Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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gzilla46
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Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by gzilla46 »

I've seen several Godzilla films and I didn't quite understand why Godzilla hates Japan so much. They didn't really do anything wrong. They were the ones that got bombed by America and we created Godzilla. So, doesn't that mean Godzilla should be destroying America for what WE did? I was just wondering.

It's crazy, I'm a Godzilla expert and this is the one thing I don't get. What are your theories why Godzilla hates Japan so much?
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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I'm not sure.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by edgaguirus »

I don't believe Godzilla hates Japan. In the original, Japan was most likely the nearest major landmass to Godzilla. They were a victim of geography, not Godzilla's hate. I think I remember a scientist in K vs G saying fossils of Godzilla's species had been found in Japan, so it's also a territorial matter.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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edgaguirus wrote:I don't believe Godzilla hates Japan. In the original, Japan was most likely the nearest major landmass to Godzilla. They were a victim of geography, not Godzilla's hate. I think I remember a scientist in K vs G saying fossils of Godzilla's species had been found in Japan, so it's also a territorial matter.
Oh. That could be possible. Because I thought it would've made more sense for him to attack America since Godzilla was created from the atomic bomb, which was launched by us.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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gzilla46 wrote:I've seen several Godzilla films and I didn't quite understand why Godzilla hates Japan so much. They didn't really do anything wrong. They were the ones that got bombed by America and we created Godzilla. So, doesn't that mean Godzilla should be destroying America for what WE did? I was just wondering.

It's crazy, I'm a Godzilla expert and this is the one thing I don't get. What are your theories why Godzilla hates Japan so much?
Well, the allegorical elements of the original Godzilla are not cut-and-dried, and Godzilla represents different aspects of the wartime and post-war Japanese experience at different times.

A few major things to consider are:

- While Godzilla is victim of the bomb, he is also a symbol representing the bomb. His attacks in the original movie are representations of the fire bombing of Tokyo and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

- Japan's involvement in WWII, as part of the Axis, was something over which many Japanese citizens later felt a great sense of shame. Godzilla is a punishment for their involvement in that war.

- Japan's culture has been heavily influenced not jsut by the atomic bombings, but by the overall instability of their geographic region. They are plagued by major earthquakes and typhoons. There is a common feeling in Japanese art and narratives that the cpuntry is continually forced tos tand strong under attacks by forces greater than itself.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by gzilla46 »

eabaker wrote:
gzilla46 wrote:I've seen several Godzilla films and I didn't quite understand why Godzilla hates Japan so much. They didn't really do anything wrong. They were the ones that got bombed by America and we created Godzilla. So, doesn't that mean Godzilla should be destroying America for what WE did? I was just wondering.

It's crazy, I'm a Godzilla expert and this is the one thing I don't get. What are your theories why Godzilla hates Japan so much?
Well, the allegorical elements of the original Godzilla are not cut-and-dried, and Godzilla represents different aspects of the wartime and post-war Japanese experience at different times.

A few major things to consider are:

- While Godzilla is victim of the bomb, he is also a symbol representing the bomb. His attacks in the original movie are representations of the fire bombing of Tokyo and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

- Japan's involvement in WWII, as part of the Axis, was something over which many Japanese citizens later felt a great sense of shame. Godzilla is a punishment for their involvement in that war.

- Japan's culture has been heavily influenced not jsut by the atomic bombings, but by the overall instability of their geographic region. They are plagued by major earthquakes and typhoons. There is a common feeling in Japanese art and narratives that the cpuntry is continually forced tos tand strong under attacks by forces greater than itself.

Maybe that's where they got the idea for the movie Sinking of Japan, where Japan is about to sink into the ocean and lots of disasters happen.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by GodzillaRangerPrime »

Godzilla is an animal that marked his territory..........lol
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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In most of the films, like KKvG and MvG, Godzilla doesn't seem to directly want to cause damage. The buildings/trains/cars/etc just happen to be in his way. In MvG, the only time he intentionally destroys buildings is when he slips and falls into the castle and when he got his tail stuck in Tokyo Tower, and even then he was probably pissed off and either thought the buildings were attacking him or was simply just embarrassed and was taking it out on the buildings.

Only in Gojira, GvTSM, GMK, and GvD does he spend time deliberately destroying buildings. The Red Bamboo incident could be explained that Godzilla had marked the island as his territory, and figured the terrorists were invading it. The same reason why he attacked Mothra for seemingly no reason in that film. In GvD, he was in a lot of pain, which led to him being angry, where he took out his wrath on the surrounding environment, which happened to be Hong Kong. In Gojira, Godzilla had been newly mutated, and was likely still coming to terms with the fact that he was now a very different creature. Not only that, but it was stated that lights angered this Godzilla, which likely caused him to attack buildings, which of course led to more flames and yet more light. And GMK... well that's pretty self explanatory. GMK is the only Godzilla that truly hates Japan and the human race as a whole.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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TheSecondComing wrote:It's really very simple. Godzilla is a racist.

:P
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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Living Corpse wrote:Ugh, more failed attempts at humor.:roll:
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by Connor »

I kind of see Godzilla as something of a misanthrope. He's a bastard child of our zeal for destruction, and the trauma of his mutation never left him. Given the technology used against him, it was easy for Godzilla to make the connection between the "mysterious blast" in his mind to the tiny, hairless monkeys at his feet. Of course, Godzilla being an animal, he made the generalization that all humans are nasty vermin.

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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by GodzillavsZilla »

I always thought he actidentally destroyed Toyko like Steve Urkle. And when he destroys Mechagodzilla and goes away, he'd say, "Did I do that?". :lol:
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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Living Corpse wrote:In short he's not just a victim seeking revenge, he's not just the H-bomb made flesh incarnate.

