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Christina Galstjan

Mr. Beadle

English 115

7 December 2017

Same Old Zilla

The monster from the original movie Gojira has not changed when it appears in the

newest version of the film Shin Godzilla. Based on watching both movies, the monsters were

constructed the same way, destroy everything in their path, and still manage to bring people

together to stop destruction. The co-directors of Shin Godzilla, Hideaki Anno and Shinji

Higuchi made the artistic choice to embellish the monster with the same physicality and

mentality as the original monster to keep the same message about society. Although the 2016

monster is given one difference of evolving to become its final of stage to look like the

original monster, it eventually transforms and the audience can recognize the similarity. In the

case where the monsters from both the 1954 film Gojira and the 2016 version Shin Godzilla

were to be compared, Godzilla remains the same and the truths about society rise to the

surface such as irresponsibility, lack of good judgment, and fearing the disability of being

powerless.

The radioactivity that we produce in this world created the monster Godzilla, whom we

fear, yet we hypocritically use ordinary objects that are almost as radioactive as Godzilla,

making us irresponsible of our own actions. According to both movies, the monster is created

the same way because they are both radioactive powerhouses that feed off of all things

radioactive as they cause demolition. In the original film, Godzilla was a product of a nuclear

bomb testing while in the modern version he was a result of nuclear waste; both are creations
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that were caused by humans. A reporter named Yuri Kageyama stated that the monster

symbolized the tragedy of nuclear power and, through it, the ability of humankind to destroy

itself (4). Even though this world has been surrounded by a massive amount of radioactivity,

which we provide it with, we are also fearful of it. This displays that society cannot handle

their own creations, making us irresponsible because we know the consequences of

radioactivity, such as illnesses like cancer. Yet just like in the film, we still use everyday

things, such as computers or cellphones that hold a great amount of radioactivity.

Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, co-directors of Shin Godzilla, used the same scream for

the modern day monster just like the one Ishiro Honda used for his monster in the 1954 film

Gojira. According to Kageyama he claimed, That same eerie screech, created by scratching

contrabass strings, is heard (4). Society can obviously notice that the monster has a cry that

is like no other animal in this world, which makes it an outlier and something to be feared.

The irony here is that society can recognize a monster when we notice something different

about it, but we are blind to the real monsters in our lives such as the radioactivity given off

when we use a simple microwave. When the people hear Godzillas scream, their minds go

straight to thinking that it is a monster because it is alien to them, proving that they lack

awareness towards the things that they should actually be calling monsters; radioactive

cellphones, computers, microwaves, etc. This demonstrates that people are unaware of the

monsters that take part in our everyday lives because society only places the title monster

when something is foreign to us; making us lack good judgment.

We come to find out that in both movies, the people use whatever machinery or military

force they have on the monster, yet it is not affected by its power. This reveals that Godzilla

has not changed from the older to the newer version of the film because it displays its
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durability. Kageyama also points out that Godzilla is the nightmare that reflects our deepest

fears (4). The people do not just fear that the monster is indestructible but we, as humans fear

lack of control. This reveals that society is so used to having control over everything ranging

from putting wild animals in a zoo to putting rules on the road. If we have no control over

something, it demonstrates that we cannot protect the world, which brings out the real reason

why we fear lacking control: feeling powerless. In the movie, the audience can see that when

the bullets hit the monster, the monster does not feel a thing and the audience can tell because

the monster barely flinches. The soldiers shooting have no control over whether or not the

bullet affects the monster, they just use their skills as precisely as they can. Throughout both

films, no matter what they used whenever they dealt with their accustomed military forces,

the people felt powerless afterwards because they could not protect their own civilians at

hand.

Granted the new Godzilla had modern features that made him a little different from the

old Godzilla only because the 1954 Godzilla was made at an era where films were just

starting to be made. With the technology of special effects, the modern Godzilla went through

3 different stages to get to its final stage where it looked like the outline of the original

Godzilla. Kageyama reminds us that Godzilla at first looks like a snake or an eel slithering

through the cityscape (Kageyama). Through half of the 2016 film, Godzilla looks nothing

like the original monster, making one think that the monsters in both films are not the same

monster.

However, eventually in the 2016 film, the monster finalized its form as the 1954 monster,

and the important part was that it got there since it illustrates a similar physicality. The 4th

form of Shin Godzilla & the form of the original Godzilla are the exact same figures. Based
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on a film review by Ali Shuger, Godzillas fourth formthe form in which Godzilla appears

for most of the movieis highly reminiscent of ShodaiGoji, the suit design used in the

original 1954 film (1). The audience sees that the Godzilla in the 2016 film transforms and

can recognize the original and well-known form of the monster, making the monsters in both

films the same monster.

The motive of the monster remained the same throughout both movies. The monster

ravaged through most of Japan, damaging homes, playgrounds and even significant

landmarks, which had every citizen screaming for their lives. According to Kageyama, if you

pay close attention to both movies, you can see that the new Godzilla smashes the same

landmarks as all the other Godzillas, such as Tokyo Station, the parliament building, and the

Wako department store with the clock tower (4). When both monsters pillage through the

same landmarks, it tells us that they had the same mind set to go to each spot and wreck it,

signifying that the 2016 monster has not changed since the 1954 monster. The people see that

it is wrecking important landmarks, but instead of figuring out why the monster is gravitating

towards those places, we just try to find a way to hold it off from creating the damage with

military might (4). This signifies that society lacks good judgment because if there were to

be a situation like this in reality, people would only look for a short-term solution rather than

finding the core of the problem.

The significance of both monsters from the new and old film is that it shines light to how

the same old monster brought to todays world would form a different scenario. In the original

film, the citizens relied on one scientist to put a stop to this monster, but if this monster were

to appear now, countries would come together to form a plan. Shuger explains that Although

Shin Godzilla draws much from its forebears, it offers a poignant commentary on how
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todays world would react to such a sudden and unexpected issue. Confusion and frustration

abound, and tensions between countries rise exponentially (1). In both movies, Godzilla was

a common enemy to not just the people of Japan but to everyone else in the world, so that

forced not only the scientist & government from the 1954 movie to join forces but also Japan

& the U.S. from the 2016 to work together. This reveals that it has to take a common enemy

in order to work opposing forces. We teach our children to hate the enemy, in other words the

stranger, and yet we join with an enemy to destroy another one just like how Japan receives

help from the U.S. and how the Japanese government receives help from the scientist. Society

has become hypocritical in a sense where we would voice an opinion and yet deliver an action

that counters our own beliefs.

In the films of both Gojira in 1954 and Shin Godzilla in 2016, both monsters are made to

resemble one another and shine light to how society would handle such a monster if brought

into living reality. We see that the monster creates demolition and yet we simply try to stop it

for short time instead of figuring out the real reason it is causing destruction. We place a

foreign label on it because we think it is dangerous instead of putting foreign labels on

everyday items that are just as radioactive and while being aware that they are radioactive.

We teach kids as the social norm to be afraid of the foreigner or stranger and yet, we join

forces with the foreigner or stranger to repudiate a common enemy. Society has always been

hypocritical because by placing an original monster in a modern day era, the people react the

same way.
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Works Cited

Anno, Hideaki and Higuchi, Shinji. Shin Godzilla. Toho, 2016.

Kageyama, Yuri. Godzilla Comes Back to Japan, in Ways Fresh and Familiar. Asian

Reporter, 2016, pp. 2,4.

Shuger, Ali. Film Review: &Quot;Shin Godzilla&Quot; UWIRE Text, 2017, p. 1.

Honda Ishiro. Gojira. Toho, 1954.