Seventy years ago, a collective of filmmakers in a rapidly changing Japan made a film about a giant sea monster. After World War II, they came together to tell a story that would resonate with their country and swiftly became a global phenomenon. On November 3rd 1954, Gojira (later localized as Godzilla) began theatrical domination. While the film spawned a decades-spanning franchise, it’s easy to forget that underneath the monstrous blockbuster is the anti-war sentiment of a healing culture. Many of these aspects have persisted throughout the series’ ever changing tone, culminating in 2023’s Oscar-winning Godzilla Minus One.
Imported as Godzilla: King of the Monsters!, Americans only saw the film as a typical creature-feature. This version includes a faux pas lead insertion of actor Raymond Burr. The intent, of course, to make it approachable to the western box office. Beginning in 2004, the themes of the 1954 film began to shine on a global scale as Ishiro Honda’s original cut of Gojira, finally released internationally upon its 50th anniversary. Through this film, Honda was able to merge his passions with those of his writer, producer and effects collaborators to create a film that ushered in a new kami legend for Japan’s new age in the 20th century.
Incredible, Unstoppable Titan of Terror!
Some of the most interesting things about this first Godzilla film is the context of its release. It’s long been revered as a metaphor for the end of World War II and the detonation of nuclear weapons onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But the film is also credited for the genesis of the tokusatsu genre. There is also the essence of a dramatic film; one rife with politics, romance and horror spun intrigue that never accompanied monster movies before.
Like many of their generation, most of the crew involved in the making of Gojira were inspired by the amazing visuals of King Kong on the silver screen in their youth. These young film lovers were astounded by the stop motion animation work of Willis H. O’Brien, who would work on The Lost World and Mighty Joe Young, and eventually mentor one of the greatest in the field, Ray Harryhausen.
King Kong certainly inspired Honda, but it especially influenced Gojira’s cinematographer and special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya; who would go on to create Ultraman. The work of him and his peers in revolutionary miniatures, pyrotechnics, models and the iconic suit (half made of cement thanks to a shortage of rubber imports) would be the genesis of the tokusatsu genre. Tokusatsu, which involves live action media for children and families using heavy special effects starring giant monsters and heroes, would spark the Giant Monster Boom in Japan throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s. This boom gave birth to icons such as Gamara, and Ultraman. Further spin offs created Super Sentai, which would eventually lead to the west developing Power Rangers into a pop culture phenomenon. Eiji Tsuburaya would go on to work with Ishiro Honda throughout his career, as well as win many technical awards on the films of Akira Kurosawa.
What do we do about the horror before us?
Kurosawa, the most prolific of Japan’s figures of cinema, was a close peer to director Ishiro Honda. These two often collaborated on one another’s films, famously co-directing 1990’s Dreams, financed by Warner Bros. and Steven Spielberg. While the directors were still cutting their teeth in the industry, they struggled to tell stories the way they intended.
Honda was conscripted in the war by the Japanese army as a documentarian to film propaganda for the Japanese Empire. This work technically labeled Honda a war criminal after 1945. In that time, Kurosawa would create films for PCL, later Toho studios. Those films would be cut down for being too British/American in their moral alignment. Even after the war, their desire to critique America’s atomic weapons would be met with censoring by US policy in a recovering Japan.
The US military aid at the time had a strict censoring of any critical arts and media material until 1953. The policy’s ending coincided with Ray Harryhausen’s breakout film, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. This group of filmmakers would be inspired by the movie to tell their own story about a sea monster. Honda co-wrote the screenplay with Shigeru Kayama. Honda recruited the author for his short story published that same year titled “Curious Stories From the House of Eel”.
Western science fiction heavily influenced the genesis of this movie. However, Ishiro Honda was adamant about making the film into something that was darker and more adult. Through film, he was determined to highlight the effects of atomic bombs and the long term impact on Japanese people. Among those highlighted criticisms were the bombs’ immediately devastating effects and the distressing long term side effects. Famously, the 23-person crew of fishing boat Lucky Dragon 5 suffered from ARS. Those fishermen slowly and agonizingly perished over several weeks — a result of the United States weapons testing at Bikini Atoll.
