Godzilla! One of the most iconic films of all time. When I think of Godzilla I’m sent back to a time when I was a little guy who stayed up late to watch old black and white movies on public access channels. Godzilla was the old horror movie to turn to when looking for an old cheese-ball flick to fall asleep to.
I haven’t seen this movie in entirety before so it was interesting to see how the story folded out. I had never known that there was an original completely in Japanese, and was only familiar with the remake which we watched in class. When the word “Godzilla” is said I think of cheesy special effects, strange sound effects at inappropriate times (screaming noises when a car is blown up from Godzilla’s powers), and over the top acting. Not once had it ever occurred to me that there was actually some substance to this film at all.
Until now I hadn’t known of the Lucky Dragon incident. The Japanese had finally (to a point) moved on from what had happened in the past and was determined to go on with their lives. Boom. Sideswiped by the Lucky Dragon incident, and then further when Russia continued to test in Japanese waters. Knowledge of this incident alone gives an entirely different feel to the film. I realize now how strange this film really is. Godzilla manages to be a social commentary on the U.S, a social commentary on Japan, a kids movie, a horror movie, and a cinematic icon all at once. There are two groupings within the list previously mentioned that contradict each other in a very dynamic way.
First this film is both a horror movie and a kids movie at the same time. Have you ever seen another example of this? I’m pretty sure I’ve never considered leather face to be a heavily popular figure among children. Godzilla on the other hand was a coveted toy to many children, and what little boy can’t say that he hasn’t demolished/destroyed the lives of thousands of lego-people in the entire span of his childhood. It’s fun to watch Godzilla destroy the obviously model-created cities which lay before him, but it’s also scary stuff to think about. The horror aspect of Godzilla comes from the fear of nuclear power and the overall thought that any tragedy could happen at any given time with no notice. Children don’t think about incidents like that, so it’s understandable why kids love a figure which brings death to thousands.
Secondly this monster movie contradicts itself in a symbolic fashion. Godzilla both represents the U.S, and Japan during the cold war. What? Needless to say “Godzilla and the Japanese Nightmare: When "Them!" Is U.S.” by Chon Noriega confused the hell out of me. I gave this article a good deal of my attention but in the end still found myself in a mess of confusion. The major roadblock for me here was the concept of “the other”, and how both countries could be identified as the monster in the film. Class discussion cleared this up for me a bit. I can see now that the monster represents the Japanese as a figure which is left to fix a problem after tragedy has occurred. The monster also represents the U.S as a symbol for the H-bomb dropped by the U.S. How the writers of this movie managed to have the monster represent two countries which were so different and at such different places is beyond me, but pretty interesting to see.
I think that if I saw this movie when it came out I would be a bit frightened. Godzilla shares what all great figures in horror share. Trauma. Fear. All of the great horror figures in cinema represent a fear or trauma. We covered just about all of the examples in class, but realizing this made it easier for me to understand why people thought that this cheesy black and white movie was at one time pretty frightening. I didn’t find myself cringing in class while viewing this movie, nor did I have to turn my head away at any point. In fact I found myself laughing more than anything, but I understand now that Godzilla represented this fear of nuclear death, which is something I cannot fully relate to as part of a younger generation. A class member, Tim, said something that I found quite interesting. “People are afraid of what they don’t know”. He went on to state that people back then weren’t necessarily afraid of the bomb itself, but of the aftermath. We knew to a point what would happen if we set off the bomb, but there were still a lot of questions to be answered.
In conclusion, I thought that this movie was not only entertaining, but useful in getting to know how people thought during the Cold War. All of these fears and feelings were put into something which lasted years as a cinematic icon: Godzilla. Who knew that something so cheesy and old really had so much substance behind it.
