The Good, the Bad, the Godzilla
The 1954 film, “Godzilla” is a Japanese monster movie that captures the contradictory nature of science and technology, particularly within the context of post-war Japan and the broader Cold War anxieties. To understand Godzilla’s significance as an influential film during this period, it is important to explore the much deeper context of its origins and how its reinterpretation enforced the fears of a much larger impressionable American audience. The film not only captured the anxieties of post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan but also served to highlight the universal contradiction of nuclear technology’s potential, illustrating the moral dilemmas and ethical responsibilities that accompany scientific advancement. With this in mind, we start to ask ourselves, how does Godzilla portray the ethical dilemmas that scientists face when their discoveries can lead to both salvation and destruction? In what ways does the film reflect the societal views on technology and science in the 1950s? And lastly, how do the movie’s themes resonate with the much larger global audience in a time when nuclear tensions were high? This paper will explore Godzilla as a film that dramatized the catastrophic consequences of nuclear misuse, and how these ideas amplified global anxieties during the Cold War era.
Godzilla emerged as a film that fueled global concerns about nuclear warfare, embodying the catastrophic consequences of atomic energy misuse through its portrayal of a colossal, radiated monster. The film introduces Godzilla, a gigantic prehistoric creature awakened and mutated by nuclear radiation. As Godzilla emerges from the ocean, it falls on the collective efforts of scientists and the military to stop its destructive rampage through Tokyo. The conclusion of the film results in the use of the Oxygen destroyer, a weapon that throughout the plot comes with its own moral dilemmas through its creator, Dr. Serizawa. In the film, Serizawa highlights his concern about using the Oxygen destroyer on Godzilla, “Ogata, if the Oxygen Destroyer is used even once, politicians from around the world will see it. Of course, they’ll want to use it as a weapon. Bombs vs Bombs, missiles vs. missiles, and now a new super weapon to throw upon us all. As a scientist, no as a human being, I cannot allow that to happen!” The quote underscores the tension between scientific innovation and its potential for harm. His fear that once a powerful new weapon is revealed, it will inevitably be used for military purposes, also reflects the broader concerns about the arms race during the Cold War period.
Godzilla addresses the fears of audiences on two fronts: the Japanese public after their own experience with the nuclear bomb in Hiroshima, and the American public’s ongoing fear of the cold war. Both of these contexts refer to a foreign enemy with the capability of bringing an end to civilization.
Post-war Japan experienced extensive censorship under the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, or SCAP for short, which significantly impacted how the country could publicly discuss and represent its experiences with the nuclear bomb. From 1945 to April 28, 1952, SCAP’s censorship campaign banned freedom of expression in Japan, forbidding the portrayal of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki across all media platforms. (Rhoads, 31). This suppression greatly influenced the way the public received information on the real experiences of survivors who went through the trauma of the nuclear bomb. During this period of censorship, Japan’s government also heavily invested in nuclear research. President Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program significantly promoted the peaceful utilization of nuclear technology, offering a framework that facilitated global nuclear research endeavors (Rhoads, 33). The resurgence of anti-nuclear sentiments in Japan post-occupation can be primarily attributed to the end of censorship after the United States left, and the Castle Bravo nuclear test that irradiated Lucky Dragon №5 (Rhoads, 32–33). The combination of an unrestricted press and the tangible, immediate consequences of nuclear testing reignited and intensified fears of nuclear conflict in Japan, which was only furthered upon the release of Godzilla in 1954. These ideas of Japan heavily investing in nuclear research almost immediately after experiencing the bombing firsthand play into the contradiction of the good and bad science of nuclear power.
“Godzilla,” arriving in the United States as “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” in 1956, entered during a time when the American cultural landscape was deeply marked by the potential of a Cold War and an ongoing nuclear arms race. Its influence can be analyzed through the dual lens of societal fear and the transformation of these anxieties into popular culture consumption. Upon the movie’s release in the United States, significant changes were made to the movie, including the introduction of Raymond Burr as Steve Martin into the film and the drastic enlargement of the monster from 150 feet to 400 feet in height (Shimizu 55). Additionally, scenes that reference the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were also excluded in the Americanized version of the film, including the opening scene of the fishing crew that referenced Lucky Dragon №5 (Shimizu 55). Many of these changes were meant to make the movie more palatable for American audiences and can be seen as a strategic maneuver to capitalize on the market of youth-oriented cinema. Although the adjusted film downplayed the nuclear critique to turn it into a more generic monster movie, the very existence of Godzilla as a monster born from nuclear activity served as a subtle reminder of the current arms race that the United States was having with the USSR. This idea of a “hostile outsider” was evident on both sides as a recurring fear of a foreign enemy (Shimizu 56). Thus, this approach not only reflected the economic strategies of the time but also subtly engaged with the existing Cold War anxieties, making “Godzilla” a culturally significant phenomenon in the American context.
The dual reception of “Godzilla” in Japan and the United States underscores a shared global apprehension towards the arms race and nuclear proliferation, and the contradiction between the good and bad potential of nuclear power. The good is science’s potential to turn nuclear power into a means of energy and economic advancement, and the bad is the real experiences of those who perished during the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For Japanese audiences, the film resonates deeply with the lived trauma of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, highlighting the moral dilemmas and ethical responsibilities inherent in scientific discovery. Similarly, the American reception of “Godzilla” reflects broader Cold War anxieties about nuclear conflict, albeit with a more sanitized narrative that downplays explicit references to real-world nuclear disasters. In the end, Godzilla remains a reminder of the tensions between progress and peril in the pursuit of knowledge.