He is war itself made flesh and blood.

Kananko would take it a step even further by having become a literal god of war by being not just mutated from nuclear tests but also supernaturally empowered by dead soldiers souls who died feeling like their countries had abandoned them.
Nicely put.
Kaiju-King42 wrote:In most of the films, like KKvG and MvG, Godzilla doesn't seem to directly want to cause damage. The buildings/trains/cars/etc just happen to be in his way. In MvG, the only time he intentionally destroys buildings is when he slips and falls into the castle and when he got his tail stuck in Tokyo Tower, and even then he was probably pissed off and either thought the buildings were attacking him or was simply just embarrassed and was taking it out on the buildings.
You're in good company, interpreting the damage Godzilla inflicts on humanity in Mothra vs. Godzilla as largely unintentional: some others have concluded the same thing.

I see it a little differently. Godzilla seemed to go out of his way to ignite the oil refinery in Nagoya, to level Hamakaze Hotel, and to destroy the incubator. He also deliberately stopped and incinerated the huts and other structures on the island at the end. With those instances in mind, I figured that what he intended from the moment he emerged at Korada Beach was a deliberate rampage, and only the tower and castle in Nagoya were cases of accidental or clumsiness-based damage.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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DoctorMafune wrote:
Living Corpse wrote:In short he's not just a victim seeking revenge, he's not just the H-bomb made flesh incarnate.

He is war itself made flesh and blood.

Kananko would take it a step even further by having become a literal god of war by being not just mutated from nuclear tests but also supernaturally empowered by dead soldiers souls who died feeling like their countries had abandoned them.
Nicely put.
Kaiju-King42 wrote:In most of the films, like KKvG and MvG, Godzilla doesn't seem to directly want to cause damage. The buildings/trains/cars/etc just happen to be in his way. In MvG, the only time he intentionally destroys buildings is when he slips and falls into the castle and when he got his tail stuck in Tokyo Tower, and even then he was probably pissed off and either thought the buildings were attacking him or was simply just embarrassed and was taking it out on the buildings.
You're in good company, interpreting the damage Godzilla inflicts on humanity in Mothra vs. Godzilla as largely unintentional: some others have concluded the same thing.

I see it a little differently. Godzilla seemed to go out of his way to ignite the oil refinery in Nagoya, to level Hamakaze Hotel, and to destroy the incubator. He also deliberately stopped and incinerated the huts and other structures on the island at the end. With those instances in mind, I figured that what he intended from the moment he emerged at Korada Beach was a deliberate rampage, and only the tower and castle in Nagoya were cases of accidental or clumsiness-based damage.
Are you sure? I always thought he destroys stuff on purpose.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by edgaguirus »

Living Corpse wrote:But overall he is a byproduct of war.

As for GMK Godzilla, can we even say he hates of his own free will? He could be controlled by the dead for all we know.
He was being controlled by the dead in that film.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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We could also say that FW Godzilla went out of his way to destroy that one city when the grandfather was telling his nephew about Godzilla.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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Varan Bon Ziller wrote:
DoctorMafune wrote: You're in good company, interpreting the damage Godzilla inflicts on humanity in Mothra vs. Godzilla as largely unintentional: some others have concluded the same thing.

I see it a little differently. Godzilla seemed to go out of his way to ignite the oil refinery in Nagoya, to level Hamakaze Hotel, and to destroy the incubator. He also deliberately stopped and incinerated the huts and other structures on the island at the end. With those instances in mind, I figured that what he intended from the moment he emerged at Korada Beach was a deliberate rampage, and only the tower and castle in Nagoya were cases of accidental or clumsiness-based damage.
It''s been a long time since I've seen this movie.

But didn't he only start intentionally destroying stuff after he got attacked by the military?

That seems to play into the tragedy of Godzilla. Or at least this Godzilla.

He wakes up. Is out of place and confused. And destroys whatever gets in his way because of his size. Obviously he is out of place. Naturally we attack him. Which not only fails to kill him, but sends him into a rage. We now have now pissed him off, and are going to pay. Dearly.

Keep in mind that this isn't the nuclear bogeyman in the original.
All a matter of interpretation, I suppose.

But the sculptors went out of their way to make Godzilla '64's face especially menacing. He doesn't look like a bewildered animal just trying to find his way back to something familiar. Godzilla looks murderously intent. I doubt that was an accident.

To me, Godzilla's evil appearance and the fact that he deliberately sets the oil refinery on fire just moments after emerging from Korada Beach (before there's been any response by the military), set the tone for Godzilla's role in this film: that he hates humanity and wants to do some damage. If all he wanted was to get away from a confusing landscape, well... there's the ocean, right there in plain sight. He ignores it, and heads inland, into populated areas. Pretty much like Godzilla in KKVG headed straight for Japan itself.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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Godzilla remembers what happened on the Island and after the bomb was dropped and he was mutated he knew the humans where responsible. Godzilla hates them for it and wants them to suffer like he did.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

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It's his territory, like any animal.
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Re: Why does Godzilla hate Japan?

Post by GodzillaSpawn »

It's hard to give one general answer. Many people are saying it's cause he's territorial like an animal. But in many instances he's more aware and purposeful than an animal simply walking around lifting his leg on the fire hydrant. I definitely think that as he destroys Tokyo, he knows the destruction he is causing and is out for blood. Of course some things that he does are surely the result of just his size and power (swinging his tail into the girl in the hospital as he was walking past in GMK), but I don't think the movies ever meant Godzilla to just be an innocent animal in a tiny habitat. He's always intently destroying, or symbolically being driven, to be Japan's penance.

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