It is not much of a secret that I am a massive nerd. I watch anime, play videogames, I’ve role-played in every way but the sexual kind and that live action crap, and there are some franchises or TV shows that I know more than a little about. One such franchise is Godzilla, (I made Godzilla’s, Mothra’s, Rodan’s, and King Ghidorah’s roars into ringtones) the most well-known of the Japanese kaiju eiga genre here in the states. And when I say “most well-known” I of course mean the only known example of the kaiju eiga genre for most Americans. I myself haven’t seen too many other kaiju flicks, but they all seem like great fun if you can get your hands on them, which is easier said than done. Even Godzilla movies, arguably the most well-known thing to ever come out of Japan, are hard to find outside of the internet. It’s strange how a franchise that has become a household name is so rare. In fact, even though nearly every American knows the name Godzilla, most people have probably never seen a single movie unless they saw the American one or watched them on TV. Now, an American reboot for the series is planned to come out this year, so this article is topical. Well it isn’t but shut up, I want to talk about it.
Godzilla, and the popularity the lovable black/green dinosaur has gained, is rather anomalous. Godzilla was designed as an allegory for nuclear war, and the fact that he of all the kaiju gained such incredible pop culture status in America is kind of ironic. If one takes looks at Godzilla as an allegory for America and its use of nuclear weapons, his actions get a little more interesting. Originally, Godzilla attacked Japan not long after the end of WWII, a war that did not end well for the Japanese. Godzilla attacking was basically a second dose of the nuclear annihilation that so devastated the people of Japan. No more unusual than games nowadays having terrorists take over the United States, but to see the Japanese make a movie about them going through one of the biggest slaughters in the history of the world for a second time was kind of strange. Most of the kaiju are actually made from nuclear mutations, first from nuclear weapons, and secondly from nuclear energy in general. Godzilla of course destroyed every city he came to, and was finally brought down by the advanced technology of the Japanese. Technology that was so advanced because of the constant Godzilla attacks forcing them to quickly innovate and improve their infrastructure. Intentional or not, this movie had a lot of parallels to real life events, attitudes, and perceptions.
There are two basic Godzilla movies. Ones in which he rampages through cities as the military tries to stop him, and ones in which he fights another giant monster, then rampages through cities as the military tries to stop him. The more straightforward of the two are usually pretty fun to watch, in a Rampage-esque, “take that, society!” kind of way. In these, Godzilla is usually representative of the futility and danger of nuclear war. Godzilla, like many kaiju, was created by human negligence, and now seeks to destroy mankind for the foolishness that allowed him to be made. It was a pretty effective way of illustrating the self-destructive nature of humankind, and how by investing in nuclear weapons we are assuring our destruction. Japan had good reason to be “anti-nuclear” and usually tried to drive that point home in their kaiju films, and even some of their anime. Godzilla could bring home the point that humans were destructive and that nuclear war is abhorrent without becoming preachy or making mankind out to be the Hitler of the environment.
Interestingly, Japan is almost always the target of Godzilla’s rage (China was attacked in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, and America was attacked by “Zilla” in Godzilla 1998, but we don’t talk about Godzilla 1998). It seems odd that Toho wouldn’t send Godzilla stateside to maybe give some payback for Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but look beneath the surface and you can see why. If Godzilla was an allegory for America getting off on destroying any nation that pissed them off, then pissing them off would be the last thing the Japanese wanted. I’m not saying they thought America would wipe them from existence for having a monster destroy LA, but they definitely didn’t want to strain their already tenuous relationship with America. It would also be easier for Toho to make sets based Japanese architecture, since all they had to do to study it was look outside. Also, being a small island, Godzilla could attack almost anywhere in Japan with ease, giving them a decent range of settings to use. It seems odd that it and other kaiju films would be popular in Japan since it involves their mother-in-law getting stepped on, but the popularity may be due to this instead of despite it.
No matter where you live, no matter who you are, there is someone out there that you will hate. Hell they probably don’t live far from you. As much as we like to play up our compassionate side, we are still spiteful, petty beings, and the idea of society crumbling is weirdly compelling to us. It’s no surprise that a giant monster destroying the established society appeals to nerds and geeks. We, I mean, they, are usually marginalized and looked down upon by people, and any fire breathing dinosaur that comes along and destroys the society that let that happen to them is sure to receive our, sorry, their, love. Godzilla is somewhat anarchic, and plays to people’s inherent hatred of rules and each other. Often the people of Japan must go to great lengths to destroy Godzilla, lengths that aren’t always ethical. Godzilla acts as a sort of justification for people to do things they normally wouldn’t to eliminate him. Rules mean nothing when swept up in the chaos of a rampaging monster. But more than anything else, Godzilla attacked well-known places in Japan, and pretty much everyone in Japan has at least one Japanese person they hate. Same reason New York gets destroyed in western fiction, Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, and other places in Japan are destroyed. People like the idea of faceless crowds being killed; there’s something therapeutic about it. The people of Japan in kaiju films are just a bunch of redshirts to be stepped on so we can enjoy the guilty pleasure of nameless piss ants who can’t drive worth shit and take forever to give their order at Burger King getting what they deserve: being stepped on by a foot the size of a parking lot.
