Post By: Bryce Skankey
The
quintessential Kaiju, Godzilla was been the King of Monsters since his birth in
1954. With almost a sense of judgment and punishment in his roar Godzilla
carves a path of destruction wherever he goes setting the standard for all
Kaiju films to follow including the many movies which he has reappeared in.
The story of Godzilla starts
with the calm, peaceful Japanese world suddenly being rocked by the destruction
of many ships. The nation sends investigators to the small island of Odo near
the point where the accidents occurred. The natives of the village perform a
ceremony in an attempt to quell the beast that is behind the attacks, but that
night the monster attacks, and the next morning it heads off to Tokyo. Dr.
Yamane, a paleontologist sent to the island, concludes that Godzilla was
awakened by the repeated nuclear tests in the Pacific. The nation retaliates
with depth charges, but to no avail. Godzilla appears in Tokyo Bay and attacks
the docks. The next day the military prepares for a futile battle. That night
Godzilla commences in his classic destruction of Tokyo itself. After the city
is destroyed, Emiko Yamane and Hideto Ogata (the main protagonists of the
movie) approach Emiko’s husband Dr. Serizawa who had created a bomb that would
destroy all of the oxygen in the water where it was detonated, killing all
living creatures there. After seeing the destruction of the city and the
suffering of the people on the TV, Dr. Serizawa agrees. They all go the Tokyo
bay and dive into the water. Dr. Serizawa stays under to activate the bomb,
killing both himself and Godzilla in the process. Japan grieves the destruction
of the city, but breathes a sigh of relief knowing that Godzilla will not
return.
This
is the movie that started the Kaiju movie genres rise to popularity. I intend to
analyze the movie according to this genre; specifically I want to look at how
Godzilla represents secure horror. I will look at how the story follows the
stereotypical secure horror plot line and then examine how the cinematic
techniques help amplify it.
So Godzilla is a secure
horror. What does that mean? Secure
horror can be thought of as the original horror genre, being used before the
1960s (as opposed to paranoid horror being used mainly after 1960s). A secure
horror plot is basically this: There is an unstoppable force from the outside.
It comes in and causes massive damage. In the end it is defeated and everything
returns to normal. Here is a disclosure: as I describe the shots and plot
points that support the secure horror genre note that I am referencing the
American version of this movie. It is very similar to the Japanese version; the
main difference is that we get the story from the point of view of Steve
Martin, an American newspaper reporter.
Godzilla begins somewhat like a paranoid
horror in the fact that the people and the audience don’t know what exactly is
destroying the ships. With the context of the title, any posters seen, and
hearing his roar at the beginning of the movie, the audience probably knows
though. From the beginning we get many of the shots of humans from a high
angle, showing their weakness in comparison to what is about to come. We also
get long shots of the boats as they get destroyed, showing their
insignificance. As we get to Odo Island, the islanders perform a ritual for
Godzilla, to perhaps calm the beast. It is explained that the villagers used to
send off a young women as a sacrifice to Godzilla to keep him calm. It is
believed that through rituals, we can control the unknown and the
uncontrollable. Unfortunately, this ritual has no effect as Godzilla rears his
terrifying head at the ridge of the mountain. The shot is a long shot with a
deep focus. We can clearly see the ant-like size of the villagers as they run
towards the screen, and we clearly see Godzilla roaring above the ridge. The
threat has now been defiantly identified, which means next the threat will
begin the destruction. Godzilla swims to Tokyo Bay and attacks. Here we see the
classic ‘man in a suit’ shots where Godzilla (a man in a suit) slowly stomps the
miniature models representing Tokyo. We get a good shot of Godzilla facing off
against some tanks. We are close to the perspectives of the tanks, but not
quite. The tanks roll up on the left side of the screen, with Godzilla on the
right side of the screen. It is another long shot with a deep focus as we
clearly see the close up tanks and the distant Godzilla surrounded by fire.
This threat is larger than life and unstoppable by the tanks, electricity, or
anything else the Japanese military tries to send its way. Godzilla levels
Tokyo, and the next day those who survived the hellish night regroup and try to
determine a way to stop Godzilla once and for all. Through Emiko we discover
that her husband, Dr. Serizawa, has created an Oxygen Bomb, a weapon capable to
destroying Godzilla. The weapon is taken to where Godzilla is lurking under the
water where Dr. Serizawa and Hideto Ogata dive down to activate the bomb.
Hideto is sent back up by Dr. Serizawa, who stays under the ocean in order to
witness the effects of his bomb, and kill himself so that its destructive
powers cannot be used for evil. We see many shots of an out of focus Godzilla
in pain as he disintegrates in front of our eyes. The last we see of him is his
skeleton laying on the ocean floor. This shot reassures the audience that the
monster is truly defeated and that life can then return to normal.
Godzilla is the
classic Kaiju film and follows the secure horror sub-genre quite well. Through
the story and cinematic techniques we feel the size and power of Godzilla in
direct contrast to the weakness and insignificance of the Japanese military.
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