Godzilla (1954 film)
A giant monster, mutated by nuclear testing, terrorizes Japan.
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A sequel titled Godzilla Raids Again was released after the original film.[1]
Making and release
Mori shortened the title to Project G and gave the production classified status.[2] The Godzilla suit was constructed using thin bamboo sticks, wire, metal mesh, cushioning, and coats of latex, weighing 100 kilograms.[3] After failing to renegotiate with the Indonesian government in Jakarta, producer Tomoyuki Tanaka came up with the concept for a giant monster movie during his return flight to Japan.[4] The March 1954 Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident and the 1953 movie The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms served as inspiration for Tanaka.[4]
Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya decided that the monster's assault should be presented with the gravity of a documentary.[5]
What the cited sources add
Merchant also wrote that Godzilla is "arguably the best window into post-war attitudes towards nuclear power we've got—as seen from the perspective of its greatest victims"[6] Jacobson described the creature as "a reptilian id that lives inside the deepest recesses of the collective unconscious that cannot be reasoned with"[7] Jacobson also stated that Honda's first Godzilla "is in line with these inwardly turned post-war films and perhaps the most brutally unforgiving of them"[7] Terrence Rafferty from The New York Times said Godzilla was "an obvious gigantic, unsubtle, grimly purposeful metaphor for the atomic bomb".[8]
Mark Jacobson, writing for New York magazine's website, described Godzilla as a figure that "transcends humanist prattle" and called him "the symbol of a world gone wrong, a work of man that once created cannot be taken back or deleted."[7][9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Godzilla (1954 film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kalat 2010, p. 34 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Godzilla (1954 film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ryfle 1998, p. 33; Ragone 2007, p. 44; Ragone 2007, p. 44; Ryfle 1998, p. 33 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Godzilla (1954 film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ryfle 1998, p. 33; Ryfle 1998, p. 33 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Godzilla (1954 film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ragone 2007, p. 44; Ryfle Godziszewski 2006, p. 00:02:08; Ryfle Godziszewski 2017, p. 84 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Godzilla (1954 film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ryfle Godziszewski 2006, p. 00:02:08; Ryfle Godziszewski 2006, p. 00:02:08; Ryfle Godziszewski 2017, p. 84; Ryfle Godziszewski 2017, p. 84; Ryfle Godziszewski 2017, p. 84; Ryfle Godziszewski 2017, p. 84 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Merchant, "A Brief History of Godzilla, Our Never-Ending Nuclear Nightmare", Vice, August 25, 2013. facts only, no text reused. vice.com
- Jacobson, "What Does Godzilla Mean? The Evolution of a Monster Metaphor", Vulture, May 16, 2014. facts only, no text reused. vulture.com
- Wikipedia, "Godzilla (1954 film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Merchant, "A Brief History of Godzilla, Our Never-Ending Nuclear Nightmare", Vice, August 25, 2013; Rafferty, "The Monster That Morphed Into a Metaphor", The New York Times, May 2, 2004 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Godzilla (1954 film)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jacobson, "What Does Godzilla Mean? The Evolution of a Monster Metaphor", Vulture, May 16, 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Godzilla (1954 film) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Godzilla (1954 film) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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