“Monsters are tragic beings; they are born too tall, too strong, too heavy, they are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy,” said Ishiro Honda.
Ever since Godzilla first appeared on the silver screen in Ishiro Honda’s 1954 debut film Gojira, the monster has been an icon and pioneer of popular culture to this day. With an almost universal level of recognition, Godzilla has been referenced and parodied in numerous instances of humorous media like The Simpsons and Family Guy. Although Godzilla is mostly seen in an almost comedic and bizarre spotlight, it was not what was originally intended for the king of the monsters. The Godzilla series is now 70 years old and holds the title of the longest running film series ever. The series spawned many iterations of the king of the monsters. Some are humorous and silly, while others are quite the opposite.
The Godzilla franchise is broken into different eras, with each one representing a characteristic style and similarity to other kaiju from their respective time periods. All but one of the film series are named after the empirical eras that Japan is under at the time: the Showa era (1954-1975), the Heisei era (1984-1995), the Millennium era (1999-2004, still taking place in the Heisei era in Japan), and the Reiwa era (2016-present). Many distinct themes repeat in Godzilla’s character throughout the four eras of Godzilla filmology.
The Showa era is the first era of Godzilla films, and has two distinctive iterations of Godzilla with notably contrasting characteristics. The first Godzilla appeared in the franchise’s first movie ever, Ishiro Honda’s Gojira (a combination of the Japanese words for gorilla and whale, used to represent Godzilla’s immense size and barbaric strength). This Godzilla is represented as a tragic creature that is not inherently evil on purpose, but a creature acting on animalistic instinct. In the film, Godzilla is a prehistoric amphibian that is originally dormant underneath the sea before being awakened by the testing of the atomic bomb in his home, Bikini Atoll. Godzilla is horrifically transformed by the radiation left by the atomic bomb, which is reflected by his immense size, iconic dorsal plates, and ability to breathe a destructive ray of radioactive energy.
Demonstrated by his destructive rampage across Tokyo, Godzilla originally serves as an eerie metaphor and reminder of the atomic bomb and its dire consequences. Each element that makes Godzilla a monster reflects this. The destruction that Godzilla causes after his awakening is humanities reckoning for the production of the atomic bombs, a horrific weapon of mass death and destruction. The bumpy skin of the king of the monsters is supposed to represent radiation burns that were found on Japanese survivors of the atomic bombs.
The conclusion of the first film sees Godzilla being killed by a horrifying experimental weapon called the Oxygen Destroyer, developed by a lonely scientist named Dr. Daisuke Serizawa. Killing a monster born from a weapon of mass destruction with another is quite ironic, but Serizawa had not purposely created the Oxygen Destroyer. Serizawa’s isolation is a heroic countermeasure to prevent himself from being used to produce more Oxygen Destroyers that are to be used in war. At the end of Gojira, Serizawa prevents his fears from becoming a reality. He destroys all of his research and takes it upon himself to deploy the Oxygen Destroyer, dying with Godzilla at the bottom of the ocean.
The second iteration of the Showa Godzilla drastically differs in tone from the first. While the first Godzilla represents the gloom and doom surrounding the atomic bomb, the second Godzilla was a dorky defender of humanity. The second Godzilla first appeared in the sequel of Gojira released the following year, Godzilla Raids Again. The film is the last in the Showa era to possess a semblance of a serious tone. The film’s plot follows the second Godzilla’s battle with Anguirus, an ankylosaurus-like kaiju that has similar, radioactive origins like Godzilla himself. The film ends with Godzilla killing Anguirus in shockingly violent fashion in their second clash before returning to sea. Interestingly enough, a second generation Anguirus would appear later on, this time serving as an incredibly loyal ally and close friend to Godzilla for the remainder of the Showa era.
Godzilla Raids Again is the last of the Showa era films to possess a serious tone. Films became more lighthearted and action oriented, catering more to younger audiences. For the rest of the Showa era, Godzilla was a defender of Earth and a friend to humanity. With a complete shift away from being a terrifying symbol of atomic annihilation, Godzilla’s physical appearances also changed to look less frightening in order to emphasize that he is a friend and ally of humanity, appearing more rounded and puppy-like.
The Showa series introduces many kaiju that are beloved by Godzilla fans to this day. Some of the most notable names include: the moth kaiju Mothra, a giant pterosaur named Rodan, and Godzilla’s three-headed alien archnemesis, King Ghidorah. Most of these kaiju debut in their respective films as opponents for Godzilla, rampaging across Japan before being defeated by humanity’s bizarre protector. Due to their young targeted audience and simple nature, there is very little symbolistic messaging that can be analyzed in most of the Showa Godzilla films. Despite this, Godzilla vs Hedorah in 1971 does possess a more complex theme having to do with the destructive ecological effects of pollution, which is represented by bizarre and graphic imagery of the carnage caused by the pollution monster Hedorah.
