If you’re a sci-fi and/or fantasy fan, chances are you’ve
seen at least one Godzilla film at some point in your life. And I’m talking
about classic Japanese produced Godzilla. Not that CGI remake starring Matthew
Broderick. I am talking classic man in a suit Godzilla. That is the Godzilla
that people know and love. But for as much as people love Godzilla we must not
forget that he is the bad guy.
The first Godzilla film (titled “Gojira” which is actually
the correct pronunciation of the creature’s name) depicted the giant reptilian
monster awaking from centuries of sleep and demolishing the city of Tokyo. This
set the standard for which the character would always be judged. Later films
would depict Godzilla taking time away from his destruction of Japan to fight
other gigantic terrifying monsters that were evenly matched with Godzilla. But
in those films it is always Godzilla who comes out victorious as “The King of
All Monsters.”
Now while Godzilla is the main event of these movies, there
are human characters in these films as well. Usually these human characters are
a mixture of soldiers, scientists and civilians, all gathered together to try
and find a way to defeat the threat to them, aka Godzilla and the monster du
jour. But while Godzilla is a threat, the human characters seem to end up
routing for him to win since the monster he is fighting always seem to be a
much more dangerous threat. Godzilla is the lesser of the two evils.
But even with Godzilla’s heroic actions, he is still a
monster. No matter how many monsters he defeats, the humans of Japan still
consider him to be a threat. They will develop giant robots, laser satellites
and any manner of other devices in order to defeat him. It becomes a bit of a
hypocritical moment in every film because even though the humans want to get
rid of Godzilla they still need him to defeat whatever other giant monster is
attacking them at the same time.
Rather than treating Godzilla like a threat, the people of
Japan should look at him like the world’s biggest guard dog. While a guard dog
might dig up your yard on occasion, it also keeps unwanted elements out of your
yard and defends you from intruders. Godzilla just happens to be a sixty
thousand ton guard dog and instead of digging up the yard knocks over
buildings. A small price to pay if you ask me.
It makes far more sense for Japan to embrace Godzilla than
to fight him. He’s more than proven a benefit to the country. Also the amount
of money to control Godzilla is probably exceedingly less than the amount of
money the country invests in trying to kill him. Giant robots, tanks, missiles,
satellites, all these things cost huge amounts of money and have done nothing
to remove the problem. All you would need to get Godzilla on your side is a
really good animal trainer and lots of gigantic treats. |
| "No, really, I'M GODZILLA!" |
When it comes down to it, Godzilla may be a monster but he’s
a better monster than the other monsters out there. While I dislike the 1998
remake it did establish one important fact; Godzilla is an animal and a lot of
what he does is instinctual. Japan is his turf and he will territorially defend
it. That’s what animals do. They defend
their turf. The people of Japan should embrace that fact and use Godzilla’s
territoriality to keep their island nation safe from threats.
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