Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey.
Today we’ll branch out from our video, What if Godzilla was Real, and have a look at another
giant beast from Japanese cinema: Mothra.
Mothra is the giant moth creature, made famous in the 1961 film “Mothra”.
This kaiju has, despite her good intentions, caused great destruction on Earth in the movies,
but what if she actually existed in the real world?
Let’s explore.
If you want more What If videos, check out our “Biggest What Ifs” playlist on the
channel.
Now get ready, it’s time to ask the question: What if Mothra was Real?
Well first of all, it’s important to point out that Mothra is actually a benevolent creature,
unlike Godzilla who’s a bit less predictable.
She is on humanity’s side, mostly focused on protecting its island, and protecting humanity
as a whole from other large threats like Godzilla.
This means that as long as we avoided Infant Island, and didn't attempt to blow up the
planet, the moth goddess would likely leave us alone.
It’s possible that people would even visit the island as tourists, to visit the great
Mothra, and communicate with her.
However, if she decided to attack us, either because we intruded on her territory, or she
believed humanity to be a threat to the planet, many believe that we would be in serious trouble.
Of course, a giant moth would be rather terrifying, and if the movies are to be believed, it could
be disastrous to the world.
But many believe that if this moth goddess actually existed, she would not have the same
characteristics as in the movies.
Michael LaBarbera, a biologist at the University of Chicago, has spent a good deal of time
studying monsters like Mothra, having authored the book "The Biology of B-Movie Monsters".
And LaBarbera has some encouraging news about a real life Mothra.
In order to take in enough oxygen, Mothra would need a large number of tracheal tubes.
This means that while her weight would still be substantial, due to her incredible size,
she would have extremely low density.
According to LaBarbera, Mothra would be roughly as dense as a cotton ball.
Not so intimidating now.
This very low density would have a few effects.
For one, it would likely mean that Mothra could be dealt with very easily, since modern
weaponry would be highly effective against her.
Hell, even just dousing her with water could cause her to become a soggy mess on the ground.
But there’s one other implication that makes the creature even less intimidating: She probably
wouldn’t be able to fly.
LaBarbera believes that Mothra would likely be too massive to even get airborne, since
as her body grew, her mass would increase faster than the area of her wings.
But even if she COULD get up in the air, Mothra would have a bad time.
Due to her body’s low density, and relatively high surface area, Mothra would likely be
blown around the sky by the wind.
Of course, if she was blown into a building, it would do considerable damage, but this
likely wouldn’t be a huge issue, especially relative to the damage seen from Godzilla.
So it seems that even if Mothra decided to attack, we wouldn’t be in too much trouble.
She might even struggle to make it to civilization in the first place, since she would have trouble
flying there from her secluded island.
If she managed to get here, she might do a bit of damage, but she wouldn’t be able
to direct her flight, and would be quite easy to damage, so she would be dealt with rather
quickly.
However, Mothra does have one other relevant power: rebirth.
Mothra is said to be an eternal Goddess.
While she can die, when this happens, she’s reborn from an egg to live again, similar
to stories of the phoenix.
This means that if Mothra attacked and was defeated, that wouldn’t be the end of her.
Another would eventually come, but on the bright side, it, too, would probably be pretty
easy to deal with.
Of course, this talk of Mothra wouldn’t be complete without touching on her singing
companions, the twin fairies.
They often speak for Mothra, allowing the goddess to communicate with humans.
These fairies would be very important if Mothra was real, since it would be important to explain
to humanity that the creature was benevolent.
They would also be very important if people did start visiting Infant Island as a tourist
destination, since they would allow people to communicate with the great goddess.
And now we return to our question: What if Mothra was Real?
Well, not too much would change, since Mothra likely wouldn’t even attack.
She’s pretty cool that way.
But even if she did attack for whatever reason, it seems that the Moth Goddess would be rather
easy to deal with, since she would have the density of a cotton ball.
And due to this density, if she tried to fly anywhere to either attack or escape, she would
probably be whipped around by the wind before crashing.
Of course, due to her size, she could still do some damage when rampaging on foot or being
thrown around by the wind, but it would soon be dealt with, and the destruction would likely
be rather limited.
Of course, Mothra would be reborn, and could eventually return, but this would just restart
the long, relatively benign cycle.
Personally, I’d be totally cool with Mothra existing.
Sounds neat.
Thank you for watching Life’s Biggest Questions, I hope this was interesting and informative,
and maybe even inspired you to look into it further on your own.
If you liked this video, please thumbs up and subscribe to the channel down below.
While you’re down there, let me know what YOU would do if Mothra was real.
Until next time, I’m Ron McKenzie-Lefurgey with Life’s Biggest Questions, wishing you
the best of luck, on your quest for answers.