With the Showa era’s conclusion in 1975, Godzilla would take a break from appearing on the silver screen up until 1984, the beginning of the Heisei Era. The Heisei era intended to bring Godzilla back as a destructive and villainous character, as it was believed that Godzilla’s shift to a heroic figure is what led to a decline in revenue near the end of the Showa era.
Taking place in a separate continuity from the Showa era, Godzilla’s first film appearance of the Heisei era was in the fittingly named Return of Godzilla. The film is a reboot of the Godzilla series, meaning that it was produced with the goal of restarting the franchise. Because of this, the film follows a plot that boasts similarities to Ishiro Honda’s Gojira, albeit with some key differences.
Return of Godzilla, takes place in a continuity where the first Godzilla had been killed by the Oxygen Destroyer after appearing in Japan and rampaging as it did in Gojira. The Godzilla in this film is even larger, standing at a whopping 85 meters tall. The kaiju noticeably wears a solemn expression on his face when stomping through the cities, intentionally done to suggest that Godzilla is not a monster rampaging due to rage, but because he is alone and lost. Return of Godzilla’s plot remains similar to the original Gojira, with the Japanese military attempting to stop Godzilla’s rampage across Japan in search of nuclear power plants to feed on. In the end, Godzilla is not defeated by the Oxygen Destroyer due to Serizwawa destroying the research for it in Gojira, but trapped inside of the active volcano, Mount Mihara, seemingly defeating him for the moment.
The Heisei Godzilla made his grand return in 1989 in the film Godzilla vs Biollante, emerging from Mount Mihara in explosive fashion. The Heisei era of Godzilla films would take a variety of different routes for Godzilla’s character, making him play the role of a hero, a villain, or both in the span of a decade of films. For example, in Godzilla vs Biollante, it is clear that Godzilla is supposed to be portrayed as a villainous character with his unnecessary rampage across Japan to fight a mostly peaceful kaiju named Biollante, who is a tribrid between Godzilla, a rose, and a human. After defeating Biollante in the conclusion of the film. Godzilla would retain his villainous personality in the two proceeding films where he fights familiar kaiju from the Showa era of Godzilla films, King Ghidorah and Mothra which do not differ substantially in their formula in comparison to Godzilla vs Biollante. Though, in the remaining movies of the Heisei series, Godzilla shifts from a villain to something of an antihero.
In Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla shows remnants of compassion and kindness towards an orphaned member of the same species as he is. Godzilla eventually adopts “BabyGodzilla,” and although Godzilla is the same destructive monster that he has always been, moments between the two subtly give Godzilla some human emotion, making him more than just the destructive King of the Monsters. This makes him somewhat relatable and transitioning to something of a nature disaster instead of being intentionally villainous and destructive as he was before, done intentionally due to the abundances of tsunamis and earthquakes in Japan.
The Heisei era of Godzilla films ends in a shocking emotional fashion, with Godzilla’s death being the main focus of the final film Godzilla vs Destroyah. As the title suggests, Godzilla faces off with a kaiju named Destroyah, an abomination born from the Oxygen Destroyer, the very weapon that killed the original Godzilla. In the movie, Godzilla is to die due accumulating too much radiation in his body, undergoing a disastrous meltdown that can possibly end the world. The radiation from Godzilla also allows his son from the previous movies to mature. With the appearance of Destroyah, the military devises a plan to use Godzilla in defeating Godzilla while reducing the destruction caused by the meltdown with freezing technology. Destroyah’s characteristics and design simply ooze with malice and evil, which is further amplified by his unexpectedly brutal murder of his son. In a joint effort between the Japanese military and Godzilla to defeat Destroyah, Godzilla shortly undergoes his meltdown. The death of the monster king is both tragic, heroic, and gruesome. Hearing Godzilla release one last roar before his body collapses is the last that is seen of the Heisei Godzilla. The movie ends with a silhouette of another Godzilla roaring, presumably Godzilla’s son after absorbing radiation from his father. Although the final scene in the movie seems to set up a sequel, the Heisei Godzilla would never see an onscreen appearance again.
The Millennium era and the Reiwa era of films represented a strange time for Godzilla, as the franchise was rebooted a plethora of times by various different directors. With that said, both eras represented a sort of homage to what Godzilla had become over the decades, as a mixture of characteristics that dictated the previous iterations of Godzilla were ever present. Godzilla has had an abundance of characteristic roles and symbolic representation that has been relatively unchanged throughout the years. Despite Godzilla movies seemingly being brainless festivals of city destruction, it is truly fascinating to look into the deeper meaning of the king of monsters. It is most definitely more than what meets the eye. Next time viewing one of Godzilla’s rampages on the silver screen, consider how far the franchise has come during the King of the Monster’s 70 year reign.
Ever since Godzilla first appeared on the silver screen in Ishiro Honda’s 1954 debut film Gojira, the monster has been an icon and pioneer of popular culture to this day.