Sheesh, get with the program!
http://gojistomp.org/movies/gkingm.html
And:
(By Gary D. Parkosewich, born in 1985).
Below is a research paper I wrote on Godzilla for school. Please understand if there is any plagarism, then it is completely unintentional. I have a list of my sources at the bottom. I apologize too if some of my facts are not straight. If you're curious about what my grade was on this paper, it was a 91. I also added in some pictures to make the paper a little more exciting.
During the post World War II era, several science fiction "B-movies" containing radioactive monsters on the loose were constantly being made in the United States. In 1954, the Japanese motion picture company Toho Company Limited released the movie Gojira. In 1956, Gojira became known to several Americans as Godzilla. As the years passed, Toho released more Godzilla movies, that eventually gained the reputation of cheap science fiction flicks, with the hilarious sight of a man in a rubber suit, attacking a toy city with crowds of Japanese people running, and speaking English out of sync with their mouths (Kalat 1). It seems most Americans today cannot hear the name "Godzilla" without laughing or rolling their eyes, or thinking of the words "cheap" and "cheesy." This evaluation is unfair, and Godzilla should not have the status of a "B-movie" monster. The original Godzilla movie, Gojira, was a dark, allegorical film that provided a reenactment of World War II, addressing concerns of atomic warfare through the eyes of the only country to firsthand experience it.
Director Ishiro Honda purposely made Gojira a reenactment of World War II from the Japanese perspective (Miller, part 3). Honda was a veteran of the Imperial Army, and witnessed the worst firebombings of Tokyo. He also was stunned when he saw the ruins of Hiroshima after the Americans dropped the atomic bomb on the city. The devastation scared him, and Honda wanted to reenact World War II in his film Gojira, to show the roots of atomic warfare and express his fear for the future. He also wanted to make it a standalone movie and "... hoped that the end of Godzilla was going to coincide with the end of nuclear testing" (Honda qtd. in Kalat 36). In the beginning of the movie, Japanese fishing boats are sunk, representing Japan's naval defeats, and merchant marine ships sunk by American submarines, prior to when the U.S. entered the war (Miller, part 3). These scenes also symbolized Japan entering the war with the United States (Roberto, part 2). The Japanese government, in Gojira, hesitated to release the information about the sinkings to the public. The Japanese government during World War II also hesitated to release information about its defeats. Godzilla first attacked land on Odo Island, which represented the islands lost to the U.S. (Miller, part 3). Dr. Yamane, a paleontologist, discovered that Godzilla was resurrected by a Hydrogen bomb test, revealed in later Godzilla movies as the test conducted by the U.S. on the island of Bikini Atoll in 1954. After Yamane discovered this, he aroused a debate on whether the monster should be killed or not. The elderly Yamane wanted to study Godzilla's ability to survive the H-bomb, while others, such as Yamane's daughter Emiko, and her lover, a Coast Guard officer named Hideto Ogata, wanted Godzilla to be killed. This debate represented the Japanese peoples' mixed feelings of war in the 1940's (Roberto, part 4). The military tried to defeat Godzilla with conventional weapons, but the plan did not work. Godzilla moved closer to Japan and attacked the capital, Tokyo. Through all of Godzilla's attacks, his footsteps were heard, imitating the sound of the bombs dropped by Americans during the war (Roberto, part 4). When Godzilla arrived on the mainland, Godzilla spewed an atomic ray from its mouth that destroyed buildings and left radioactive fallout, directly representing the mass destruction caused by atomic weapons (Kalat 15). By this time, the full allegory of Godzilla was revealed. Not only was it an allegory of the war with the U.S., but it was also an allegory of the product of atomic weapons: atomic warfare (Miller, part 1). After Godzilla's second major attack on Tokyo,
a morning landscape scene of the destruction created by Godzilla matched the appearance of Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the atomic bomb was dropped on both cities. A grim hospital scene was then shown, displaying the dead and wounded crowding the building, reflecting what the hospitals were like after the U.S.'s A-bomb attacks (Roberto, part 4). Shots of people shaking their heads and crying also showed a sense of pessimism. That pessimism, though, did not only exist for Japan, but to the whole world (Roberto, part 4). From here, Honda began discussing his fears of nuclear war. After Godzilla's death, a feeling of pessimism still existed, as Dr. Yamane said "I can't believe Godzilla was the only surviving member of its species. If we keep on conducting nuclear tests, it's possible that another Godzilla might appear somewhere in the world, again." Honda included this speech not to hint a sequel, but to offer his message of the danger that existed (Honda qtd. in Kalat 36). Although the threat of atomic warfare ended in the movie, it had not ended in the real world.
