1. Some critics have said that Godzilla is a metaphor for a nuclear weapon, or even a physical manifestation for an atom bomb. Do you agree with this? Why or why not? Use specific examples from the film to back up your opinion. If you do not think Godzilla represents nuclear weapons in any way, please explain what you do think he represents, with examples.

6. If you have watched any of these doomsday sci fi movies from the 1950's and 1960's, you may be familiar with the "situation room" scenes these pictures often have: muckety mucks in government and business trying to figure out how to stop the disaster. In American movies, it is much more common to see world leaders convened to address the threat. Here, it is just Japan's scientists and politicians trying to stop the angry lizard. Why is Japan either not asking for help or not getting it here? This was made by a major studio on a decent budget, so don't cry moolah unless you have sources.

7. As discussed in the lecture introducing this movie, the US, though in fact the party that dropped the nuclear bomb and responsible for the Lucky No. 5 wreck and subsequent radiation contamination, is never mentioned at all. In spite of this, do you believe this film to be critical of the US? Why or why not?

1. As much as the child inside of me wants to just enjoy a monster-movie at face value, without the sociopolitical underpinnings, there can be little question that nuclear warfare was a major influence on Gojira. This is evident from the backgrounds of both the film's director/co-writer Ishiro Honda (who toured Hiroshima's aftermath) and from Toho Studios executive producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, who brainstormed the idea based on the radiation poisoning tragedy that occurred for the crew of Lucky Dragon #5, after the U.S. miscalculated the fallout from their tests in the Marshall Islands. The host country of the film, after all, is Japan, the only nation that ever fell victim to atomic bombs. If anything, I have to say that I'm impressed with the restraint the movie shows. But it's understandable- you might want to be a bit subtle when you're satirizing a country that vaporized thousands of your citizens.

What a quirky and outlandish symbol is Godzilla! He/(she?) is a dragon of sorts, one of Japan's more iconic mythological beasts. Despite the technical limitations of special effects in the 1950s, and the “cheesiness” more modern film-watchers might decry- I'd rather see a man in a rubber suit, on a miniature set, and know that's what I'm seeing, than all the CGI in the world. The naivete of this movie is it's most endearing quality. (I was able to watch it for free, by the way, with a trial-subscription to Hulu-Plus- just hope I can cancel before they take $7.95 off my credit card). And I highly recommend, (if you are a true nerd), watching a wonderful 81-minute review of Gojira at this site: http://youtu.be/4IVCEO4vX1o

The plot of the movie also reinforces this nuclear connection. Dr. Yamane finds the high radiation levels in the monster's footprints, then later gives his hypothesis that atomic-bomb testing roused Godzilla from the deep. While I find it a bit of a stretch to see Godzilla as an actual embodiment of the A-bomb (sometimes, Dr. Freud, a cigar is just a cigar...) there is no viable way, in my opinion, to view this movie outside of the nuclear-war context. Unless you're just a kid. I wish I still were.

6. I immediately think of Dr. Strangelove when it comes to “situation rooms”. (Either that or Wolf Blitzer, but I digress). Even in the original Batman movie (and there is only one “Batman”, by the way- Adam West) world leaders were gatherered together to thwart disaster. Why would Gojira choose instead to keep it all within Japanese borders? It could be a matter of national pride. The country had borne the brunt of nuclear war. It's a cliché, but nevertheless true, that Japanese and other Asian cultures are more introspective than their counterparts in the West. They don't want to ask for help, but would rather handle the crisis on their own. I believe that the makers of this movie were making a nationalistic statement by keeping the Godzilla threat a strictly Japanese problem.

7. Gojira is a very nuanced and subtle critique of the U.S. As I alluded to in an earlier answer, you don't want to stir up a whole lot of dust with a country that reduced a couple of your cities to the same. I am glad to be an American; let me make that clear right up front. But that doesn't mean I'm going to blindly defend its transgessions. Let's look, realistically, at two major American/Japanese conflicts. Exhibit 1- Pearl Harbor. Say what you will, and with all due respect to the noble American soldiers that died there; it was a military strike. Strategically, and from a totally objective point of view, it was brilliant. Exhibit 2/America's answer- drop the equivalent of hell-fire onto Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with no discretion- civilians, women, and children killed by the thousands. The kamakazis flew their jets into our warships, sacrificing their own lives. The guys on the Enola Gay pressed a button, dropped a warhead, and flew home. There's a difference there. In it's own subtle way, Gojira addresses that distinction