Seemingly, every Saturday after MST3K, the SciFi channel runs a Godzilla/Japanese monster movie festival. Watching the first one, Godzilla vs. King Ghidrah, I started thinking about what these movies symbolize and why there are so many of them. Many American sci-fi movies from the 50’s and 60’s represent fears of nuclear holocaust, which must have seemed assured at the time (Day the Earth Stood Still and of course Dr. Strangelove come to mind). But did the Japanese really believe that radiation would cause giant monsters to rise out of the sea and stomp Tokyo? Also, the movie listed above was made in 1991. Are they still making these?
Just another of the many reasons I need to find something constructive to do with my time.
I think they symbolize the dangers of nuclear energy/bombs.
More knowledgeable dopers can inform you and me if there are any similarities between these movies and no drama.
I don’t have a lot of knowledge of no, but to my vulgar perceptions, there are similarities.
Are you saying the Godzilla films have no drama at all?
:d&r:
[sub]JFYI, it’s noh[/sub]
The first film, called Gojira in Japan, used the monster as a symbol of the seemingly unstoppable advance on Japan of the US military in World War 2.
Later films had Godzilla reprsenting the “inevitable” nuclear war between the US & USSR.
The creature has also been a metaphor for the threat of global pollution, & just a fun flick for the kiddies.
And so they just kept making them, up to the 90’s? Kind of like Hollywood, Japan’s equivalent knows people will shell out the cash to see them, so they keep making them?
Does that also explain Mothra, Ghidrah, Gamera, and all the others whose names escape me?
I think the nuclear paralells are simplifying things a little. Certainly that is an element of Kaiju movies, but it goes deeper than that. My guess is that living in an island nation would cause a people to have more of a sense of awe at natural disaster- Those of us Americans who live in tornado alley know what I’m talking about.
My guess is that being bombed made big monsters hit a psychic nerve, but that there was something there to begin with which explains why they are still around. In the cold war era every country made big monster type movies- the Japanese are still at it, but in a lot of Kaiju films the monster is presented as being more of a force of nature than a man-made atomic monster.
Yep. You gotta remember, though, that despite the contradictory messages and silly special effects and goofy plots, Godzilla is revered by the Japanese as a national icon. Dismissing Godzilla as just a rubber-suit monster movie in Japan is like dismissing Superman as an adolescent power-fantasy in the United States.
Words cannot begin to describe how totally pissed off the Japanese were when they saw Devlin and Emerich’s emasculated Godzilla remake – the horrific reviews that movie got in the U.S. were nothing but love letters by comparison. The mess of the Sony movie was what prompted Toho to re-launch the Japanese Godzilla movie franchise, and the latest American release (Godzilla 2000) is a thinly-disguised slam on Devlin and Emerich’s movie career (most notably ID4 and Godzilla).
Wanna-be copycats. 
Gamera is IIRC the closest to come to Godzilla’s popularity.
I recently watched Godzilla (1998-- Matthew Broderick & Jean Reno) & thought it was about 9/11.