Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Patrick Woodward and I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses
a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
matter where in the world they live. In the darkness, you hear the
footsteps of the creature before you see it. The windows of the buildings shake
and crack. Suddenly it appears, a huge creature, as tall as the
tallest towers. Its cry splits the night. Its backbone glows with a purple
light. Energy shoots out from its mouth, slicing the buildings in half.
Godzilla has returned to Japan. Godzilla is one of the most famous monsters of
the history of film. Pictured sometimes as an evil force and sometimes a hero.
Godzilla is always a force of ruin, but the roaring monster makes a
film fun. But the huge beast also shows the fears of those who created
him. Today's spotlight is on Godzilla, the greatest monster of the movies.
Three men created Godzilla. They worked for Toho, a Japanese film studio,
in nineteen fifty four. Their names were Ishi ro Honda, Takio Murata,
and Tomi Yuki Tanaka. Tomi Yuki Tanaka the producer of the project, originally
planned for the film to be a typical monster film, usually a frightening creatures
that people must fight. Usually the people kill the monster or drive it away.
But with director Ishio Honda's vision, this monster film became something more.
He and his co writer Takeyo Murata made the film into a metaphor of something
more important. A metaphor is a creative comparison describing something that shares the same
qualities with something else. Godzilla became a metaphor for the tragedy and horror of
nuclear weapons. Honda was no stranger to these weapons, nor was Japan.
In nineteen forty five, Japan was at war against the United States and its
allies. This war, called World War Two, had been going on for
many years. Hundreds of thousands of people had died. On the sixth and
again on ninth of August, the United States dropped two nuclear weapons on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. These bombs immediately destroyed these two major Japanese cities. The explosion
killed tens of thousands of people. The radiation from these bombs also poisoned many
more. The ruin was terrible. The Japanese could do nothing to stop this
powerful weapon. Their government surrendered soon afterward the war was over. Ishiro Hoonda
was an unwilling soldier in that war. He spoke to the magazine Newsweek about
the experience that would shape his film. I was coming back from the war.
The army was returning from our final defeat. We passed through Hiroshima.
Back then, it was says that for the next seventy two years, nous
who'd grow there. That picture really stayed with me. So I have a
kind of hatred of nuclear weapons. Honda's hatred of nuclear weapons shaped the plot
of the first Godzilla movie. It also included another real life event involving nuclear
weapons called the Diigo Fukuru Maru incident. During this incident, the Japanese fishing
ship Diigo Fukuru Maru was fishing for tuna near the Marshall Islands in the Western
Pacific. Near those islands, the United States secretly was testing a new nuclear
weapon. The ship was fishing in a place that should have been safely outside
of the testing zone, but this bomb was much more powerful than expected.
It sent clouds of radioactive fallout into the wind. The dust and ash in
the radioactive clouds fell on the Diigo Fukuru Marow. The radioactive fallout from this
nuclear test poisoned the ship's crew. Several crew members died within a few weeks,
and those who did not die immediately had permanent disabilities. Later, many
of those men died from cancer caused by the radiation. The Diigo Fukurio Marrow
incident directly influenced Godzilla's creators. The film even begins with fishermen disappearing. Nuclear
testing changes Godzilla into a radioactive monster. Ehiji Tsuburaya was the film's special effects
artist. He designed Godzilla. He made the monster's skin look like the skin
of the survivors of the nuclear attacks from World War II. Much of the
film shows Godzilla attacking Japan. The damage is like destruction of an atomic bomb,
but Godzilla is also victim. His unstoppable anger also comes from his own
pain caused by the atomic bomb. Godzilla also differed from other monster films in
many ways. Most of these films concentrate on the monster and the destruction it
causes. Godzilla does this too, but most of the film concentrates on people's
experience of Godzilla's destruction. In one part, the film shows a mother crying,
telling her children that they all will die, but that they will be
with their father who died before. As she speaks, Godzilla comes ever closer
to their hiding place. In another, a doctor knows a child that she
is treating has been poisoned by radiation. There is nothing that she can do
to help her. These parts purposely match events after the bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. John Rako Roberto was an American Godzilla expert. In his study of
the effects of the atomic bomb on Japanese culture, he wrote, Godzilla was
hidden as a normal Hollywood style monster film, but it made Japan and finally
the world, experience the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki all over again. The
movie Godzilla was a huge success on its release. It set a box office
record in Tokyo. Reviews of the film were mixed, but the movie was
very popular because so many people came to see it. It became the eighth
most profitable film in Japan that year. In the next few years, the
movie was shown in Germany and the United States. However, these films were
changed a lot. These did not include much of the original movies anti war
message. These also removed the nuclear weapons. In the United States, the
title was changed to Godzilla, King of the Monsters, but more people watched
the film in the United States than in Japan. The international showings of the
movie helped solidify Godzilla's popularity. The Toho Film Studio capitalized on this popularity,
releasing five more Godzilla films in the next ten years. In these films,
Godzilla is still a force of destruction, but he slowly turns into a hero
who fights other monsters that threatened the earth and its people. Some films were
more about the fights between these monsters than being a symbol for anything, but
they still considered Japanese attitudes at the time, like a growing feeling of teamwork
between Japan and other nations. Is Shiro Honder directed many of these later Godzilla
films. He spoke to Newsweek about this period. Of these films, in
parts with international meetings, I always show people from the Soviet Union and other
countries. They helped the Japanese government with a problem it faces. That kind
of assistance somehow became the subject of these sorts of films. Corporation or working
together is the most important subject. As time went on, Godzilla became a
friendly monster. Recent films such as the American made Godzilla X con The New
Empire followed this example. Here he is a force of nature that protects the
earth from outside danger, but Godzilla still has the to show the fears of
the Japanese people. In twenty sixteen, Toho released a new film called Shin
Godzilla. Shin Godzilla was influenced by the tsunami, a huge wave caused by
an earthquake that hit Japan in twenty eleven. The tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear
power plant to melt down, releasing radiation into the environment. In the film,
Godzilla is a slow moving monster changed by radiation poisoning. The monster is
a danger, but much of the film is about how government officials fail to
address the problem. The movie shows the danger of a natural tragedy, but
it is also about the dangers of a slow moving government. Today, Godzilla
is the longest running film series of all time, with thirty eight movies completed
and more to be released. He is one of Japan's most well known creations.
He made people want to make other monster films and video games, but
Godzilla will always be more than just another monster. He shows both the fears
and joys that all people experience. In that way, we are a part
of Godzilla. Our experiences and expectations make him one of the greatest monsters of
all time. Have you ever seen a Godzilla film? Which film was your
favorite? You can leave a comment on our website or email us at Radio
at Radio English dot net. You can also comment on Facebook at Facebook dot
com slash Spotlight Radio. This program is called Godzilla the Greatest Monster. The
writer of this program was Dan Christman. The producer was Mitcheo Osaki. The
voices you heard were from the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted this program
and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it
on the internet at www dot Radio English dot net. You can also get
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English app. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.