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Godzilla

Godzilla (Japanese: ゴジラ, Hepburn: Gojira, /ɡɒdˈzɪlə/; [ɡoꜜ(d)ʑiɾa] ) is a fictional monster, or kaiju, that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and cowritten by Ishirō Honda.[2] The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films produced by Toho Co., Ltd., five American films, and numerous video games, novels, comic books, and television shows. Godzilla has been dubbed the King of the Monsters, an epithet first used in Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), the American localization of the 1954 film.

For the film franchise, see Godzilla (franchise). For other uses, see Godzilla (disambiguation).

Godzilla

Godzilla (1954)[2]

Akira Watanabe[6]
Teizō Toshimitsu[6]

Prehistoric monster[24]

Minilla and Godzilla Junior (adopted sons)

Godzilla is a prehistoric reptilian monster, awakened and empowered after many years by nuclear radiation. With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness,[25] Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons.[26] Others have suggested that Godzilla is a metaphor for the United States, a "giant beast" woken from its "slumber" that then takes terrible vengeance on Japan.[27][28][29] As the film series expanded, some storylines took on less-serious undertones, portraying Godzilla as an antihero or as a lesser threat who defends humanity. Later films address disparate themes and commentary, including Japan's apathy, neglect, and ignorance of its imperial past,[30] natural disasters, and the human condition.[31]


Godzilla has been featured alongside many supporting characters and over the decades, has faced off against various human opponents, such as the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), in addition to other gargantuan monsters, including Gigan, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla. Godzilla has fought alongside allies such as Anguirus, Mothra, and Rodan as well as had offspring, including Godzilla Junior and Minilla. Godzilla has also battled characters and creatures from other franchises, in crossover media—such as King Kong—as well as various Marvel Comics characters, like S.H.I.E.L.D.,[32] the Fantastic Four,[33] and the Avengers.[34]

Development

Naming

Although the process of creating Godzilla's first film is comprehensively recorded, exactly how its name came to be remains unintelligible.[35] The most widely accepted report of its origin is that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka named the monster after a sturdy Toho worker Shiro Amikura, the later chief of the theater club of Toho, who was jokingly dubbed "Gujira" (グジラ) then "Gojira" (ゴジラ), a portmanteau of the Japanese words gorira (ゴリラ, "gorilla") and kujira (クジラ, "whale") due to his burly build to resemble a gorilla and his habit to favor whale meat.[36][37][38] The account has been acknowledged by Toho themselves,[36] director Ishirō Honda,[36][39] producer Tanaka,[40][39] special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya,[39] producer Ichirō Satō,[41] and production head Iwao Mori,[40] with Satō and Mori recalling that the employee was named Shirō Amikura.[41][40] However, Honda's widow Kimi dismissed the employee-name story as a tall tale in a 1998 BBC documentary on Godzilla, believing that Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya gave "considerable thought" to the name of the monster, stating, "the backstage boys at Toho loved to joke around with tall stories, but I don't believe that one".[36] Honda's longtime assistant director Kōji Kajita added: "Those of us who were closest to them don't even know how and why they came up with Gojira."[42]


Toho later translated the monster's Japanese name as "Godzilla" for overseas distribution.[43][42] The first recorded foreign usage of "Godzilla" was printed in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald on November 20, 1955.[44]


During the development of the American version of Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Godzilla's name was changed to "Gigantis" by producer Paul Schreibman, who wanted to create a character distinct from Godzilla.[45]

Characterization

Within the context of the Japanese films, Godzilla's exact origins vary, but it is generally depicted as an enormous, violent, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation.[46] Although the specific details of Godzilla's appearance have varied slightly over the years, the overall impression has remained consistent.[47] Inspired by the fictional Rhedosaurus created by animator Ray Harryhausen for the film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,[48] Godzilla's character design was conceived as that of an amphibious reptilian monster based around the loose concept of a dinosaur[49] with an erect standing posture, scaly skin, an anthropomorphic torso with muscular arms, lobed bony plates along its back and tail, and a furrowed brow.[50]


Art director Akira Watanabe combined attributes of a Tyrannosaurus, an Iguanodon, a Stegosaurus and an alligator[51] to form a sort of blended chimera, inspired by illustrations from an issue of Life magazine.[52] To emphasize the monster's relationship with the atomic bomb, its skin texture was inspired by the keloid scars seen on the survivors of Hiroshima.[53] The basic design has a reptilian visage, a robust build, an upright posture, a long tail and three rows of serrated plates along the back. In the original film, the plates were added for purely aesthetic purposes, in order to further differentiate Godzilla from any other living or extinct creature. Godzilla is sometimes depicted as green in comics, cartoons, and movie posters, but the costumes used in the movies were usually painted charcoal grey with bone-white dorsal plates up until the film Godzilla 2000: Millennium.[54]


In the original Japanese films, Godzilla and all the other monsters are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns equivalent to "it",[55] while in the English dubbed versions, Godzilla is explicitly described as a male. In his book, Godzilla co-creator Tomoyuki Tanaka suggested that the monster was probably male.[56] In the 1998 film Godzilla, the monster is referred to as a male and is depicted laying eggs through parthenogenesis.[57][58] In the Legendary Godzilla films, Godzilla is referred to as a male.[59][60]


Godzilla's allegiance and motivations have changed from film to film to suit the needs of the story. Although Godzilla does not like humans,[61] it will fight alongside humanity against common threats. However, it makes no special effort to protect human life or property[62] and will turn against its human allies on a whim. It is not motivated to attack by predatory instinct; it does not eat people[63] and instead sustains itself on nuclear radiation[64] and an omnivorous diet especially cetaceans and large fish.[65][56] When inquired if Godzilla was "good or bad", producer Shōgo Tomiyama likened it to a Shinto "God of Destruction" which lacks moral agency and cannot be held to human standards of good and evil. "He totally destroys everything and then there is a rebirth. Something new and fresh can begin."[63] Tomoyuki Tanaka noted in his book that Godzilla and humanity can become temporal allies against greater threats, however they are essentially enemies due to the difficulty to co-exist.[56]

by Toho Co., Ltd

Official Godzilla website

of Toho Co., Ltd (Japanese)

Official website

on IMDb

Godzilla