4.24.16

Godzilla takes on real issues and never backs down but we do. I’ve never met a Godzilla that shied away from a fight. And I’m not talking about his fights with King Kong, Mothra, King Ghidrah, Hedorah, and MechaGodzilla. No, I’m talking about how Godzilla takes on controversial issues of the day. Godzilla is a monster birthed by war, violence, and controversy. The TOHO filmmakers wove issues old and new into each Godzilla movie. But as Godzilla fans it’s our responsibility to take them seriously and not to pretend they don’t exist. Do we see the real Godzilla?

Godzilla is the Face of Real IssuesGodzilla is the Face of Real Issues

As July 29th and the opening of Shin Godzilla approach are we aware of the original context and meaning of Godzilla? Have we become more concerned about how Godzilla looks rather than the human violence that Godzilla only represents. Few show interest in the Shin Godzilla filmmakers emphasis on the tragedy and terror of the human story. I argue that we will not understand Shin Godzilla unless we understand Shodai Godzilla. We need the story of Godzilla to be retold because we have been lulled to sleep. What issues are ignoring?

Godzilla is the Face of Real IssuesGodzilla is the Face of Real Issues

Every Godzilla movie tackles important issues from nuclear weapons and radiation, corporate greed and theft, slavery and human trafficking, injustice, world war, pollution, bullying, exploitation, and more. Each movie is shaped by historical, cultural, political, and social forces that cannot be divorced and should not be forgotten. From his birth Godzilla is not the monster we were looking for. Godzilla is not simply a metaphor for the atomic bomb but he is the representative of its victims. And he is not a forgiving victim but takes the lives of both the innocent and guilty. The truth is that monsters like Godzilla are representatives of human violence, the violence men make out of each other and do to each other. This is the power of Gojira (1954). We have forgotten the story of the Lucky Dragon No# 5 and the Japanese fisherman who suffered from the radioactive fallout from the H-bomb testing in the Bikini Atoll. Like in 1954 many suffered now as we try to channel the power of the atom to save us and to kill others. We have made a business out of making Godzilla and in the process we have become Godzilla. Today, we face the very real and present threat from the man-made disaster of Fukushima Tepco Daiichi Nuclear Plant. We are fighting an invisible Godzilla killing every living thing swimming in the Pacific Ocean and soon to make landfall from Seattle to as far as Boston. Something has gone terribly wrong. We need a reminder. We need a new Godzilla. This is the power Shin Godzilla (2016) promises to be. We need to be shaken again awakened from our slumber to see what our world has become.

Godzilla is the Face of Real IssuesGodzilla is the Face of Real Issues

What has happened between shodai (1954) and shin (2016)? We have forgotten what Godzilla is and what he meant. Godzilla was our threat and terror but know he is a member of our team. Shodai was nothing to cuddle and and nothing to collect. Gojira taught us about what to be concerned. Then we became addicted to the movie violence and lost sight of what the issues were. We were entertained and we did not see the dead bodies drowned at sea, crushed under debris, and scorched by radiation flames. We again sacrificed Godzilla, that is, the victims, rather than face the truth that we are the problem. Shin Godzilla must remind us of the terror of human violence that begins when we are willing to sacrifice one in order to save the many. We are deceived by our violence. The mother, who promised her daughter that she would soon be with her father, would not recognize what we have made Godzilla today. Godzilla became our justifiable violence to save us from the next monster of our making.

Godzilla is the Face of Real IssuesGodzilla is the Face of Real Issues

We have become comfortable “playing” with monsters. We justify doing harm to others and the earth. We are comfortable with the use of nuclear power in everyday life without calculating the price we all pay when things go wrong. We are deceived. World War II, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima should remind us each day that “Godzilla” is nothing to play with but rather he should be put to sleep. Corporations haul in huge profits promising safe nuclear reactors and protection with nuclear weapons while slaving some, recklessly endangering others, and exploiting the planet. Weapons and war are big business. Innocent lives are sacrificed and the masses are deceived by weapons of mass deception. The few voices of protest are silenced. Leaders are compromised. We are divided and our weapons are drawn. And Godzilla is rising again.

Godzilla is the Face of Real IssuesGodzilla is the Face of Real Issues

Godzilla could teach us an important lesson again. But I am afraid we’ve never fully understood him from the beginning. We will search for another Oxygen Destroyer. But every solution is a new problem left to be solve by unprepared future generations. We did not learn violence begets violence. Godzilla is the face of real issues. Don’t miss the message for the monster. To see Godzilla is to see ourselves.