top of page
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956)
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Text
It was only a matter of time before Gojira would be brought to America. In 1956, distributor Embassy Pictures would heavily alter the content of the film. This new film titled Godzilla: King of the Monsters would fall more in line with genre conventions and explores America’s relationship with atomic bombs. Gojira was distributed by Embassy Pictures who would heavily alter the content of the film. The newly retitled film Godzilla: King of the Monsters presents a unique opportunity for transnational analysis. Where the original film was a symptomatic text that served as a response to events that happened to Japan, the American re-edit reworks the core of the film to reflect America’s own relationship with atomic weapons and energy. The original Gojira was largely influenced by the American monster movie genre, however, the film combined the Japanese filmmaker’s own experiences to create a film that was a social commentary. When America re-edited the film, audiences were already familiar with the formula of these movies Christina Klein argues that Hollywood genre films “have driven global cinematic flows. Their formulaic nature makes them easy to export, requiring of viewers no deep familiarity with a foreign culture but only the more easily acquired mastery of a set of generic conventions” (873). Gojira would reverse the positions of importer and exporter.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): About
The first character that would be reworked would be Professor Yamane, going from a scientist that wanted to study Godzilla, and thus, implying a pathway to coexistence with the creature, to a simple exposition character. Following Sontag’s formula, Yamane would explain details to not only the protagonist, Martin, but also the new American audience. Despite his findings, Godzilla poses a nuclear threat that causes destruction that is underestimated by government officials. What is missing in the American re-edit is the social context of Yamane’s findings. Where in the original the politicians’ dispute reflected the changing political landscape of Japan, the American re-edit simply jumps to the heated exchange and instead shows the politicians already at each other’s throats. Yamane’s philosophical differences with Ogata of keeping Godzilla alive are also reduced as those scenes contained metaphorical conversations of whether to coexist with nuclear weapons or stop more nuclear catastrophes from happening. The end of the film captures the fundamental difference as his change in philosophy and moral plight for humanity to stop using atomic testing was replaced with Martin’s narration that the threat was successfully defeated.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Team Members
Dr. Serizawa would be the next character to be reworked, becoming a martyr scientist rather than the tortured scientist worried about using his weapon. The change is first seen as the new American character and Serizawa were college friends, eliminating the brief dialogue connecting Serizawa to Germany during World War II. Serizawa is still hesitant about using the Oxygen Destroyer; however, he is now characterized in a much different light. In the original, Serizawa and Ogata have a lengthy conversation about not only using the Oxygen Destroyer but also the implications of using this new and untested weapon. Falling in line with Sontag’s layout, Serizawa becomes somewhat of a martyr scientist character who will meet his end because he pushed things too far, using his weapon against the greater threat as his redeeming act.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Team Members
One of the reasons why Embassy would rework the film was in part due to the genre already dominating in America. Godzilla, like so many of its genre counterparts, would be labeled as a B-film and American audiences treated it as such. Amanda Ann Klein notes that labeling a movie as a B-film meant that they were cheap and quick to make and exist as a secondary class; “the ‘B’ label has often been used to imply minor pictures or simply poor film making, anything tacky or produced on a low budget” (90). Despite their reputation, B-films were able to generate profits and engage audiences. These films ran on a formula where screenwriters would recycle dialogue, actors would know their character roles, and set designers would recycle sets and soundstages. Gojira was different in this regard as many of the sets had to be constructed from scratch and rebuilt after takes. The construction of the Godzilla suit was difficult as resources were scarce to make the rubber latex suit. For Japanese standards, this was new and uncharted territory that the film industry was entering. However, for American audiences, a man in a rubber suit destroying a miniature set was very much a B-film.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Text
Gojira was the first monster film that delved into a post-war Japan with atomic testing that continued in the Pacific. In this regard, Gojira is also a disaster film. Anxieties of nuclear destruction were real for a nation that experienced it first-hand. America did not have the same relationship with atomic weapons or testing. Pictures and newsreels showing the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did circulate in America, as did news reports of radiation sickness, fueling a pre-existing fear concerning the condition (Stevens 25-26). The release of journalist John Hersey’s Hiroshima would display the effects of the bombings by collecting stories from survivors as it described the horrifying aftermath of the atomic device, (Stevens 29). Some at the time would criticize Hersey`s book for being too emotionally removed from the situation (Stevens 29). The Bikini Atoll nuclear test brought fear and anxiety of nuclear destruction to Japan with the Lucky Dragon accident. When the United States accepted blame for a crew member’s death and paid his widow less than $4,000, “for the first time in nearly a decade, the condition of the survivors of Hiroshima became a national preoccupation. The protests quickly became international” (Noriega 65-66). American monster movies reflected these anxieties with the monster representing these fears. However, the solution presented in these films to defeat these creatures that represented atomic bombs was to use more atomic bombs.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Bio
The fundamental difference between Gojira and Godzilla was each country’s relation to nuclear weapons. Where Gojira warned of continued atomic testing, Godzilla followed its contemporaries. The film was much more concerned about the spectacle of destruction and relieving anxieties. Cut were the scenes that situated the film as a response to not only Hiroshima and Nagasaki such as those of train passengers talking with each other about their dread of having to evacuate or seek shelter in case of Godzilla coming to shore. The scene where a mother clutches her children telling them they were joining their father soon was left without subtitles so anyone that did not understand the language lost its historical significance. Japanese audiences did empathize with the characters in Gojira; however, Godzilla became more generic. Ann Klein states, “glance genres do not require the same degree of emotional investment in order to fulfill their generic purposes. Viewers can be distracted, skimming over the surface of the text without becoming too attached to characters and their problems” (86). The greatest departure the American Godzilla would have from its Japanese predecessor would be Godzilla himself.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Bio
In the original Japanese cut, Godzilla represents two ideologies, rampage of nuclear weapons and a victim of said weapons. This positions Godzilla in a unique position that differentiates him from other giant mutants. His scarring is similar to hibakushas, victims of atomic bombings (Miyamoto 1091). His attacks on Japan are in retaliation towards humanity, resembling more of an intelligent creature than an animalistic beast. These characteristics make him similar to monsters not from the 1950s, such as the ants from Them! or the Rhedosaurus from The Beast of 20,000 Phantoms. Godzilla also has characteristics of monsters from the 1930s such as Frankenstein’s monster, making Godzilla the Other. The Other usually refers to groups of people that are marginalized by a dominant group because of sexual identity, gender, class, race, and much more. Godzilla’s physical resemblance to hibakushas categorizes him as the Other as hibakushas were discriminated as Yuki Miyamoto states due to the lack of information, “hibakusha’s conditions being contagious or hereditary carried over into discrimination” (1095). Godzilla represented not only the fear of uncontrollable nuclear bombs, but also a creature displaying the horrifying effects of such weapons.
Displaying these horrifying effects of nuclear weapons is another key difference between the American and Japanese versions of the film by characterizing Godzilla as the Self in the Other. Nancy Anisfield explains, “‘Japanese thought seeks to maintain both Self and Other within the culture by immersing the Self in the Other’ (Noriega 68). In the Godzilla movies, the positioning of the monster “Other” differentiates the Japanese films from their American releases” (53). Godzilla is not an obstacle that the protagonists have to defeat for the survival of humankind. Godzilla is a force that comes to exist because of human actions that now has to coexist with them. In American monster films, the creatures are horrors and terrors brought about because of the bomb and are beaten by it. The creatures are not just the Other but also serve to shift American scientific irresponsibility onto the monster. As for the American cast, they are “freed from implication in the monster’s threat, can now use nuclear or other force to destroy it” (Noriega 67). Godzilla: King of the Monsters tries to do this same as well with the use of the Oxygen Destroyer.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Features
Displaying these horrifying effects of nuclear weapons is another key difference between the American and Japanese versions of the film by characterizing Godzilla as the Self in the Other. Nancy Anisfield explains, “‘Japanese thought seeks to maintain both Self and Other within the culture by immersing the Self in the Other’ (Noriega 68). In the Godzilla movies, the positioning of the monster “Other” differentiates the Japanese films from their American releases” (53). Godzilla is not an obstacle that the protagonists have to defeat for the survival of humankind. Godzilla is a force that comes to exist because of human actions that now has to coexist with them. In American monster films, the creatures are horrors and terrors brought about because of the bomb and are beaten by it. The creatures are not just the Other but also serve to shift American scientific irresponsibility onto the monster. As for the American cast, they are “freed from implication in the monster’s threat, can now use nuclear or other force to destroy it” (Noriega 67). Godzilla: King of the Monsters tries to do this same as well with the use of the Oxygen Destroyer.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Text
Sources
Anisfield, Nancy. "Godzilla/Gojiro: Evolution of the Nuclear Metaphor." Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 29, no. 3, 1995, pp. 53. ProQuest, http://libproxy.utdallas.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.utdallas.edu/scholarly-journals/godzilla-gojiro-evolution-nuclear-metaphor/docview/1297352811/se-2?accountid=7120
Klein, Amanda Ann. American Film Cycles : Reframing Genres, Screening Social Problems, and Defining Subcultures, University of Texas Press, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/utd/detail.action?docID=3443575.
Klein, Christina. “Why American Studies Needs to Think About Korean Cinema, or, Transnational Genres in the Films of Bong Joon-Ho.” American Quarterly, vol. 60, no. 4, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008, pp. 871–98, doi:10.1353/aq.0.0041.
Noriega, Chon. “Godzilla and the Japanese Nightmare: When ‘Them!’ Is U.S.” Cinema Journal, vol. 27, no. 1, University of Illinois Press, 1987, pp. 63–77, doi:10.2307/1225324.
Stevens, Shannon Victoria. “The Rhetorical Significance of “Gojira”.” Order No. 1479099 University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2010. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 30 Jan. 2021.
Miyamoto, Yuki. “Gendered Bodies in Tokusatsu: Monsters and Aliens as the Atomic Bomb Victims.” Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 49, no. 5, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2016, pp. 1086–106, https://doi.org/10.1111/jpcu.12467.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters (1956): Text
bottom of page