Nalbandian 1

Khatchig Nalbandian

Professor J. Beadle

English 115

7 November 2017

Evolution of Godzilla

Japan learned from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the tragedy wrought

by nuclear weapons must never be repeated and that humanity and nuclear weapons cannot

coexist (Ikeda). It is a belief to many that Godzilla was first created to put fear into the peoples

eyes as a representation of radiation and the potential long-term effects of the atomic bombing.

Godzillas first appearance was in the 1954 film Gojira, directed by Ishiro Honda. Godzilla

became such a hit movie, not only to Japanese audience but also all around the world even

peaking interest to American audiences. Until today, sequels of Godzilla are created all around

the world. Godzilla ranks as on of the most sequelled film franchises in movie history, edging

out James Bond (Alt, 3). From Gojira (1954) all the way to Shin Godzilla (2016), Godzilla as a

monster has changed drastically, and an important reason for that change can be due to time.

Time can have on of the strongest and long lasting affects, it can take something and completely

change how its perceived and looked at, but no matter what the originality is still there no matter

how little of it remains. Just like a fine wine, that changes over time but still has its originality

buried somewhere. Even though its unfair to compare two movies with a 62 year gap in between,

the two Godzilla movies Gojira and Shin Godzilla drastically changed from one another due to

that time gap.

From the film Gojira (1954) to Shin Godzilla (2016) it can be argued that the purpose of

Godzillas creation has changed. But their touchstones are no longer incendiary and nuclear
 Nalbandian 2

bombs. Instead they are the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which killed close to twenty thousand

people and introduced Japan to a new form of nuclear horror caused by out of control nuclear

reactors (Alt, 4). Even though nuclear power is stated in both movies as the cause of Godzilla it

seems to be treated less seriously and more of as a joke. Over time the movies of Godzilla were

taken less serious and was just a movie for entertainment reasons. The original film Gojira was

practically an insult to America and there horrible treatment of nuclear power, but surprisingly

American audiences became very fond of Godzilla. Godzilla, King of Monsters! Was a hit

among American audiences hungry for atomic scare fare. Japan had found an unlikely

international superstar in Godzilla (Alt, 5). Even though the original film Gojira (1954) was

created to insult and degrade America, Americans became very fond of the Godzilla series. By

the latest movie Shin Godzilla (2016) it became so popular that very well known Rotten

Tomatos gave the movie satisfaction rating of 84% and audiences gave it 73%. Which is rather

surprising since the movie was created to insult Americans not amuse them.

At the same time it can be argued that Godzilla as a monster and as an idea hasnt

changed drastically from Gojira to Shin Godzilla. Both movies represent a large monster named

Godzilla who is created due to the irresponsible treatment of nuclear power. Even though Gojira

may have been influenced by a more serious topic with propaganda behind it, compared to the

more action packed Shin Godzilla, which was mainly made for peoples entertainment they are

both a cause of how countries dont truly realize how destructive nuclear weaponry and power is.

The monster Godzilla ravages through the city of Tokyo, Japan and cannot be stopped. In both

movies the government of Japan has an impossible time trying to find a way to stop Godzilla. In

both movies Godzilla terrorizes the city and destroys it before finally being stopped.
 Nalbandian 3

Even though both movies end with the well-anticipated death of Godzilla, they are

portrayed very differently. In the movie Gojira the ending has the scientist (Dr. Serizawa)

creating a bomb, or oxygen destroyer that when dropped into water will kill Godzilla once and

for all. But at the end of Gojira a point is made, how people only want power to destroy other

people. Of course theyll want to use it as a weapon. Bombs versus bombs, missiles versus

missiles, and now a super weapon to throw upon us all. (Gojira, Dr. Serizawa) in this line Dr.

Serizawa tries to explain to the audience how all humans care about is the destruction of other

humans. For this reason at the end of the film Serizawa destroys all the information on the

oxygen destroyer and proceeds to jump into the water with the bomb and kill himself while

killing Godzilla at the same time. So not only was Godzilla destroyed but also he made sure that

humans would not get there hands on the oxygen destroyer and cause harm to other humans.