Honda further discussed his fears and concerns of a future atomic war through the ill-fated character, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa, and the Oxygen Destroyer, the weapon used to kill Godzilla. The Oxygen Destroyer was a weapon of mass-destruction that disintegrated oxygen in water and dissolved all living matter. Serizawa, shocked by his discovery, planned to keep it a secret until he found a way to transform the device so it would benefit society. Serizawa revealed his secret to his fiance, Emiko, who kept it a secret too, until she wanted to find a way to help after seeing the destruction Godzilla brought. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer represented the consequence of atomic warfare (Kalat 20). Since Godzilla was atomic warfare, the latest and most destructive technology, then the only way to defeat it was by using a weapon even more destructive, the Oxygen Destroyer (Kalat 20). Ishiro Honda discussed the debate of whether the atomic bomb should have been used at all, through a debate with Ogata and Serizawa (Roberto 1). Serizawa argued: "if the Oxygen Destroyer is used even once, politicians from around the world will see it. Of course they'll use it as a weapon. Bombs versus bombs, missiles versus missiles, and a new super-weapon to throw upon us all. As a scientist, no, as a human being, I cannot allow that to happen." Ogata pushed Serizawa further, but Serizawa further explained: "humans are weak animals. Even if I burn my notes, the secret will still be in my head. Until I die, how can I be sure I won't be forced by someone to make the device again?" Serizawa was eventually convinced to use his awful weapon after watching a somber television broadcast showing the destruction and weariness of the war against Godzilla. Using a weapon more powerful than an atomic weapon, Godzilla, was the only way to defeat it, otherwise atomic warfare would destroy Japan, and possibly the world (Kalat 15). Serizawa then burned his notes and insisted on planting the device. After he planted the device in the water near Godzilla, Serizawa committed suicide, to ensure that his worst case scenario would not rise.
In 1956, Embassy Pictures released an Americanized version of Gojira in the U.S. called Godzilla, King of the Monsters. This film ignored the messages made in the original. Embassy did not want to release Gojira subtitled because it would only appeal to art-film audiences, which would be unmarketable (Kalat 24). Instead, they released it dubbed, a method infamously known especially in Godzilla movies, to have terrible acting and lips moving out of sync with the dialogue. To make the movie appeal to Americans, scenes were switched around, and twenty minutes of the original footage was cut, and ten minutes of scenes featuring Raymond Burr were cleverly imported between shots (Kalat 24). Major scenes, such as the long debate between Ogata and Serizawa, and Dr. Yamane's warning at the end were cut. The Americanization process also shrunk the characterization. Serizawa appeared to be the stereotypical "mad scientist," which lowered the meaning of his self-sacrifice at the end. Godzilla became a giant pest on the loose instead of an allegory of atomic warfare. The whole island of Japan also depended on the resolve of an arrogant, stodgy, overweight, pedantic American reporter named Steve Martin. His presence almost took on a MacArthur-like father figure whose advise was sought out by even the most brilliant scientific and military minds of Japan, including Dr. Yamane. In the Japanese version, Emiko decides to tell of Serizawa's secret of the Oxygen Destroyer. In the American version, Emiko reveals the secret to Martin, who tells her to convince Serizawa to use the weapon, seemingly making the American look superior. The Japanese version ended pessimistically, but the American version ended optimistically when Martin narrated "... the world could wake up and live again." Steve Martin, an American, seemed to be the only major character who virtually single-handedly saved the besieged island of Japan from almost certain devastation. The American superiority factor that existed in the post-World War II era was clearly shown here. The Americanization that created Godzilla, King of the Monsters had severely damaged the original intent of the movie (Musolf qtd. in MacKinnon, part 2).
Gojira was a deep, dark, allegorical movie about the end of the world (Kalat 13). It was not intended to be anti-American. Its purpose was to teach the dangers of atomic warfare through the past mistakes the world had made, in this case, the U.S. It was a direct experience shared by the only country to have firsthand experienced atomic warfare. As the years passed, Toho shifted Godzilla's symbolism to address other concerns and issues Japan had (Miller, part 1). Tomoyuki Tanaka, the producer of several Godzilla movies, once said that "As long as the arrogance of human beings exist, Godzilla will survive" (Tanaka qtd. in Kalat 148). In the U.S. Godzilla's symbolism was not seen because of the Americanization process. Godzilla movies were passed only to be "cheap," and "cheesy." Godzilla was not this false interpretation. Instead of a "B-movie" monster flick of the post World War II era, the original Japanese Godzilla movie, Gojira, stands in its own category, .