While the “grr smash” ones are pretty straightforward and the America allegory is little more than a statement to its war-loving empiricism, the more interesting ones are the giant monster slap fights. Besides the fact that they are fucking awesome and hilarious to watch, they have an underlying theme to them that can also be attributed to America. Namely, that Godzilla would fight a monster who was a bigger asshole than he was and defend Japan, then destroy Japan as soon as the enemy was gone or one guy looked at him funny. Japan being destroyed in the background to a fight they aren’t really involved in seemed to tie in rather nicely to the Cold War and America’s “police of the world” status. Godzilla, and America by extension, is usually seen as a defender of the Earth, and will do whatever is necessary to stop others from harming it. True this partly because if anyone is going to destroy the world it will be Godzillamerica, and partly because it can’t think far enough ahead to see that its nuclear attacks aren’t exactly helping the environment. It’s not all bad though. Godzilla is usually seen as misunderstood and attacks cities to punish Japan and the world in general for reckless use of nuclear energy and pointless wars. Many human protagonists in Godzilla actually want to coexist with Godzilla and see him as a force for good that we only see as bad because we’re too arrogant to see our own failings. The human race in general seems to deserve getting the shit kicked out of it by the nuclear lizard, and some people just accept that Godzilla will always be around destroy shit for well-intended but poorly justified reasons.
Post WWII, the destruction of two of Japans cities as well as being the prize of America’s dalliance with pseudo-imperialism, Japan saw a massive increase in technology, infrastructure, and economic power. With each Godzilla attack, the Japanese are pressed to come up with new technology to fight the big lug, and in movies about the future, Japan is a world superpower who uses their advanced technology to keep themselves going despite being constantly attacked by everyone’s favorite fire breathing dinosaur. It’s curious to see Japan make a series of movies in which they are the underdog to a massive power but still better than most people. It’s all in good fun and never really gets too heavy-handed or arrogant to cause problems, it’s just funny to see. In fact, in “Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah,” Japan surpasses America in power in the future, but still can’t defeat Godzilla, yet another allegory for how nuclear war is so destructive that nothing can really stop it. Japan seemed to think that they would become more powerful than most other nations, yet still be vulnerable to nuclear destruction. I guess no matter where you live, people just assume that they are better than everyone else.
To see Japan make so many of these movies with such ubiquitous themes (Toho’s other movies have similar themes of monsters destroying Japan for no direct reason) does reflect the attitudes of the people at the time. Japan wasn’t sure of its standing with America and other nuclear nations, and was afraid to throw in with any of them lest they become an accomplice and be attacked by another nuclear nation. Japan was also unsure of how it was going to continue, with the limited resources available on an island, concerns about overpopulation, and the postwar tech boom all casting its previous ideas of governing into question. Japan is the underdog in every fight, and, with a few exceptions, just wants to be left alone by Godzilla and his giant buddies. Despite that, having Godzilla around has caused Japan to become a world superpower despite Godzilla, and actually because of the technology they developed to fight him. Japan had come out of isolation in WWII, and upon entering the world market with America now backing them, they received quite a bit of economic success. Japan felt invincible in technology and economy (for an island) but was still terrified of nuclear war coming back, and this time doing enough damage that couldn’t bounce back. Godzilla and his fellow kaiju nicely incorporated the attitudes of the Japanese people post WWII, as well as several of the less flattering aspects of human nature, into a decent narrative, with campy spectacles of monster fights thrown in as a bonus. Sure the fights are kind of goofy, the science is soft enough make pillows out of, and they never had good enough CGI to get rid of the rubber suits (although they tried), but Godzilla makes for a tragic villain, the fights are fun, and the acting is pretty good in some of them. It’s why I, and a lot of other people, love the big guy. Now hopefully the new American reboot understand the fun in these movies, and doesn’t fuck it up like Godzilla 1998.
I fucking hate Godzilla 1998. Spin-off TV show was alright though…
