Gojira, Godzilla or King of the Monsters, whatever name you know him by, he 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 would spawn 29 films and become one of the most instantly recognizable characters in cinema history. Its 23rd performance was a complete reboot for American audiences, produced by TriStar Pictures in 1998 and directed by Roland Emmerich. It is the first film in the franchise to be produced entirely by a Hollywood studio and benefit from a huge budget and marketing campaign. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Although both films share the same name and an equally gigantic, reptilian, city-destroying monster, the similarities end there. If the latter is sprinkled with a few references and reminders to the original, it is a completely different film, both in genre and in 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. Even though the special effects don't hold up to modern standards, the human element of the film remains poignant and moving, even more so considering the cultural context in which the film debuted, just 9 years after the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Godzilla (1954) was made with obvious respect for the victims of the atomic bombs, often lingering on images of the dead and showing how the events affected the innocents of Tokyo. Alternatively, the 1998 reboot is an American action blockbuster, drawing more inspiration from Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993) and Emmerich's previous disaster film, Independence Day (1996) than from the original Godzilla (1954). The main casualty of Godzilla shown in the 1998 version is not the population of New York but its architecture, with the film making a point of emphasizing how the city is immediately evacuated. This removes much of the stakes from the film and turns Godzilla into a nuisance rather than an indestructible force of nature. The original used what were considered groundbreaking and innovative practical 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 vast differences between the two films can ultimately be attributed to the cultures and eras in which they were produced, the ideologies of the respective filmmakers, and significant advances in film technology and special effects. In a 1997 interview with SFX magazine, Dean Devlin, screenwriter and producer of Godzilla (1998), made the following statement about the 1954 original: "Most audiences, accustomed to watching the hokey Japanese Godzilla, will think of men in - suits and bad models, some sort of dinosaur hybrid rampaging through Lego buildings in a semi-comic way...” Here, Devlin succinctly highlights the underlying divergence 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, thought their audiences would share their point of view. So it's no surprise that their 1998 version throws the entire nuclear allegory of the original out the window, choosing instead to take an extremely literal approach and makeof Godzilla simply an oversized, confused animal on a rampage. Compare this mindset to that of the filmmakers behind the original Godzilla (1954). Ishiro Honda, the director, was drafted in 1934 to serve in Japan during World War II. Already an aspiring assistant director for Toho Studios (at the time 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 finally captured by the Chinese and held as a prisoner of war, a year before the war ended. 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 transformed, not knowing if his wife and children would still be waiting for him. Before reuniting with his family, he landed in Hiroshima, where he witnessed the utter 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 throughout Godzilla (1954). With this in mind, it is clear that the motivations of the filmmakers behind these two films are extremely different. One immediately apparent difference between the two films is the physical depiction of the titular monster. In the original, Godzilla was a massive, upright biped, with physical characteristics taken from the natural world, as well as Japanese mythology. This gave rise to a terrifying creature that slowly destroyed the country and could be seen from miles away, similar to a mushroom cloud. Even his skin was bumpy and scarred, representing the scars from the radiation. All of these traits were deliberate in the construction of a monster meant to be a nuclear weapon incarnate, or a "walking H-bomb" as it's called in the film, in case the viewer missed the subtext. In comparison, the rebooted version of Godzilla was purely based on the natural world and seemed to have put much less thought into its aesthetic. When Toho agreed to let the American version completely redesign its iconic character, Roland Emmerich reportedly said that he simply wanted the monster "to be able to run incredibly fast." The rest of the design seems inspired by the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Velociraptors that had already terrified audiences in Spielberg's massive cultural phenomenon, Jurassic Park (1993). This is no surprise as TriStar undoubtedly wanted to emulate Universal Pictures' model of success with its own prehistoric monster film. They even chose to replace the famous Godzilla roar, an extremely recognizable and frightening sound effect created by strumming gloved hands on the strings of a piano, with a generic dinosaur sound effect. Such decisions resulted in a monster that hardly represented the iconic Godzilla. If Godzilla's name wasn't attached to the film, it could have been marketed as a simple design-based monster movie. Beyond 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 testing in the Pacific Ocean. While sinking several boats along the way, he arrives in Tokyo and begins killing without remorse or reason. Again, returning to nuclear weapons, Godzilla wreaks havoc indiscriminately. He doesn't choose his targets, he just devastates everything in his path. She is a force of evil incarnate as she leaves the city of Tokyo in burning ruins. Long shots of the devastation recall theruins of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the aftermath of the atomic bombs. Military attempts to combat Godzilla are rendered completely ineffective, as his power appears unmatched. Only by turning to a lone scientist will Japan have a chance of defeating the monster. Even the weapon used to fight Godzilla is a representation of the power of nuclear weapons, as the scientist is hesitant to use his creation for fear that it will fall into the wrong hands and be misused. When the weapon is finally deployed against Godzilla, his death is treated with sadness and the dying monster that represented the nuclear bombs throughout the film transforms to represent a fallen Japan. After committing horror and violence across the country, a weapon so powerful it should never be used again, is used as a last ditch effort to end the monster. In this way, Godzilla serves as a catharsis for the Japanese public in a time of mourning, as well as an acknowledgment of shame for the crimes committed by their 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 in search of an island on which to lay his eggs. Apparently, Manhattan was the closest and most attractive island to the giant animal. When it finally comes to the city, most of the destruction it causes is unintentional. It's not malicious: it's simply a frightened, oversized animal that can't help but knock over buildings and trample vehicles as it travels. Several times throughout the film, Godzilla is offered a chance to harm a human and seemingly chooses not to do so. When confronted by the military, the creature chooses to flee and hide rather than fight back. Only when continually provoked does Godzilla retaliate, appearing more as a defensive measure than aggression. To defeat the monster, the Americans do not need to use specialized weapons. They simply lure Godzilla onto the Brooklyn Bridge, where he gets tangled in the suspension cables, allowing the military to shoot him. As the beast dies, it 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 had to be put down. The two films are also radically different in their special effects. This is largely due to the eras in which they were produced, of course, as significant advances in computer technology have taken place in the 44 years separating the two. In the original, special effects guru Eiji Tsuburaya pioneered a type of special effect he called "suit-mation" in order to bring the gigantic monster to life. Honda had originally planned to use stop motion to film Godzilla, but after realizing the time needed, Tsuburaya had to come up with something faster. The costume was made from hand-blended latex, so hot and uncomfortable for the actor inside that it could only be worn for a few minutes at a time. Tsuburaya also constructed a miniature set of Tokyo, meticulously crafted in 1/25th scale, for which the suit would be demolished. Even though they had the set and costume, making Godzilla move realistically had an effect in camera. Using high-speed cameras, they filmed the Godzilla scenes at 240 frames per second. When projected at 24 frames per second, this gives the illusion of Godzilla moving at a realistic, slow speed for a., 2010.