With Shin Godzilla, or Godzilla: Resurgence, a new breed of Godzilla takes shape.
By John Pilchard // For a closer look at the evolution of the legendary Godzilla in Shin Godzilla, read more below.
I think, I don’t know, that for the most part people enjoy movies because they serve as a perfect window in to a time period they may have never known or been able to experience. The name Peter Fonda might mean more to your parents than it does to you. There are beloved movies that capture the voices of generations, and to a lesser extent there are influential series of movies that span across several generations.
Some movies have quotes that define them, but to a lesser extent some movies only need a single word. Godzilla. There have been a total of 31 Godzilla movies so far, each with their ups and downs, and an occasional wacky villain. In 2016, Shin Godzilla was released and it became an entirely new film that redefines the way we think about the classic movie monster.
The beast has been awoken again in Japan.
August 6th, 1945
One of the largest issues facing the world today is nuclear armament, and those who have them, and what is to be done with the weapons themselves. This has been an issue since the advent of nuclear bombs in 1945. Unfortunately, the preface to these kinds of conversations always refers to the “actual” testing grounds, which were two civilian populaces in Japan. It’s hardly coincidence that less than 10 years later, a film came out about a gigantic, radio-active monster that attempts to destroy a key, highly populated city in Japan.
You see, the monster was just sleeping until a hydrogen bomb woke him up. Then Japan fell in love with Godzilla, and so did the rest of the world. As time progressed, generations forgot about the historical significance of Godzilla and embraced him as something new. The anti-hero shifted into the hero. No longer did he destroy cities, now he destroyed foreign monsters that threatened humanity.
The years went by and the monster kept evolving. Godzilla would go on to fight some pretty fantastical beasts, but his greatest adversary will remain as humanity itself. Humanity, and King Ghidorah. But after over 60 years that premise was doomed to collapse in on itself, and three Japanese reboots, and two American sort of prove that.
Shin Godzilla however, takes the franchise back to its roots by adding new features that do not alienate core fans.
The over arching theme throughout Shin Godzilla is the same as its 1954 counterpart. It’s about nuclear weapons and the dangers of radioactivity. The United States plays a large role in this 2016 iteration of Godzilla, a role that is anything but sheer coincidence.
Evolution
As the kaiju evolves into its final form, an issue arises that no coalition could have imagined. This Godzilla has the ability to adapt rapidly to its environment. Its evolution is no longer a matter of millennia but measly days. Once it reaches its latest form, Japan and the rest of the world worry that it could eventually sprout wings and travel from one continent to the next. When the idea of Godzilla becoming an aerial threat is mention, the United States starts to worry. It’s one issue to have a giant beast wiping out a large city in a far away land, but then it truly turns to conflict when that same beasts shows interest in your home land.
For the third time in world history, America offers to send B-52’s over Japan to drop bombs on Godzilla in the hopes of killing him and ending any future conflict. After this attack, the true power of Godzilla is unleashed. The bombs dropped by Americans power up the giant, causing him to release purple radioactive laser beams from not only his mouth and tail, but from each one of his dorsal fins. This sharp grid of lasers cuts down each one of the B-52’s. The American air forces only strengthened the horrifying kaiju.
After the failure of this bombing run, America moves first again. The United Nations, at the suggestion of the United States, offers Japan a two-week window before they move on to the use of Nuclear weapons. This is when Shin Godzilla feels different than the rest. This is where emotion removed from the kaiju starts to matter. Japan is now facing a battle on two fronts. First, they have a monster on it’s way to destroy it’s capital. Then they have the world breathing down their necks, waiting to destroy Godzilla, with Tokyo as nothing more than collateral damage.
As a historical footnote, I believe it’s worth mentioning that before the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan, firebombs were dropped on Tokyo for weeks in hopes of ending the war. There is a shot in Shin Godzilla were Godzilla stands amongst the flames of the burning Tokyo he created.
Japan will not stand for nuclear action again. The heart of the film emerges when all of Japans political units work in tandem to come up with an idea to defeat Godzilla against the clock that will wind down to a third nuclear strike. After a few days, the idea merges to freeze Godzilla from within. There is some science involved, but who has really paid attention to science in a Godzilla movie?
In the third act, the Japanese are able to successfully freeze Godzilla in his place. The government was able to work in unison to stop the Kaiju from destroying Tokyo, and Japan was spared a third nuclear attack. Japan needs Godzilla just like Batman needs the Joker. When a country bands together to defeat a foreign force (that’s not another country), ingenuity thrives.
Godzilla: Resilience
Shin Godzilla brings something new and refreshing to the over 60 year old franchise. The longevity and historical significance of Godzilla are apparent, because the monster has had to change over the years, but not by much.
It’s obvious that Godzilla is a metaphor for nuclear weapons and the dangers of radiation and how that force has affected Japan. In 2011 a tsunami initiated the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which reignited the nuclear fear. In 2016 an earthquake triggered another tsunami, which caused widespread panic of another Fukushima plant meltdown.
Japan is still working, refusing to give up. Godzilla Resurgence, or, Shin Godzilla stands for the resilience of the Japanese people. New and familiar threats will arise, and when they do, the people will band together, under intense scrutiny and time parameters, and defeat the ever evolving kaiju.