Even something as simple as the monster’s visual design is cemented in the tragic discoveries of nuclear aftermath. Many victims of radiation poisoning suffered burning scars on their skin. The Japanese referred to this scarring as Hibakusha (translating to “affected bomb person”). These devastating burns are what the team would find inspiration in for the monster. Through these scales, they intended to replicate the overwhelming odds that humanity faced against an indefinable and uncontestable threat.
This carries through in the film’s themes, as Honda depicts his scientific curiosities through the lead character. Dr Daisuke Serizawa (Akihiko Hirata), is a scientist in a love triangle, and holds the key to stopping Godzilla. Serizawa, and other scientists in the film, insist Godzilla cannot and should not be destroyed; but studied as an anomaly.
Honda doubles down on his anti-war sentiment and critique of the bombs with the treatment of the film’s macguffin device. He develops the Oxygen Destroyer, which stops the threat Godzilla poses to Tokyo. The device releases atom-splitting chemicals, depriving the amphibious creature of its oxygen supply, causing his body to suffocate and decay. While its function is pure fiction, it is a reflective similarity to how a nuclear weapon would work. As such, Serizawa is reluctant to allow anyone to discover it, or reveal how to for anyone in military power. Honda’s sentiment here expresses understanding that once a new weapon of mass destruction is revealed to the world, it is impossible to obfuscate it from any who wish to seize or duplicate such power.
Bombs versus bombs, missiles versus missiles
Godzilla’s global theatrical run was an unfathomable success, and sequels were quickly put into the works at Toho. Honda would go on to direct eight other films in the series in addition to several projects alongside Akira Kurosawa. He always appreciated the film’s fans, even if he felt like the franchise followed him like a shadow his whole career. Godzilla, now a global phenomenon, has accumulated over thirty franchise films in the catalog produced by Toho and other studios.
Throughout the decades, Godzilla films have varied in tone. From kid-friendly action blockbusters to biting political satire, they all maintain something of Gojira’s core DNA. Directors come and go with their own interpretations, and some miss the mark like Roland Emmerich’s 1998 film. However, some are succinct, like Hideaki Anno’s witty entry Shin-Godzilla, and recently in the drama-fueled Minus One by Takashi Yamazaki.
Whether the franchise changes tone, effects style or cast, the elements of the king of the monsters remains. Audiences can count on his iconic silhouette, unmistakable roar, and imposing sense of dread created as he comes to shore. Whether as friend of foe; an unstoppable force of nature that inspires a simultaneous sense of terror and awe. It is a reverence that hasn’t been quite replicated outside of Japanese iterations that is inherent to Shintoism culture. As the star of a first-of-its-kind monster movie, Godzilla entered the world of genre film into a new age.
Godzilla is inside each one of us
He can very simply be interpreted as a new kami: a creature or spirit of the supernatural that is inspired by a mythology. Much like classic Japanese kami, Godzilla is hidden from the world as he returns to the sea after each story. Even within the story of the 1954 film, his presence was already known by the local villages as they made sacrifices and performed exorcisms in hopes Godzilla would not inhibit their seasonal fishing. Even though he was merely a sea creature portrayed by a man in a deeply uncomfortable suit stomping onto model buildings and toy tanks, the public accepted this monster as though he was always there.
Between the collaborations of Honda, Tsuburaya, co-director Takeo Murata and even the understanding of the project by score composer Akira Ifukuba, the genesis of Godzilla felt like an inevitable collaboration. The ideas and themes were going to take shape in Honda’s work one day, as they did in his work before and after his contributions to the franchise. The way these sentiments manifested however, was overwhelmingly received by audiences and the fundamentally striking design work, and cutting-edge effects created such waves that the landscape of genre films and television would not be the same if not for the emergence of this king of the monsters into the canon of cinema.
Featured Image Credit: TM & © TOHO CO., LTD., x.com/Godzilla_Toho
Based in the northern stretches of New England, Evan is an elder high-wizard and co-founder of the inbetweendrafts.com. Leading the Games section, Evan is determined to make people remember the joys of older games which have since lost their way. Evan’s voice can be heard in podcasting, YouTube videos, essays, and overlong diatribes on media he wants you to have the full context on.
