listen, they can as well-- just not on the slow grown, nostalgic scale that we've enjoyed.

Best not to pretend it's simple to get non-fans involved in the franchise, but Tanaka would also roll an equal amount in his grave at the insinuation that adults were too cynical to enjoy it as well.

Edit in response to the dub comment: Everyone I've introduced it to prefer subtitles to dubbing. That goes for any foreign film.

@Gman2887

Wow, just wow. I can see how personally you're taking this, not sure at what point I started getting so snarky with you about it, but if i have, I apologize, but I'm really not appreciating it in return. 

Now you're just forcing yourself to disagree with me on every fascet. That happens when someone takes something personally. I'm especially appreciative of the general personal nature you're taking in your replies. Sorry if you took what I said personally, but its just my view. I could pick yours apart too but I honestly don't have time to argue with another adult over something so mundane and pointless.

I can sense the general pointlessly aggrevated context of your replies, which is, as I said a "but yeah" situation. I really don't care, specifically speaking on the fact we've hijacked this thread from the OP with our fantard babbling.

But considering the fact that I hang out with two very different types of people, one being elderly in their sixties and up and the other being otaku and weaboos-- the subtitle vs dub arguement is thrown up quite a bit and I can say people are pretty effin 50/50 on it. Particularly when it comes to elderly who don't want to read. Otaku and Weaboos are very 50/50 on the subject, and getting them in them into Godzilla is as easy as working them through superior tokusatsu works such as the Gamera Trilogy or Garo. I'm just appealing to the general sense of that generation, particularly considering the fact that even MOST Godzilla fans agree that the Gamera Trilogy is leaps and bounds better than even the best Godzilla film. 

I just see Godzilla as a much harder drug than most people are willing to take, and sometimes they need some easing into it. I also am adult enough to realize that forcing someone to sit through something as torturous as a showa Godzilla film would be to the average, johnny come lately millenial as being highly sadistic and naive-- and you're talking to someone who swears by the showa films, as I am known in my clique as the "showa fag" for constantly arguing how soulless most heisei tokusatsu is. 

*EDIT* As far as adults not being able to like Godzilla, if I have to repeat myself one more time I'm going to go insane. I never said adults can't enjoy it, but you have to admit, Godzilla and MOST monster films, if not all of them, are a young a heart kind of thing. Whether you're scared of the monster are rooting for them, its appealing to your inner child. Some people like to keep their inner child in a closet in the basement and from my personal experience, and particularly how I see people handling my statements-- Godzilla fans are pretty much always intune with their inner child, it shows through in their maturity. 

But I'm honestly done with this 'discussion' and I'd say its probably safe for the civility of our interactions if I avoided it hence forth. If you're annoyed with what I said, deal with it, as at this point I have a feeling you're going to do everything in your fanhurt body to argue and disagree with everything I say.

get them high and have them watch Godzilla vs Hedorah, it'll change their lives.

Way to be condescending and passive aggressive Gman2887...any point you were trying to make is horribly cloaked by your pricklly comments.

 I got into godzilla because of my older brother showing me godzilla vs biollante.

Since I'm in my very early 20s I can't honestly see any of my friends except 1 maybe appreciating or even enjoying any of the older movies. As much as I personally hate the movie I'd probably show them GMK, or Godzilla 2000 and depending how they respond show them something else.

guys calm down, i don't want my post to start a war, now @AKAGI i understand what your saying and i respect it, now i live in the UK, unlike the US the UK there is hardly anything to do with tokusatsu except power rangers and godzilla fans are very rare in the UK, so even introducing ultra man and gamera is hard plus i haven't seen a single dai kaiju movie outside of the godzilla series except mothra and rodan. also i asked this question because a friend of mine wanted me to suggest a movie to watch online, first i gave him a link to Gojira however he doesnt like black and white movies so i wanted to know a movie that was good and enjoyable for those who arn't fans. i'm not going to force friends to be fans, all i want to do is show them what the japanese godzilla is like compared to the 1998 version which is the only godzilla movie that most british people have watched.

I've always had trouble getting other people interested in Godzilla; and I view myself as a pretty reasonable, persuasive guy. 

Sure, I can (and have) gotten people to WATCH Godzilla movies. But then the movie itself always undoes whatever ground I gained. 

I mean, there is no one situation that is going to be true for everybody, but I think as a general rule, with the selection of films we have right now, there are ZERO Godzilla films you could show to somebody who isn't already a fan and pique their interest. They pretty much have to be fans already to like the movies. That being said, I don't run into very many Godzilla fans who have seen ALL 28/29 movies, and many don't even realize there are that many, so it is always nice to introduce a fellow G-fan to a 'new' one they haven't seen before :-)

I'm HOPING Godzilla 2014 will change that. I'm looking forward to finally getting an "I told you so" Godzilla film I can show to people w/out having to get embarassed or defensive.

But if that doesn't work, I guess I'll just have to raise my kids as Godzilla fans and call it victory enough.

 Gojira(54), Godzilla vs. Biollante, and GMK.