On the other hand the ending of Shin Godzilla was different: In the movie Shin Godzilla

the ending is much different from Gojira, it ends with the last few remaining alive government

members of Tokyo finding a way to freeze Godzilla to death. In Shin Godzilla the government

tries so many different methods to destroy Godzilla but find the task practically impossible. They

use tanks, missiles, and bombs to destroy Godzilla but it doesnt work, unlike in Gojira where

after one attempt of using a bomb they kill Godzilla. It takes the army of Japan many times in

Shin Godzilla before they freeze Godzilla to eternal hibernation or death. It can be argued that

over time the ending of Godzilla has changed as a representation of how mankind has hanged. I

believe in Shin Godzilla so much weaponry is used to destroy Godzilla to show the audience how

in todays world countries, armies, and people just destroy and kill each other with out thinking

about the consequences. Unlike in the (1954) film Gojira where they used very little weaponry

until they had no choice but to use an oxygen destroyer once to kill Godzilla.
 Nalbandian 4

One other simple and agreeable reason that the two Godzilla movies are different from

one another is due to how many years of a difference there is from when they were created. In

Gojira since it was made in 1954 its a black and white film, also due to a lack of technology

there are few scenes with dialogue, and the visual effects arent to good. On the other hand Shin

Godzilla was made in 2016 so the visual affects are much better, Godzilla changes forms through

out the movie which back in 1954 would have been much more difficult and expensive to

accomplish, hence explaining why Godzilla stayed as only one form through out the film. After

changing forms in Shin Godzilla, the monster Godzilla stood at its tallest height to ever be

portrayed in any Godzilla movie at 387 feet. Where as in Gojira, the monster Godzilla only stood

at 164 feet.

Even though it would be expected that the two movies would have different directors, the

directors of both movies had different ideas when creating there respected movies. The director

of Gojira (1954) Ishiro Hondas purpose of making the film was to show Japans post WWII real

life anxieties. Honda being a solider himself witnessing Hiroshima, saw the aftermath of nuclear

power and wanted to show the world how dangerous nuclear power is through his own first hand

experiences. Honda came up with the idea of showing his viewpoint through a monster that he

created, Godzilla, since he knew making a movie which involved America and there

irresponsible acts with nuclear weapons would not have made it anywhere and probably have

been banned by America at the time. Now fast forward 62 years, Shin Godzilla (2016) directed

by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi (co directed), the directors had no personal viewpoints to

the meaning of Godzilla. Instead they looked at Godzilla through the eyes of a franchise. There

only goal was to appeal as big as an audience as they possibly could, they wanted to turn a movie
 Nalbandian 5

which should have stayed a film to teach the world the consequences of nuclear war, into a block

buster success like any other Hollywood movie. The directors of Shin Godzilla cared more about

ticket sales then the actually meaning of why Godzilla was actually created. They even made

Godzilla 387 feet in Shin Godzilla just so they could have a 387-foot long red carpet at their

premiere for the movie. The reason for the drastic change in movie making motives is because of

how times have changed. Even though most movies have meanings to them, the meaning is put

to a minimum and movies are more focused on action packed audience attention grabbers. After

all thats what brings in the money.

After watching both Godzilla movies Gojira 1954 and Shin Godzilla 2016 I strongly

believe that the movies have drastically changed from one another. I believe that the director of

Gojira created the movie for a purpose to serve and open the publics eyes on how evil and

destructive nuclear power is. While on the other had the only purpose for Shin Godzilla was for

the entertainment of the audience. It can be argued that Shin Godzilla still keeps the original

meaning of Gojira by the means of nuclear power, but there are still too many differences. Even

though I like to believe every movie has a story to tell Godzilla became such a repeated sequel

that people forgot about its actual meaning. Even though its unfair to compare two movies that

have a 62-year gap in between them because there will obviously be differences between the

movies. I believe that there are many differences from the movies and they have all been caused

from the effect of time.

 Nalbandian 6

Works Cited

Honda, Ishiro. Gojira, 1954

Anno, Hideaki; Higuchi, Shinji (co-directed). Shin Godzilla 2016

Ropeik, David. Godzilla vs. Technology. Published on Slate. 2015

Alt, Matt. Godzilla Returns To Japan. Published on The New Yorker. 2016