I saw Godzilla Minus One in the theater over the weekend. What an experience that was! It’s definitely one of my favorite Godzilla movies, and I’ve seen a lot of them. It’s a movie with a beautiful, multi-layered message. The Godzilla of this film can be seen as a metaphor for trauma, war, guilt, and the wrath of nature itself, all of which tie together as a beautifully cohesive whole. I highly, highly recommend seeing it in the theater if you can, it will be an unforgetable experience.
I got chills when the classic theme played, and while I usually try to stay quiet when watching a movie in the theater, I audibly gasped and said “oh no” at a few points. There was one part where I clapped, but at the very end, so did the entire theater, so I didn’t feel as weird about that.
What is it about Godzilla that keeps us coming back every time? How can a giant atomic reptile endure where so many other monsters like it are forgotten? Maybe it’s the sheer versatility with which the symbolism can be layered atop this creature that continues to fascinate us. Godzilla can mean so many things. I love that the current series of American movies allows us to cheer for him as an embodiment of the natural order that we humans have messed up, and I love that it can be something to be dreaded, like a storm or the inevitable consequences of our sins. (I feel more comfortable calling Minus One Godzilla “it” as it feels more like an impersonal force of nature than the ultimately benevolent if destructive version of the character seen in the series by Legendary Pictures.)
There will be mild spoilers in this next section, and it’s also filled with me acting as if I understand the Japanese national identity and political commentary–which I most likely don’t. Everything written here is my view alone.
Anyway, on with the essay.
As it is the most recent Japanese Godzilla film, following 2016’s Shin Godzilla (that’s Godzilla: Resurgence for all of you not in Japan or the U.S.), it’s easy to compare and contrast the two. They are very different movies, both of which I enjoyed greatly. I’m not going to judge which is the better movie because that’s no fun, I just find it interesting to note their differences and similarities. Ultimately, I feel like they start in two different places but ultimately end up in a similar place.
In Shin, we’re presented with a contemporary Japan that is unprepared for disaster, bound by the red tape of its own government and it’s relationship with the United States. The film has been condemned by some as anti-American, but I saw it as America-critical, reflecting the frustration many Japanese feel at being so closely tied to the nation ever since World War II. It never struck me as anti-American, especially as Godzilla’s defeat in the climax is the result of an international effort, in which America plays a supporting role. The key to solving the “Godzilla problem” is ultimately scientific. Military might will only get us so far, and may just worsen the problem in the long run. In the face of a crisis, international cooperation and scientific progress is what ensures a better future, even if the risk isn’t totally eliminated.
In Minus One, we’re placed into a Japan that has been ravaged by World War II. Interestingly, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki aren’t even mentioned, as the film focuses on the lesser-known devastation of Tokyo and its immediate aftermath. This is a Japan that has been thoroughly defeated and occupied, with a traumatized population. The title references how Godzilla’s arrival takes the country from “zero to minus.” In contrast with Shin, we’re shown Japan at its lowest, with Godzilla serving as a metaphor for the war and its aftermath–from the literal ruins to the psychological effects on all who survived and served. More than any other, this Godzilla feels like the embodiment of WWII’s senseless violence. Once again, military might does little to stop Godzilla, and its defeat comes from largely demilitarized vessels and scientific progress, and most notably, the abandonment of the martyrdom that was so central to the Japanese war effort. While the threat of war will never go fully go away (shown by hinting at Godzilla’s survival at the end), the country can heal and rebuild if it faces its past without letting itself be consumed by it.
Both movies are quintessentially Japanese, with one showing its transition from a bleak past to a more hopeful present, and the other taking more of a realist–or perhaps cynical–view of contemporary Japan and offering a more cautiously hopeful vision for the future. Mainly, I feel the difference between the two movies is realism (Shin) and optimism (Minus One). Whether or not the two can be reconciled remains to be seen, but even a cynic like me can be hopeful sometimes.
-Seven-
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