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Godzilla may have called it a day
by Anthony Faiola
Could Tokyo finally be safe? Godzilla, the movie monster that terrorised the city in a series of films over 50 years, is set to stomp off into the sunset for what may be the last time. After this month’s release of Godzilla: Final Wars, Toho Pictures has decided to mothball the Great Green One, uncertain when, if ever, it will return to the big screen.
Japan’s largest film star has disappeared before — going into hibernation for a decade in the mid-1970s — only to come back with a vengeance after a grass-roots movement by fans nudged Toho into reviving the celebrity. But after 28 films, even Godzilla’s makers concede that one of the longest-running film franchises in history appears to be losing steam. In recent years, the aging lizard’s movies have drawn about half the audiences they used to, barely covering production costs. Even the Hollywood version of Godzilla in 1998 was a box office bomb.
In Japan, Godzilla — who roared to life in 1954 as a terrible lizard awakened from a 2 million-year slumber by US nuclear testing in the South Pacific — was far more than a kitschy creature. It was a complex metaphor, the embodiment of uniquely Japanese fears in the only nation ever to experience a nuclear attack. Godzilla’s boil-covered flesh called to mind the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The subtext of its rage — taking vengeance on mankind for devising the nuclear bomb — expressed the frustration of a nation subjected to, and later protected by, American military might. But unlike King Kong, Godzilla was no tragic giant. Instead, in the vast majority of its films, Godzilla survived man’s best attempts to defeat it, leaving in its wake a grisly tableau of the Tokyo skyline as a reminder of the consequences of military science.
‘‘Godzilla was and is a powerful anti-war statement,’’ said Toshio Takahashi, professor of modern literature at Tokyo’s Waseda University and author of three books on Godzilla symbolism. ‘‘Besides that, he is a mirror into the Japanese soul.’’
In the US, Godzilla films have been mostly low-tech, sci-fi fun. Part of Godzilla’s appeal, and perhaps what eventually turned Godzilla into a dinosaur, was Toho’s religious adherence to low-tech special effects — he always stuck to using a guy in a monster suit.
In the film, Godzilla defeats a host of monsters and aliens before proudly stomping off into the horizon. So, will Godzilla rise again? ‘‘Someday, I think so,’’ said Tsutomu Kitagawa, who plays Godzilla for the second time in Final Wars. ‘‘I just can’t imagine a world without Godzilla.’’
http://www.indianexp...ontent_id=61433
by Anthony Faiola
Could Tokyo finally be safe? Godzilla, the movie monster that terrorised the city in a series of films over 50 years, is set to stomp off into the sunset for what may be the last time. After this month’s release of Godzilla: Final Wars, Toho Pictures has decided to mothball the Great Green One, uncertain when, if ever, it will return to the big screen.
Japan’s largest film star has disappeared before — going into hibernation for a decade in the mid-1970s — only to come back with a vengeance after a grass-roots movement by fans nudged Toho into reviving the celebrity. But after 28 films, even Godzilla’s makers concede that one of the longest-running film franchises in history appears to be losing steam. In recent years, the aging lizard’s movies have drawn about half the audiences they used to, barely covering production costs. Even the Hollywood version of Godzilla in 1998 was a box office bomb.
In Japan, Godzilla — who roared to life in 1954 as a terrible lizard awakened from a 2 million-year slumber by US nuclear testing in the South Pacific — was far more than a kitschy creature. It was a complex metaphor, the embodiment of uniquely Japanese fears in the only nation ever to experience a nuclear attack. Godzilla’s boil-covered flesh called to mind the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The subtext of its rage — taking vengeance on mankind for devising the nuclear bomb — expressed the frustration of a nation subjected to, and later protected by, American military might. But unlike King Kong, Godzilla was no tragic giant. Instead, in the vast majority of its films, Godzilla survived man’s best attempts to defeat it, leaving in its wake a grisly tableau of the Tokyo skyline as a reminder of the consequences of military science.
‘‘Godzilla was and is a powerful anti-war statement,’’ said Toshio Takahashi, professor of modern literature at Tokyo’s Waseda University and author of three books on Godzilla symbolism. ‘‘Besides that, he is a mirror into the Japanese soul.’’
In the US, Godzilla films have been mostly low-tech, sci-fi fun. Part of Godzilla’s appeal, and perhaps what eventually turned Godzilla into a dinosaur, was Toho’s religious adherence to low-tech special effects — he always stuck to using a guy in a monster suit.
In the film, Godzilla defeats a host of monsters and aliens before proudly stomping off into the horizon. So, will Godzilla rise again? ‘‘Someday, I think so,’’ said Tsutomu Kitagawa, who plays Godzilla for the second time in Final Wars. ‘‘I just can’t imagine a world without Godzilla.’’
http://www.indianexp...ontent_id=61433
A few days ago, this seemed pretty sad.
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