Tonight I went with my cousin Richard to see the original Godzilla movie. The Godzilla movie that most Americans are familiar with is not the one that was originally released in Japan. In the American version, Raymond Burr is wandering around as a narrator, added in 20 minutes to the film. TO fit him in, 30 minutes of the original were removed.

Richard is a true Godzilla fan. He gets invited to Japan for screening of new Godzilla films by Toho. He knows everything there is to know about Godzilla and monster films in general.

As he explained, the film was made in Japan after the Lucky Dragon incident, where a Japanese fishing boat was hit by radioactive fallout from an American nuclear bomb test. The Japanese public was outraged by incident and the Americans tried to cover things up.

Considering the timing of the release of Godzilla is important to remember when watching the original movie.

The movie tells the story of Godzilla being awakend from his slumber by H bombs and the subsequent devastation of Tokyo and other Japanese cities during his rampage. Most Godzilla movies show the battle between the Godzilla and humans in a campy way, but in the original, it's quite serious.

Godzilla represents and unstoppable force of nature that was awaken by Man's playing with powerful weapons. The analogy of this to the effects of the Bikini fallout on Japan's food chain are obvious. During the H bomb tests, the fallout traveled on ocean currents and into the fish. Thousands of tons of fish were destroyed since they were contaminated.

The mysterious Dr. Serizawa has invented a powerful device known as the Oxygen Destroyer. He agonizes over using it even though it is the only things that can stop Godzilla. He fears that the device can be used as a terrible weapon.

In the lower left corner is the powerful Oxygen destroyer. Phear it.

If you want to know what happens, you'll need to go see the movie. It's well worth the time to go see the original Godzilla.

Posted by michael at June 03, 2004 09:42 PM