Why Godzilla Endures

Above, the Godzilla statue in Hibiya, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Over the years, much has been written about Godzilla, the original movie and the character itself.

Now that Godzilla is getting a major Hollywood reboot, the news media is taking another look at Godzilla and why the character (as well as the original 1954 classic) endured for nearly sixty years.

Boston's WBUR 90.9 news station has an article on the endurance of Godzilla.

The article begins with:

There have been hundreds of monster movies over the years, but only a handful of enduringly great movie monsters. Of those, only two were created for the screen: King Kong, the giant ape atop the Empire State Building, and his Japanese heir, Godzilla, the city-flattening sea monster who's a genuinely terrific pop icon. He not only stars in movies — Hollywood is bringing out a new Godzilla on May 16 — but he's even played basketball with Charles Barkley in a commercial for Nike. 

It's been six decades since Godzilla first hit the screen, and to celebrate the big guy's birthday, Rialto Pictures is releasing Ishiro Honda's 1954 original — in a restored, 60th-anniversary edition — in theaters. I've seen Godzilla many times since I was a kid, but watching it again, I was struck that it might be the best single film about the terrors of the nuclear age.

The article then goes on to discuss why Godzilla still resonates with the public, spanning several generations of movie fans.

That said, Godzilla's real strength lies not in its effects — impressive for the time — but in its underlying emotional and cultural seriousness. It's not simply that the music is often doleful rather than exciting or that we see doomed children set off Geiger counters. The movie has a gravity that comes from being created in a Japan that knew what it was to have children die from radiation poisoning and to see its capital city in flames. Both drawn to and terrified of the monster's power, the movie is steeped in Japan's traumatic historical experience. It has weight. It means something. 

It is pleasing to see Godzilla getting his due with the appreciative articles such as this that are popping up in advance of the May 16 opening of Godzilla by Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. (unfortunately, the photo that accompanies the article is from 1964's Mothra vs. Godzilla, not the original 1954 movie as stated). It has been a long time in coming.

To read more, go here.