Recovering From Disasters

     The Godzilla franchise has always been one of my favorites since I was a child. The Kaiju (giant monster) genre has always managed to captivate me. I mean it has everything a young boy would want, giant monsters destroying civilizations, and butt loads of action. However, Godzilla has a much deeper meaning than that.  I was raised watching the American adaptations of Godzilla, I did not see the original Japanese Godzilla films until I was around the age of 14. 

    The American adaptations lack the key aspect that makes the original Japanese films so brilliant, they cannot relate Godzilla to a disastrous event. The original Godzilla movie, Gojira (1954), told the story of a rapidly mutating monster that gives off immense amounts of radiation. Godzilla rises from the Pacific Ocean after the testing of hydrogen bombs in the region. Godzilla wreaks havoc across the city of Tokyo destroying a lot of the city and killing many innocent civilians. Godzilla is symbolism for the nuclear holocaust. Japan being the only country who a nuclear bomb has been used against outside of testing is one of the strongest advocates against nuclear bombs. After surviving the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in 1945, an anti nuclear theme can be seen all across Japanese media. Godzilla is a monster who has consumed so much radiation that his body has started a process of rapid mutation, putting him in immense amounts of pain. This concept is built upon throughout all of the Japanese Godzilla films, and lightly built upon in the Americanized versions, however the Americanized version lack that sense of empathy their counterparts offer.

    The most recent Japanese Godzilla film, is Shin Godzilla (2016), meaning True Godzilla. It is directed by Hideaki Anno, a famous anime director known for his series Neon Genesis Evangelion, I have a blog post where I talk about how much I love this series. Shin Godzilla differs from the original Godzilla films. It was written in 2016, the Cold War and the arms race between the Soviets and Americans has been over for over 20 years. Nuclear holocaust is not as big of a threat as it once was, so the film had to adapt to its environment. Kind of like Godzilla himself.

    In 2011, Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant sustained substantial damage caused by both an earthquake and tsunami. This caused the power plant to meltdown. It was the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. Japan's recovery from Fukushima is still ongoing, and has left a severe scar in the Japanese economy. Japan's recovery efforts almost rely entirely on countries like the United States. This disaster sets the stage for Hideaki Anno's Shin Godzilla. 

    The first act of the movie acts as a political thriller, criticizing the Japanese response to the disaster, and criticizing the Japanese government for its complex bureaucracy. The movie can almost be seen as a comedy in the first act with Japanese government officials making meetings in response to Godzilla's initial landing in one room, and then moving to the next room for a meeting, and then returning to the original room for a different discussion. Mocking the bureaucracy of the Japanese government by showing the lengthy chain of command that orders need to go through for both government officials and the Japanese Self Defense Force. However, the film holds its blame, while it criticizes the way the Japanese government works, it does not place any blame on individual roles, or the government itself. As the movie progresses Anno shows that even mistakes at the national level can be overcome, and shows an optimistic view of the future in which pain and sadness can be dealt with rather than allowing it to cripple humanity. In the film, we see a Japan who is initially devastated by Godzilla, a Japan that rejects the harmful and dangerous solution put forward by the Americans, and a Japan that uses their own austerity to overcome the pain and suffering brought by Godzilla. The film does not end with a joy filled applause, it ends with a sigh of relief and silence. I think this is important in these kind of movies, surely there are people who would celebrate after overcoming such hardships, but overall I think the mood would be more mellowed and one of relief rather than joy. I also think this adaptation of Godzilla as a monster is one of the best ever done. It shows how Godzilla isn't really a monster, more so just a creature that was created by human nature, and is suffering from the effects caused by our destructive habits. Godzilla does not want to hurt anyone, however his rapidly mutating body is using its natural instincts to protect itself. 

    Shin Godzilla and the Godzilla franchise in general hold a special place in my heart and I feel they always will stick with me, as they are not something I see myself growing out of. As stated in my post about Evangelion, Hideaki Anno is by far one of my favorite directors, and I highly recommend his works to everybody, I feel like he has a very interesting view on human nature and human emotions, and he portrays them very uniquely in his films.