Godzilla: More than a Monster

We just finished our Kaiju Eiga month on Let's Talk Movies and it's got me thinking about what is the allure of the Godzilla franchise? Twenty-eight films so far and rumors are swirling that a Godzilla movie will be coming out around the time of the 60th anniversary. Godzilla represents our inner desire for destruction and to break free of the constraints of an industrialized world. Remember when the Independence Day movie trailer was shown and people clapped when the White House was blown up? Or the scene in Cloverfield where the Statue of Liberty's head rolls down the street? Godzilla is the ultimate bad ass! He is unstoppable and like a hurricane he blows in, destroys, and the world is left to rebuild till he comes again. In some ways Godzilla is representative of our rebellious streak. He is able to get away with what we could only dream of. If you shoot at him or get in his way he will shoot his atomic ray at you.

Godzilla has evolved to mean so many things to different people over time. The orginal movie Gojira from 1954 featured Godzilla as a representation of the atomic bomb. We create monsters and they will soon come back and destroy us. In the earlier films he is a villian, something that needs to be stopped. Inevitably he has managed to be resurrected over and over. The 60's and 70's movie portrayed him in a more comical and humane way. He became a father to Minilla--providing lessons on how to be a good monster. I was particularly struck by the films of the 90's. The films moved away from the atomic bomb to the effects of pollution. Leading to monsters like smog monster and biollante. There are deeper emotions in that the humans are conflicted on how to handle Godzilla. Should he be destroyed using whatever weapons necessary? Is he a creature who deserves to live and breath like any other animal? The films don't answer these questions, but allow each individual viewer to come to their own conclusion.

The films we talked about for the month of February are modern day representations of Kaiju eiga and owe their influences to Godzilla. Like Godzilla, The Host's monster is a mutation. He is a result of formalydehyde being tossed down the drain and ending up in the river. While the creature does not destroy buildings he does take away human life. The Bunraki (the bad dragon)of Dragon Wars calls upon his army to destroy Los Angeles as he hunts for the girl whose soul he needs to capture. Buildings are scraped, cars overturn, and helicopters are damaged along the way. While the monster of Cloverfield does not have an origin story he's just as destructive.

Godzilla stands apart from these other monsters, because he is not a one dimensional destroying machine. His emotions range from being angry, happy, mournful and comical. He also has a sense of consciousness. He knows when people are trying to help him. For example in Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla the recognition that passes between him and the psychic girl. She removes the device that allowed her to control him telepathically. He turns they make eye contact, we do not need words to know there is some appreciation there. He knows who the bad guys are. Remember the businessman who kept trying to shoot/bomb the hell out of Godzilla in the 2000 movie? Perhaps that is why I have a hard time rooting against him--he's more than a monster. Long live the King of all Monsters!