Gojira, Godzilla or King of the Monsters, whatever name you know him by, is literally the greatest character to come out of Japan and become popular culture . Produced in 1954 by Toho Studios and directed by Ishiro Honda, Godzilla spawned 29 films and became one of the most instantly recognizable characters in cinematic history. His 23rd performance was a complete reboot for American audiences, produced by TriStar Pictures in 1998 and directed by Roland Emmerich. This was the first film in the series to be entirely produced by a Hollywood studio and received a huge budget and a proper marketing campaign. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Although the two films share the same name and an equally gigantic, reptilian monster that destroys the city, the similarities stop there. While the latter is sprinkled with some references and callbacks to the original, it is a completely different film, both in genre and tone. The original is a thrilling drama full of symbolism and allegory, set against the backdrop of a nation recovering from American occupation and nuclear devastation. While the special effects may not hold up to modern standards, the human element of the film is still touching and moving, even more so considering the cultural context in which it debuted, just 9 years after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Godzilla (1954) was made with clear respect for the victims of the atomic bombs, often lingering on shots of the dead and showing how the events affected the innocent people of Tokyo. Alternatively, the 1998 reboot is an American action blockbuster, drawing more inspiration from Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and Emmerich's earlier disaster film Independence Day (1996) than from the original Godzilla (1954). Godzilla's main casualty shown in the 1998 version is not the population of New York but its architecture, as the film emphasizes how the city is immediately evacuated. This removes much of the stakes from the film and turns Godzilla into more of a nuisance than an indestructible force of nature. The original used what were considered practical and innovative special effects at the time, while the reboot relied heavily on computer-generated imagery to bring the larger-than-life monster to the big screen. The major differences between the two films can ultimately be attributed to the cultures and eras in which they were produced, the ideologies of their respective directors, and the significant advances in film technology and special effects. In a 1997 interview for SFX magazine, Dean Devlin, the writer and producer of Godzilla (1998) made the following statement about the 1954 original: "Most audiences, accustomed to watching the stupid Japanese Godzilla, will think of the men-in-suits and bad models, a sort of dinosaur hybrid that wanders around in a semi-comical way destroying Lego buildings…” Here Devlin succinctly highlights the underlying discrepancy between these two films This quote shows how the TriStar filmmakers tasked with rebooting the Godzilla franchise for American audiences clearly had a fundamental misunderstanding and blatant disrespect for the source material and, worse yet, assumed that their audience would share the their perspective. It's no surprise then that their 1998 version throws all the nuclear allegory of the original out the window, instead opting for an extremely literal approach and making Godzilla simply an oversized, confused animal on all counts. furies. Comparethis mentality with that of the directors behind the original Godzilla (1954). Ishiro Honda, the director, was drafted in 1934 to serve Japan in World War II. Already a budding assistant director for Toho Studios (then called Photo Chemical Laboratory), working alongside future Toho legends like Kurosawa, he was forced to put his film career on hold. He was 23 years old. After several stints in the army, he was eventually captured by the Chinese and held as a prisoner of war, a year before the end of the war. Honda was held captive until Japan's defeat and surrender in 1945; however he would not be released until 7 months after the official end of the war. He returned to Japan a changed man, unsure whether his wife and children would still wait for him. Before finding his family he landed in Hiroshima, where he experienced firsthand the total devastation of nuclear war. It was in the ruins of Hiroshima that Honda took a vow of pacifism, and his anti-war sentiment and condemnation of nuclear weapons can be clearly felt in Godzilla (1954). With this in mind, it's clear that the filmmakers' motivations behind these two films are extremely different. One immediately noticeable difference between the two films is the physical depiction of the titular monster. In the original, Godzilla was a massive biped who walked upright, with physical characteristics drawn from the natural world and Japanese mythology. This resulted in a terrifying creature that slowly brought destruction across the land and could be seen from miles away, resembling a mushroom cloud. His skin was also bumpy and scarred to represent radiation scars. All of these traits were intentional in the construction of a monster that was supposed to be a built-in nuclear weapon, or a "walking H-bomb" as it's called in the film, in case the viewer didn't