Blog Post #2

Godzilla: Cultural Interpretation, Contrast, and Influence

by Critic Neural (a.k.a. Liz Place)

In the 1950’s (1954 to be exact), a very monumental film was created. To this day, it is quite hard to find someone in Japan, or even America who has not heard the legendary title, Godzilla (or Gojira). “Gojira” (or more commonly known by American Viewers as “Godzilla”), the legendary sea monster, is sent quite literally by storm onto the shores of Odo Island one night after a tremendous hurricane. The monster, “Gojira”, is essentially a mindless, gigantic, and furious creature. Dr. Yamane, a man investigating the instances of terror surrounding Gojira and the people of the island, comes to the conclusion based on his studies that Gojira came into being as a product of a nuclear explosion. Because of this fact, Gojira’s creation is rather controversial to the researchers and town’s people. Many of Tokyo’s people are enraged that a nuclear explosion is the cause of the existence of Gojira, and others believe it best that this fact be kept secret for fear of more war or further destruction. Eventually, Dr. Yamane forfeits his life so that the secrets of the existence of Gojira with be safe and will be forever out of dangerous hands. The monster is vanquished and Tokyo is safe.

Directed by Ishiro Honda and written by Ishiro Honda and Takeo Murata, Gojira was and remains to this day as the sole, infamous monster movie/science fiction thriller of all time; regardless of how technology has advanced and, in turn, the quality of horror, thriller, and action films have improved, "Gojira" will always be a beloved and respected film that surpasses most others belonging to its genre.

-Godzilla, 1998 (American film)

The 1998 American adaptation of Gojira (Godzilla) stays relatively loyal to the open-ended plot of the original. Once again, nuclear testing is a main theme in the 1998 adaptation. And as though by fate, the radiation from the nuclear testing site in French Polynesia has tainted a lizard's nest, and Godzilla is, in a manner of speaking, reincarnated. The film even gives a nod (or a few) to "Gojira" by showing a Japanese Fishing boat being attacked by the monster. The only living survivor of the fleet is a man trying to verbalize what it is he thought he saw; "Gorjira" was all that he could manage to utter. One might possibly wonder where the new pronunciation for Gorjira originated from; reporters of the time mispronounced the correct title, "Gorjira", because (of course) they are ignorant Americans! There really aren't any truly distinctive differences between the two films other than, well, culture. Japan is very theatrical and America is, admittedly, overly dramatic and at times obnoxious in it's attempts to make a perfectly good film "bigger", "better", and "flashier" (as is typical of America; although it is endearing in a lot of ways and in a lot of films).

"Gorjira" of 1954 was dramatically different from "Godzilla" of 1998. For one thing, the American film was in color! Technology had advanced... it had been 44 years for pete sake! Well, lets admit it... apart from the similar if not exactly the same plots and endings of the films, there are nothing but differences. For me personally, the reviews are definitely what set these two films apart from each other. Audiences actually received Gorjira (in fact, they ate it up... and us film geeks continue to) but when it comes to `Godzilla, audiences weren't all that receptive; Audiences were duped into watching the poorly written, poorly constructed sequel-rip-off by showing just enough to get the viewers excited about the possibility of a promising film. As for the plot and character changes that were truly "necessary" for the transfer from the original Japanese version of the film to the newer American version of the film, they are as such: First of all, the creatures (the "Godzillas") of both films were altogether different. One was simply a ravenous mutated horrific monster (in the 1954 version), and in the American version the so called "monster" had a heart; Godzilla was simply a misunderstood, confused, and terrified animal doing its best to survive. The mutated lizards differed in this way, and also in that the original lizard spouted fire, whereas the preceding lizard did not. I believe that Godzilla made in 1998 was romanticized quite a lot more, and cared about the actual plot a whole lot less than that of its original, Gorjira. Gorjira is quite different when it comes to audience it is aiming to receive; it's more aimed toward the more serious fans of science fiction action movies. In conclusion, these films are aimed toward two very different audiences; Japanese humor, drama, and science fiction themes are far different from American standards of humor, drama, and film quality.

For your viewing pleasure, I happened upon a rather funny (and-caution-slightly irritating) evaluation of Godzilla (1998).

Enjoy!

-Critic Neutral