This week I started the
novel Russian novel Crime and Punishment for my plotting in fiction class. I also
watched the Kaiju (giant
monster) movie, Pacific Rim for the second
time. This caused some confusion in my mind. It also made me wonder how many
other people mix up Kaiju movies with great Russian novels. So here is a quiz
to test your knowledge on both subjects. The key is at the bottom. No cheating!
Quiz: Russian Novelist or Kaiju?
1. Select the Russian Novelist who did NOT direct King Kong?
a) Merian C. Cooper
b)
Peter Jackson
c)
Nikolai Gogol
d)
John Guillermin
2. Matthew Broderick’s character
in the 1998 Godzilla:
a) Nikolai
Blagoveshchensky
b)
Niko Tatopoulos
c)
Nikolay Karamzin
d)
Nikolai Negorev
3. “Drift” Pilot Team of
the Russian Alpha Jaeger in Pacific Rim:
a) Sasha and
Aleksis Kaidonovsky
b)
Alyona and Lizaveta Ivanovna
c)
Vadim and Nadezhda Kozhevnikova
d)
Sofia and Sasha Sokolov
4. This epic story
revolves around a giant monster attack on a major metropolitan area as told by
a small group of people.
a)
Taras Bulba
b)
Demons
c)
Cloverfield
d)
One
Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
5. This controversial
story tells of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed
passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze.
a) Ghidora
b)
Rodan
c)
Cloverfield
d)
Lolita
6. An experimental Kaiju
escapes from his captors and is suspected to be the creature that is killing
people all over the countryside. But when the Kaiju from the lab appears at the
same time as the evil Kaiju, the two begin to battle across Japan.
a) War
b)
War
and Peace
c)
The
War of the Gargantuas
d)
The
Duel
7. Name the female
character played by Fay Wray and Naomi Watts in King Kong who was the “Beauty who
slayed the beast.”
a) Anna Karenina
b)
Anna Dostoyevskaya
c)
Anna Kashina
d) Ann Darrow
8. Godzilla’s lovable,
flying, comic relief Kaiju son introduced in the 1979 animated
Hanna-Barbera/Toho production:
a) Gaidar
b) Gogol
c) Godzuki
d)
Guro
9.
Thought by many to be the number one Russian Novel of all time. When the
student Raskolnikov puts his philosophical theory to the ultimate test of
murder, a tragic tale of suffering and redemption unfolds in the dismal setting
of the slums of czarist, prerevolutionary St. Petersburg.
a)
Gamera vs.
Monster X
b)
The Host
c)
Crime and Punishment
d)
The Brothers Karamazov
e)
Monster Zero
10. Thought to be the King
of All Giant Monsters, this Kaiju appears in over 25 films.
a) Tolstoy
b)
Dostoyevsky
c)
Zamyatin
d)
Godzilla
e)
Gigan
So how did you do? If you got
only the Russian Novelist questions right, go see more Kaiju movies. If you got
only the Kaiju questions right, good on you. And if you got both types of
questions right, well, you are one messed up person. Seek help immediately.
~ Mark - @ManOWords
(Answer Key Below)
Key
1. C Gogol did NOT direct Kong (but he wanted to)
2. B Niko Tatopoulos
3. A Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky
4. C Cloverfied
5. D Lolita
6. C The War of the Gargantuas
7. A Ann Darrow
8. C Godzuki
9. C Crime and Punishment
10. D Godzilla!