catch the subtext. In comparison, the rebooted version of Godzilla was purely based in the natural world and felt like its aesthetic was put a lot less thought into it. When Toho agreed to let the American version completely redesign his iconic character, Roland Emmerich said he simply wanted the monster "to be able to run incredibly fast." The rest of the design appears inspired by the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptors that had previously terrorized audiences in Spielberg's massive cultural phenomenon Jurassic Park (1993). This is no surprise as TriStar no doubt wanted to mimic Universal Pictures' successful model with their own prehistoric monster movie. They also decided to change Godzilla's famous roar, an extremely recognizable and scary sound effect created by scraping gloved hands on piano strings, with a generic dinosaur sound effect. Such decisions resulted in a monster that was hardly representative of the iconic Godzilla. If Godzilla's name hadn't been attached to the film, it could have been marketed as another monster movie based on the design. Looking deeper than just his physical appearance, Godzilla's motivations and actions also change drastically between the two films. In the first, Godzilla is awakened by Japanese H-bomb tests in the Pacific Ocean. While sinking several boats along the way, he arrives in Tokyo and begins killing without remorse or reason. Once again, as a reminder of nuclear weapons, Godzilla wreaks havoc indiscriminately. He does not choose his goals, he simply devastates everything in his path. He is an evil force incarnate as he leaves the city of Tokyo in flaming ruins. The long shots of the devastation recall the ruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki following the atomic bombs. The attempts ofmilitary to fight Godzilla are rendered completely ineffective, as he seemingly has no equal in terms of power. Only by turning to a lone scientist will Japan have the chance to defeat the monster. The weapon used to fight Godzilla is also a representation of the power of nuclear weapons, as the scientist hesitates to use his creation for fear of it falling into the wrong hands and being abused. When the weapon is finally deployed against Godzilla, his death is treated sadly, and the dying monster that had represented nuclear bombs throughout the film changes to represent a fallen Japan. After committing horrors of violence across the country, a weapon so powerful it should never be used again is employed as a last-ditch effort to put an end to the monster. In this way, Godzilla serves as a catharsis for the Japanese public in their moment of mourning, as well as an acknowledgment of the shame for the crimes committed by its flag. In the American version, Godzilla is a sexually frustrated hermaphrodite reptile looking for a place to breed. After being mutated by the French atomic bomb tests, Godzilla swims from French Polynesia to New York City in search of an island to lay his eggs. Apparently Manhattan was the closest and most attractive island to the giant animal. When he eventually arrives at the city, most of the destruction he causes is unintentional. It's not harmful - it's simply a large, frightened animal that can't help but knock down buildings and trample vehicles as it moves. On more than one occasion throughout the film, Godzilla is given the opportunity to harm a human and seemingly chooses not to. When confronted by the military, the creature chooses to run and hide rather than fight back. It is only when continually provoked that Godzilla reacts, which comes across more as a defensive measure than aggression. To defeat the monster, Americans do not have to resort to using any kind of specialized weapon. They simply lure Godzilla to the Brooklyn Bridge, where he becomes entangled in suspension cables, allowing the military to shoot him. When the beast dies, he shares a moment of mutual respect with Matthew Broderick. This version of Godzilla isn't a metaphor for anything, he's just a misunderstood rabid animal that needed to be put down. The two films are also drastically different in their special effects. Much of this is due to the eras in which they were produced, as significant advances in computer technology occurred in the 44 years between the two. In the original, special effects guru Eiji Tsuburaya pioneered a type of special effect he called "suit-mation" to bring the gigantic monster to life. Honda initially intended to use stop motion to film Godzilla, but after realizing the time required, Tsuburaya had to come up with something more time-efficient. The suit was made of hand-mixed latex, which was so hot and uncomfortable for the actor that it could only be worn for a few minutes at a time. Tsuburaya also built a meticulously designed 1/25 scale Tokyo miniature set, for which the suit would be scrapped. Even though they had the set and suit, making Godzilla move realistically required an in-camera effect. Using high-speed cameras, they shot the Godzilla scenes at 240 frames per second. When projected at 24 frames per second, it gave the illusion of Godzilla moving at a realistically slow speed for such a massive creature. Understandably, the American reboot chose to forgo practical effects for a computer-generated version of Godzilla. Emmerich is a director himself, 2010.