Talkback Thread #1: Godzilla (1954)

[Steven Sloss]

The Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) is showing the uncut, Japanese version of GODZILLA on Friday, 23rd of March! Here's the link:

http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/whats_on/3759_godzilla

I cannot wait. I've been waiting for over ten years for a Godzilla screening in my country. I've booked my ticket already!

[Living Corpse]

Okay for a second the all caps made me think you meant the 98 film and I was gonna ask why it's not in the Heisei section.

[20th Century Boy]

The original Godzilla is one of my favorite movies of all time. It is a dark, scary, and intelligent cinematic masterpiece. That being said, I have a question regarding the allegorical aspect of the film. So the movie's central theme is the horrors of the H-bomb, right? Then can someone explain to me what the deal is with the oxygen destroyer? This is an anti-bomb film, but in the end, humanity is saved by a weapon that is even deadlier than the hydrogen bomb. Wait-WHAT?! That completely contradicts the movie's central theme and message. I don't get it... Am I viewing this the wrong way?

[edgaguirus]

I can only give my interpretation, but it shows that people tend to react to doomsday weapons with their own doomsday weapons. I remember a quote from the X-Files: " If you are unwilling to do what your enemy is, you've already lost the war." People arm themselves with guns if their enemy has guns, and when weapons escalate, both sides increase their capacity to destroy eachother.

[Living Corpse]

Pretty much what edgaguirus said, Godzilla pretty much is a super living atomic weapon so they kinda were forced to use their own super weapon against him. Godzilla is often credited as being the A-bomb incarnate but he has become something more then that, he's war in general personified, a victim of mans violence just as much as people are a victim of his rampages.

Anyways, the good old doctor did make sure to destroy the blue prints and kill himself so that it would only be used once and never again and he made it clear he didn't even want to use it that one time but hey, desperate times called for desperate measures. Godzilla is pretty much like a big bomb and sometimes in war the only way to win is to have a bigger bomb or in this case worse super weapon.

[20th Century Boy]

Pretty much what edgaguirus said, Godzilla pretty much is a super living atomic weapon so they kinda were forced to use their own super weapon against him. Godzilla is often credited as being the A-bomb incarnate but he has become something more then that, he's war in general personified, a victim of mans violence just as much as people are a victim of his rampages.

Anyways, the good old doctor did make sure to destroy the blue prints and kill himself so that it would only be used once and never again and he made it clear he didn't even want to use it that one time but hey, desperate times called for desperate measures. Godzilla is pretty much like a big bomb and sometimes in war the only way to win is to have a bigger bomb or in this case worse super weapon.

So it's not entirely a film that tells us to stop using doomsday weapons. The weapons must be in the right hands and used for the right purposes. Is that what the film is trying to say?

[Cimmerian Dragon]

I think the point is that it isn't the weapon, or the technology, that's evil or bad. Power is simply power, morally neutral. What Godzilla warns us about is the way these technologies are used. Serizawa's discovery, like atomic energy, might have held incredible benefits for the world. The tragedy is that human beings are so short-sighted, that Serizawa simply didn't believe that people could know about his discoveries and choose not to use it to attack one another.

A kid holding a knife could either whittle himself a toy boat, or get pissed at his brother and stab him with it. Godzilla tells us that humanity always seems to get to the stabbing eventually, regardless of what progress they may have accomplished with the same tools.

Now, is it sometime acceptable to use that knife as a weapon? Of course, to say otherwise is naive. However, choosing when it is morally right to do so is not something that comes easily to all people. Using the Oxygen Destroyer to kill a mutual threat to mankind was perfectly understandable, but how long would it be until some nation built one to use as leverage in political ultimatums? Serizawa thought of this and decided that he could not allow it to happen.

[Living Corpse]

EDIT: Nevermind. CD nailed it on the head.

[20th Century Boy]

I think the point is that it isn't the weapon, or the technology, that's evil or bad. Power is simply power, morally neutral. What Godzilla warns us about is the way these technologies are used. Serizawa's discovery, like atomic energy, might have held incredible benefits for the world. The tragedy is that human beings are so short-sighted, that Serizawa simply didn't believe that people could know about his discoveries and choose not to use it to attack one another.

A kid holding a knife could either whittle himself a toy boat, or get pissed at his brother and stab him with it. Godzilla tells us that humanity always seems to get to the stabbing eventually, regardless of what progress they may have accomplished with the same tools.

Now, is it sometime acceptable to use that knife as a weapon? Of course, to say otherwise is naive. However, choosing when it is morally right to do so is not something that comes easily to all people. Using the Oxygen Destroyer to kill a mutual threat to mankind was perfectly understandable, but how long would it be until some nation built one to use as leverage in political ultimatums? Serizawa thought of this and decided that he could not allow it to happen.

This makes sense! Thank you!

[Gussilla95]

I am a Glaswegian too!

[Rody]

Okay for a second the all caps made me think you meant the 98 film...

Why would anyone want to screen THAT?

[Living Corpse]

Okay for a second the all caps made me think you meant the 98 film...

Why would anyone want to screen THAT?

GINO fan and general people who've only seen that film. Honestly it wouldn't surprise me of some theaters out there show it again once in a while, I mean some people are willing to pay $300 just to get a theater to play Terminator 2 again.

[Goji]

GODZILLA is the official English title to the 1954 film, specifically the Japanese version.

[Steven Sloss]

I am a Glaswegian too!

You should have come to the screening. The film got a great reception, the audience responded brilliantly to it, and it got a huge applause when it finished. Only a Glasgow audience!

[Gojira-Fan]

On July 2nd the original Godzilla film will be playing in Brookline, Massachusetts at the Coolidge Corner Theater.

Just a little fact I think anyone nearby would like to know about. I sadly won't be able to show up because I have a college meeting the next day.

http://www.coolidge.org/content/godzilla-gojira

[Gojisan866]

I think I'll go, as long as my parents are willing to take me... D: