FROM GODZILLA TO MONSTER ISLAND

CULTURE & POWER IN JAPANESE KAIJU

Gojira1954

Godzilla, King of

the Monsters

1956

Destroy All

Monsters

1968

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

WHAT DO FILMS REVEAL ABOUT THE SOCIETIES THAT MAKE THEM?

HOW CAN WE UNDERSTAND CHANGES IN FILMS ACROSS SPACE & TIME?

CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

CONTEXT1. The part of a

text that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning.

2. The circumstances in which an event occurs; a setting.

ANALYSIS1. Seeks to

reconstruct the conditions of production

2. Assumes elements in the text point to context

TWO MAIN TYPES

1.Cultural2.Political

CULTURAL CONTEXTIMPLICATURESThe domain of assumptions the text takes for granted as not needing to be explained.

ASSUMPTIONSWhat assumptions about the world do producers take for granted that their (primary) audience will share?

CULTURAL CONTEXTREFERENTIAL

One aspect of culture is the sum of everyday practices and the social institutions in which they are embedded.

Media reference these institutions and practices.

COSMOLOGICALA second aspect of culture is that it orients us in the universe. It defines what is important about time and space, gives us a range of value orientations, and defines what is important to pay attention to.

Media encode these orientations in their structure.

POLITICAL CONTEXTS

Every text encodes the power relations existing in the society which produced it.

POLITICAL CONTEXTIMPLICATURESThe domain of assumptions the text takes for granted as not needing to be explained.

ASSUMPTIONSWhat assumptions about the world do producers take for granted that their (primary) audience will share?

GOJIRA

http://youtu.be/XnZ6Ktjynh0

CULTURAL CONTEXT

“Mysterious, wonderful, curious, strange.” Interest in fushigi (especially yokai, ghosts and bakemono) grew as Japan modernized perhaps as a way to hold on to aspects of Japanese “character” in the face of Westernization.

FUSHIGI

Creatures from Japanese folklore. Creatures that dwell in the borders between human and nonhuman, this-worldly and otherworldly.

YOKAI

POLITICAL CONTEXT

DEFEAT• 1941-1945 American submarines destroyed a large portion of

the Japanese merchant marine, causing a severe shortage of supplies.

• 1945 March+ A series of massive air raids destroyed much of Tōkyō and other major industrial cities.

• 1945 April+ Vital water routes and ports of Japan were mined by air disrupting Japanese shipping.

• 1945 Fall Soviet invasion/liberation of Manchuria

• 1945 August Two atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• More than half of the 2.1 million Japanese who died in the war died in the last year, mostly of malnutrition and starvation.

• Almost 600,000 Japanese civilians died from US bombings of 69 cities. Another 100,000 died of malnutrition, starvation and exposure.

OCCUPATION• Unconditional Surrender

• The Shinto-based cult of the Emperor was ended.

• The emperor is stripped of all power.

• Japanese leaders are tried for war crimes; seven are executed.

• The Japanese Empire was dissolved.

• Japan was stripped of its overseas possessions and retained only the home islands.

• Seven million Japanese expatriates were repatriated

• Japan stripped of all right to maintain a standing army

• US established permanent military bases

Gojira “is a virtual recreation of the Japanese military and civilian experience of the final months of WWII”

Peter Brothers 2011: 37

ALLEGORY

1954Daigo Fukuryu Maru

“Lucky Dragon 5”

Caught in the flash of a US H-Bomb test

Every sailor died of radiation poisoning

OPENING SCENE: GOJIRA 1954A small Japanese fishing boat floats quietly at sea. The fishermen are relaxing. Suddenly their tranquil moment is shattered by a flash of white light that blinds them, and melts the flesh from their bones. The radio operator gets off one final message before succumbing.

WWIIFrom 1942 onward, air raid sirens might shriek day or night to indicate a US bombing raid.

GOJIRADirector Inishiro Honda directs special effects master Eiji Tsubaraya to make Gojira’s roar sound like an air raid siren, and footsteps sound like bombs falling.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIOn the night of March 9, 1945, US B-29s dropped tons of incendiaries on Tokyo, destroying 250,000 homes, burning out 10 square miles of the city and leaving 1,000,000 homeless

GOJIRAA sea of fire engulfs Tokyo as Gojira engages in his night rampage.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIThe Japanese Home Defense mobilizes citizens to fight the US invasion of the Japanese mainland from the sea.

GOJIRAThe Japanese Home Defense mobilizes citizens to repel Gojira’s second attack, which is from the sea.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIIn the last months of the war, the Japanese military was overwhelmed by the superior numbers and technology of its enemy.

GOJIRAThe Japanese military is helpless in their attempts to stop the onslaught of Gojira.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIJapan must face the US alone; Italy and Germany have already surrendered.

GOJIRAJapan faces Gojira alone, with no other country giving aid.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIRadio bulletins warn of impending US air raids, searchlights slice through the air and sirens urge residents to seek shelter.

GOJIRARadio bulletins warn Tokyo residents that the monster is approaching as searchlights slice through the air and sirens wail.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIKamikaze unit flyers don hachimaki headbands as they set out in desperate and unconventional last-ditch efforts to defeat the Allied powers.

GOJIRAOgata and Serizawa don headbands as they prepare to use the oxygen destroyer in a last ditch effort to defeat Godzilla; Serizawa commits suicide.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIJapanese cities are reduced to rubble by conventional bombings, fire raids, and the atomic bombings.

GOJIRAAfter Gojira’s final assault on Tokyo, the camera pans over a devastated landscape of broken buildings and burning rubble.

Based on Brothers 2011

WWIIHospitals in Japan are overflowing with victims of the atomic bomb attacks, known as the gembakusha.

GOJIRAAfter Gojira’s second attack, Japanese hospitals are filled to overflowing with patients suffering terrible radiation burns.

Based on Brothers 2011

GODZILLAKing of the Monsters

CULTURAL CONTEXT

Horror films have long been a staple of Hollywood. A recent spate of films have been based on the notion that science (especially atomic science) is a necessary evil, a two-edged sword—as when the Beast From 20,000 Fathoms is both raised by an atomic bomb and destroyed by a nuclear missile.

MONSTER MOVIES

With some rare exceptions, Americans would not watch films with non-white leading actors, although specialized “secondary cinemas” exist. East Asian in mainstream movies were usually played by white actors in “yellowface.”

RACE

POLITICAL CONTEXT

INTERNATIONALISM• WWII has put the US at the top of the global

hierarchy of states

• WWII has effectively shattered lingering US fantasies of isolationism

• The Bretton Woods agreement has remade international trade rules along the lines desired by US capitalism

• World divided into two opposed camps engaged in a “Cold War”

• In 1949 the USSR successfully tested an H-Bomb

• An arms race ensued, with global peace mainteined by fear of “Mutually Assured Destruction.”

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

Forty minutes of character-driven drama are cut and replaced with twenty minutes of scenes of a white American newspaper reporter covering the story of Godzilla

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

The scenes of the Japanese fishing vessel are moved to an interior scene. The vessel is destroyed by Godzilla.

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

The love triangle between Emiko and the scientist Serizawa and the military officer Ogata is effectively eliminated.

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

Victims in the hospital are said to have “strange burns” rather than radiation burns. Indeed, the word “radiation” is cut from the film.

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

The one brief reference to Godzilla’s origin in a bomb test uses the term H-Bomb (associated with the USSR) rather than the US term A-Bomb

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

All scenes referring to Japan’s wartime past (like this one) are removed.

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

Dr. Serizawa’s weapon is reduced from terrible to containable proportions, making his suicide less comprehensible.

GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS

Dr. Yamane’s soliloquy at the end, in which he warns against the dangers of atomic experimentation, is cut.

Godzilla, King of the Monsters imagines a world in which technological weapons both create extraordinary destruction, yet also save us from it—not unlike the logic of the arms race.

ALLEGORY

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

CULTURAL CONTEXT

“Monsters.” Monster films—and television, anime and manga—have become big business, forming a popular genre of Japanese culture.

KAIJU

“Special effects.” Godzilla’s success spawned an industry of tokusatsu movies and television, utilizing live actors and lots of showy effects.

TOKUSATSU

POLITICAL CONTEXT

JAPANESE PROSPERITY

• Japan has had more than a decade of rising prosperity and no end in sight.

• Massive boost from the Korean War, in which it acted as a major supplier to the UN force

• Emerged as a significant power in steel working, car manufacturing and the manufacturing of electronic goods.

• Catches up with the West in foreign trade, GNP, and general quality of life.

• Hosted 1964 Olympic Games 

• Rise of progressive local governments concerned with enhancing the quality of life in urban areas. 

BUNKA PAWAYouth Culture: The emergence of a repertoire of overlapping practices, representations and artifacts circulating among adolescents, teens and twentysomethings worldwide

BUNKA PAWAYouth Culture: The emergence of a repertoire of overlapping practices, representations and artifacts circulating among adolescents, teens and twentysomethings worldwide

Bunka Pawa: National cultural influence in the world, through the penetration of Japanese images, ideas, films, publications, lifestyle pursuits, novels, etc.

BUNKA PAWAYouth Culture: The emergence of a repertoire of overlapping practices, representations and artifacts circulating among adolescents, teens and twentysomethings worldwide

Bunka Pawa: National cultural influence in the world, through the penetration of Japanese images, ideas, films, publications, lifestyle pursuits, novels, etc.

Dochakuka: “global localization.” Originally referring to a way of adapting scientific farming techniques to local conditions, dochakuka evolved into a marketing strategy, adapting global forms to local market conditions.

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

In the year 1999 humanity enjoys a period of relative peace, having successfully relocated Earth’s many monsters to one island, imprisoned by invisible force fields

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

An evil race of mind-controlling aliens known as the Kilaaks enslave the scientists who watch over Monster Island, and use them to deactivate the island’s force fields. The Kilaaks then take control of Earth’s monsters and command them to attack the major cities of the world.

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

The humans travel to the Kilaak’s moon base and destroy the technology responsible for the Kilaaks’ mind-control powers. The monsters turn on the Kilaaks, who send King Ghidorah to Earth to destroy them. But King Ghiddorah is no match for a whopping ten terrestrial monsters

DESTROY ALL MONSTERS

After defeating the evil Kilaaks, the monsters return to their island, and the world returns to peace.

What political and cultural changes in Japan do you think account for this very different kind of “monster” story? What does it reflect?

ALLEGORY

REFERENCESAllison, Anne. Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. 

Brothers, Peter H. 2011. Godzilla’s nuclear nightmare: How the bomb became a beast called Godzilla. Cineaste Summer 36-40.

Craig, Timothy J. Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture. 

Low, Morris. 2008. The birth of Godzilla: Nuclear fear and the ideology of Japan as victim. Japanese Studies 13(2): 48-58.

Martinez, Dolores P. The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries, and Global Cultures. 

Schwartzman, Victor. 2007. How Gojira became Godzilla. Canadian Dimension 41(5): 44-45.

Tsutsui, William M. and Michiko Ito, eds. 2006. In Godzilla's Footsteps: Japanese Pop Culture Icons on the Global Stage. Palgrave MacMillan.