I are Gozilla, you are Japan.

Right, erm I have commented on the blog my hypotheses as requested and was going to initially wait for it to be published or ok'd in some way. But no activity on the school blog or any one elses blog I figure I will have to wait a fair bit for that.

But I assume its a fine hypotheses as I had talked it over and over with Mr White (=[) and Ms Ward and they were happy with it, plus I do not want to put this off any longer. So I figured I may as well start, going to have to some time.

So I am going to with my research into my first film: Godzilla. Dir - Inoshiro Honda

When I say Godzilla most people immediately picture a gargantuan lizard tearing through Tokyo (Or America depending on how clued up you are, but more on that later) like a chainsaw through butter. People do not typically think of a political film that has impacted the world of cinema almost like no other in certain genres.

'Nooo way' you say at that second statement, well as my hypothesis is on the impact of Asian films on world cinema, in my research I found that Godzilla was one of the most impacting.

Let us start with the story. Godzilla was released in Japan in 1954, 9 years after the first atomic bomb was released and the story tells of nuclear testing that awakens a slumbering Jurassic age reptile by the name of Godzilla. The following of the film consists of Japan deciding what to do with this new menace of massive proportions whilst Godzilla pops up and wreaks havoc on the mainland and islands off of it. All matter of military force is used to stop the monster from bullets to missiles to electrical fences but obviously none of it has any effect and Godzilla's path of destruction lengthens with each failed attempt. How ever a secret scientific prototype weapon developed by a lonesome scientist known as the 'Oxygen Destroyer' seems to be their only hope. How ever not only would it destroy the monster but all other life within Tokyo-Bay.

That is the jist of the story, an even shorter version would be 'a monster fucks shit up'. But I don't think the examiners would appreciate that. Now, the fact that this film was released almost a decade after the first Atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima in JAPAN is no coincidence and as it was released at a time when science fiction films were used as a covert way to shoe horn political and social commentary into films with out offending people. Godzilla could be said to be the epitome of this as it is a metaphor for the nuclear age, which is one of the reasons why this film has gathered such fame and had such an impact on world cinema as behind the rubbery costume of Godzilla lies a cleverly crafted critique of modern science, war and its effect on post-war Japan. Not only was it a metaphor for the atomic bomb and Hiroshima but also of another tragic Japanese incident 5 years before involving the boat 'Lucky Dragon 5', which was aJapanese tuna fishing boat which was exposed and contaminated to American nuclear fall out, this is notable and obvious during the films opening as a fishing boat is destroyed by Godzilla's radioactive breath and a life preserver in the background of the wreckage has the number '5' on it.

The reason Godzilla acted as an allegory for the nuclear age was due to the state of the global post-war environment where opinions had to be hidden or not said at all, as to not upset the delicate status quo of the times that had been achieved at the end of WW2. Although Japan was seen as the victim to American aggression for Japan to openly criticise it was still unacceptable, so they did the next best thing and made a film about a Jurassic monster to voice their opinions.

Regardless of the some what controversial nature of the film at the times upon its first release it sold 9,610,000 tickets and was the eight most attended film of that year. It grossed approximately 152 million Yen ($2.25 million dollars). Also critics at first were dubious about the film and saw it as a mockery of the nuclear age but as time went on the film slowly gained more and more respected in its home country and is considered to be second only to another holy iconic Japanese film, Seven Samurai (more on that in due course).

The popularity of Godzilla had such an impact in world cinema that it prompted a joint American and Japanese release of Godzilla: King of Monsters in 1956 that was released a year after Godzilla's initial release in America and it consisted of original Godzilla footage with an American character in the mix of it as a reporter, reporting (duh) on the arrival of Godzilla. This change was to make American actors identify more with the film and it was thought that the original was still too anti-American due to the storyline which heavily focused on nuclear activities and its release to a mass American audience could have been damaging to the relations between the countries. How ever this was not the only spin off...

There are numerous amounts of scenes in Godzilla, not only the first one which sees the destruction of the fisherman ships, this also holds implicit meanings as Godzilla, the walking metaphor for the bomb is first spotted in the sea by Japanese fishermen. Other less monster-esque scenes that hold numerous implicit alter meanings are when the citizens of Japan are demanding information about the deaths by Godzilla from the government but are given the littlest information possible, also when Professor Yamane gives his hypothesis that Godzilla was awakened by nuclear testing he is told he cannot let the public know, this sparks a debate on the panels. This reflects how the government were about the Hiroshima incident and the war in general by not reporting losses to the people to maintain the illusion of victory. Information was leaked as the government saw fit, alluding to the idea that the government knew more than than they let on about America's plans to bomb them. A monstrous government?

Godzilla's carnage is also vital as he is often seen destroying roads, electrical towers, roads, bridges, hospitals, malls and cars, which are all signs of modernity and represent the nuclear bomb wiping out all signs of life in Japan. The fact that the film is shot in black and white is also noteworthy as it was intended to increase the audiences tension and represent the starkness, also Godzilla's roar was akin to the sound that accompanies the dropping of a bomb.

The 'oxygen destroyer' is noted by its inventor as a terrible invention that claims its destruction could be worse than that of the atomic bomb. This is a scene put in by Honda to give a face to the faceless by using the film Honda questions whether the inventors of the A-Bomb knew of its destructive capabilities. In doing this Honda confronts and questions complex ethical and moral questions.

Nom nom nom.

So there you have it, the low down on Godzilla and all the reasons as to why it had such a huge impact on cinema of Japan AND the world. But it also had a large influence on the science fiction genre and created a genre in itself, the monster movie genre (still popular today, a la, Cloverfield). Godzilla used state of the art special effects in order to do this and the success of the film allowed other films to take its concept and run with it. It also spawned many, MANY sequels;

• Godzilla (1954)

• Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)

• Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)

• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)

• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

• Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966)

• Son of Godzilla (1967)

• Destroy All Monsters (1968)

• All Monsters Attack (1969)

• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

• Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)

• Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973)

• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

• Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)

• The Return of Godzilla (1984)

• Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989)

• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

• Godzilla (1998)

• Godzilla 2000 (1999)

• Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)

• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001)

• Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

• Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003)

• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

If you beat the dead horse enough it'll still let out whimpers of life, above is the evidence of this.

Godzilla luha- Godzilla goes to Hawaii

The one most people are familiar with is the big budget American remake in 1998. How ever this lacked positive reviews from critics and fans alike.

But this all sparked from the original. A small cult film that is still not really that heard of by wide audiences of today (people often mistake it one of its many, manyyyy sequels) and in popular culture it is often seen as a joke due to those sequels, but Godzilla stands as one of the most iconic figures in film of all time. Also as it pretty much spawned a genre on its own show the impact that this film has had on world cinema, he even has a star on the walk of fame. The use of a Jurassic creature as a metaphor for the dawn of a nuclear age and for the future is rather bizarre and quite ironic and even in a sense comical, if it were not based on a disturbing reality.

- Alex x