Godzilla (Gojira)

Dir: Ishirō Honda

1954

*****

Ishirō Honda’s 1954 classic Godzilla (Gojira) isn’t about a giant green lizard that terrorizes Tokyo. I mean it is, but that’s not really what it is about. Written by Honda, Takeo Murata, and Shigeru Kayama, Gojira was written to symbolise nuclear holocaust from Japan's perspective and is a metaphor for nuclear weapons. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated back in the 1950s that, "The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind." Honda filmed Gojira's Tokyo rampage to mirror the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, stating, "If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball. But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn't know what to do. So, I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to him." Themes aside, Gojira was really just a classic 50s B-movie, but there was always something more to it above the others and most of it’s American counterparts. When the Japanese freighter Eiko-maru is destroyed near Odo Island, another ship – the Bingo-maru – is sent to investigate, only to meet the same fate with few survivors. A fishing boat from Odo is also destroyed, with one survivor. Fishing catches mysteriously drop to zero, blamed by an elder on the ancient sea creature known as "Gojira". Reporters arrive on Odo Island to further investigate. A villager tells one of the reporters that something in the sea is ruining the fishing. That evening, a storm strikes the island, destroying the reporters' helicopter, and Gojira, who is seen briefly, destroys 17 homes and kills nine people and 20 of the villagers' livestock. Odo residents travel to Tokyo to demand disaster relief. The villagers' and reporters' evidence describes damage consistent with something large crushing the village. The government sends paleontologist Kyohei Yamane to lead an investigation on the island, where giant radioactive footprints and a trilobite are discovered. The village alarm bell is rung and Yamane and the villagers rush to see the monster, retreating after seeing that it is a giant dinosaur. Yamane presents his findings in Tokyo, estimating that Gojira is 164 ft tall and is evolved from an ancient sea creature becoming a terrestrial creature. He concludes that Gojira has been disturbed by underwater hydrogen bomb testing. Debate ensues about notifying the public about the danger of the monster. Meanwhile, 17 ships are lost at sea. Ten frigates are dispatched to attempt to kill the monster using depth charges. The mission disappoints Yamane, who wants Gojira to be studied. When Gojira survives the attack, officials appeal to Yamane for ideas to kill the monster, but Yamane tells them that Gojira is unkillable, having survived H-bomb testing, and must be studied. Yamane's daughter, Emiko, decides to break off her arranged engagement to Yamane's colleague, Daisuke Serizawa, because of her love for Hideto Ogata, a salvage ship captain. When a reporter arrives and asks to interview Serizawa, Emiko escorts the reporter to Serizawa's home. After Serizawa refuses to divulge his current work to the reporter, he gives Emiko a demonstration of his recent project on the condition that she must keep it a secret. The demonstration horrifies her and she leaves without breaking off the engagement. Shortly after she returns home, Gojira surfaces from Tokyo Bay and attacks Shinagawa. After attacking a passing train, Gojira returns to the ocean. After consulting with international experts, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces construct a 100 ft, 50,000 volt electrified fence along the coast and deploy forces to stop and kill Gojira. Yamane returns home, dismayed that there is no plan to study the monster for its resistance to radiation, where Emiko and Ogata await hoping to get his consent for them to wed. When Ogata disagrees with Yamane, arguing that the threat that Gojira poses outweighs any potential benefits from studying the monster, Yamane tells him to leave. Gojira resurfaces and breaks through the fence to Tokyo with its atomic breath, unleashing more destruction across the city. Further attempts to kill the monster with tanks and fighter jets fail and Gojira returns to the ocean. The day after, hospitals and shelters are crowded with the maimed and the dead, with some survivors suffering from radiation sickness. Distraught by the devastation, Emiko tells Ogata about Serizawa's research, a weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer, which disintegrates oxygen atoms and causing organisms to die of a rotting asphyxiation. Emiko and Ogata go to Serizawa to convince him to use the Oxygen Destroyer but he initially refuses, explaining that if he uses the device, the superpowers of the world will surely force him to construct more Oxygen Destroyers for use as a superweapon. After watching a program displaying the nation's current tragedy, Serizawa finally accepts their pleas. As Serizawa burns his notes, Emiko breaks down crying. A navy ship takes Ogata and Serizawa to plant the device in Tokyo Bay. After finding Gojira, Serizawa unloads the device and cuts off his air support, taking the secret of the Oxygen Destroyer to his grave. Gojira is destroyed, but many mourn Serizawa's death. Yamane believes that if nuclear weapons testing continues, another Gojira may rise in the future. It is a warning to the future from the victims of the past. Gojira contains political and cultural undertones that can be attributed to what the Japanese had experienced in World War II, so much so that Japanese audiences were able to connect emotionally to the monster. Many viewers actually saw Godzilla as a victim and felt that the creature's backstory reminded them of their experiences in World War II. The atomic bomb testing that woke Gojira were carried out by the United States, the film in a way can be seen to blame the United States for the problems and struggles that Japan experienced after World War II had ended. The film could be said to have served as a cultural coping method to help the people of Japan move on from the events of the war. Making it a monster movie was very canny, as it appealed to the masses – the genre being popular at the time – and would have carried around the world. It’s clearly a political piece but it would not appear so, being a melodramatic monster movie. It is perhaps the first film to ever use metaphor in such an obvious and outrageous manner. It startles me just how many people still don’t realises what it’s really all about. Toho originally planned to produce Eiko-no Kagi-ni (In the Shadow of Glory), a Japanese-Indonesian co-production about the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, however, anti-Japanese sentiment in Indonesia forced political pressure on the government to deny visas for the Japanese filmmakers. The film was to be co-produce with Indonesian studio Perfini, filmed on location in Jakarta in color (a first for a major Toho production), and was to open markets for Japanese films in Southeast Asia. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka flew to Jakarta to renegotiate with the Indonesian government but was unsuccessful and on the flight back to Japan, conceived the idea for a giant monster film inspired by the 1953 film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident that happened in March 1954. The film's opening sequence is a direct reference to the incident. Tanaka felt the film had potential due to nuclear fears generating news and monster films becoming popular, due to the financial success of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and the 1952 re-release of King Kong, the latter which earned more money than previous releases. During his flight, Tanaka wrote an outline with the working title The Giant Monster from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and pitched it to executive producer Iwao Mori. Mori approved the project in April 1954 after special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya agreed to do the film's effects and confirmed that the film was financially feasible. Honda was not Toho's first choice for the film's director, however, his war-time experience made him an ideal candidate for the film's anti-nuclear themes. Several other directors passed on the project, feeling the idea was "stupid," however, Honda accepted the assignment due to this interest in science and "unusual things," stating, "I had no problem taking it seriously."  It was during the production of Gojira that Honda worked with assistant director Koji Kajita for the first time. Afterwards, Kajita would go on to collaborate with Honda as his chief assistant director for 17 films over the course of 10 years. Due to sci-fi films lacking respect from film critics, Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya agreed on depicting a monster attack as if it were a real event, with the serious tone of a documentary, which has always made Gojira stand out above all other monster/b-movies. There have been many Godzilla movies made since, some good, some bad, but the good ones always follow Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya rule. It is an iconic film in terms of idea and special effects, a cultural phenomenon and one of the most important films of the twentieth century.