Is a heroic Godzilla inherently a pro-nuclear narrative?

[LSD Jellyfish]

I really don’t think there’s any “pro nuke” agenda being pushed in KOTM. Idk why people are still debating and arguing that the message is a “disgrace to the original movie” when I sincerely doubt the filmmakers had any intent to treat it as such.

No one, at least on this site has claimed that KOTM is a "disgrace to the original film", nor that the film makers had any intent behind that. We simply brought up, how it is difficult to arrive at a conclusion, where in the original creators of Godzilla, Toho and Japanese society at large, would think it would be an appropriate way to end the film or plot element of a Godzilla film, or film in general.

That being said, I can certainly see why people could get that message out of the movie. They could have handled the consequences of using the nuke a bit better. But the movie isn’t trying to make any hot take on the state of nuclear warfare. It just seems like unfortunate implications at worst.

Considering the franchise is based on and intrinsically linked to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the nuclear fallout and Lucky Dragon 9 incident, with subsequent entries (new and old) I think that it's inevitable to make and question how a film in this franchise represents nuclear weapons. Even within the context of it's prequel, G1 (the military wanted to use nukes to kill Mutos+Godzilla) and the films own narrative against irrational quickly made decision making (releasing Ghidorah, the Oxygen Destroyer), it makes little sense.

I just chose to take it as another representation of the character. The movie isn’t trying to be the 1954 movie, or Shin Godzilla. While some show the horrors of Nuclear bombs and testing, others show nuclear power can be put to good use. Unfortunately, it’s hard to passively show the latter considering it’s an action movie that’s already full of chaos and destruction, and is at the peak of it’s climax. At the end of the day, it’s also just one chapter to the Monsterverse. Who knows, maybe they’ll pick up on this in Godzilla Vs. Kong, or Godzilla 3 (if it happens.)

I'm hoping that it's brought up in Kong vs. Godzilla. There's a possibility that super-charging Godizlla like that could turn him evil, or something, or that the film could explore what happened. But the ending credits say otherwise, and wouldn't retroactively completely fix a movie made by different film makers.

In regards to,"another representation of Godzilla", that's fine. But I don't get the stuff in italics. While I have my own issues with G14, it's a good example of how to have something definitively not like Shin or 54, without devolving into utter nonsense. G14 strikes a nice balance. And there are many entries within the Godzilla franchise where the nuclear themes are severely dialed back, without being offensive. There's a big striking difference between dialing the nuclear elements back, such as in Invasion of the Astro Monster, versus having nuclear energy, weapons and radiation be an active benefit to the films narrative.

[GojiDog]

I guess it depends on how you look at it.

To me, KOTM isn't any more pro-nuke than the original film was pro-Oxygen Destroyer.

The Original Serasawa knew his creation was bad and had great destructive potential, but also realized it was the last chance to (hopefully) bring peace and sanity back to the world, and he died to make sure it was never used again.

The New Serasawa knew that Ghidorah was going to destroy the world and a nuke (used away from civilization where no significant damage or loss of life could happen) was the only thing to save Godzilla, the one thing that can stop Ghidorah. He sacrificed himself to use a weapon he does not approve of to (hopefully) bring peace and sanity back to the world.

To me, it wasn't "Rah-Rah! Nukes are rad!" but rather it was the last and only thing they could do, despite the destructive power of nuclear weapons.

[LockBite]

I guess it depends on how you look at it.

To me, KOTM isn't any more pro-nuke than the original film was pro-Oxygen Destroyer.

The Original Serasawa knew his creation was bad and had great destructive potential, but also realized it was the last chance to (hopefully) bring peace and sanity back to the world, and he died to make sure it was never used again.

The New Serasawa knew that Ghidorah was going to destroy the world and a nuke (used away from civilization where no significant damage or loss of life could happen) was the only thing to save Godzilla, the one thing that can stop Ghidorah. He sacrificed himself to use a weapon he does not approve of to (hopefully) bring peace and sanity back to the world.

To me, it wasn't "Rah-Rah! Nukes are rad!" but rather it was the last and only thing they could do, despite the destructive power of nuclear weapons.

Agreed. In a world where Godzilla is Earth’s defender, and is still a nuclear being, it’s pretty much inevitable that a plot point would come up in one of these movies involving people using nuclear weaponry to aid him. As has been eloquently pointed out by Inferno Rodan, Toho themselves have pretty much already done this.

[NBG2]

Yes it is.