When I first heard that we would be watching Godzilla I thought to myself “what does this have to do with the cold war?” After watching the film and reading the material, the symbolism could not be more obvious. Once I got past the cheesy narration in the American remake, I saw the monster as a direct symbol of the bomb itself and perhaps a symbol of the American government as well. Here is this huge terrorist monster destroying the cities of Japan, much like the American government did with the atomic bomb.
One concept that I epically want to bring up is the idea of Godzilla having the capacity to symbolize many different aspects of the cold war. Could the monster alternate identities? One identity of the monster is that of the atomic bomb, while another could be said to be our government. What I’m wondering is if this movie and the monster itself could stand for war in general. A being manifested by chemicals and underground testing, terrorizing the world, destroying cities, and only destroyed through more chemicals and bombs. When thinking about the wars going on all over the world, couldn’t it be said that one of the parties could be playing the “Godzilla role”? May be I’m going way of tangent, but this film just made me think of the other possibilities this monster could represent for our society and the world in general. What are your thoughts?
I also found the differences between the original Japanese film and the American remake to be quite laughable. After watching the original, I almost felt like the American adaptation was mocking what the Japanese film makers were trying to portray. The addition of American dubbed accents and the removal of other key scenes seemed to me like a way to make the film more “American friendly”. The reading explained “the united states release of Godzilla shows two approaches to the radioactive monster (projection and transference) in high-relief… Included in the cuts were direct references to Hiroshima”. I’m wondering what the reason for the cuts were. Did they simply not want the American people to here direct references to the destruction in Japan? If that’s the case, then why even remake the movie when the film itself is a huge symbol for the atomic bomb and its destruction? Why do you think the film chose to cut out these scenes, but to still remake and release the film?
Overall, I really loved the general idea of the film. While the acting might not have been up to par, the idea of this monster being generated and destroyed by our atomic decisions seems quite poetic and very relevant to the cold war. Additionally, the reading helped to reinforce my feelings about what the monster symbolized, in addition to giving an insight into other monster films during that era and the motive behind them. I’m really interested in hearing your thoughts and opinions of the film and whether or not you feel like general views would see it as entertainment or a symbolic representation of the effects of war.
