Godzilla

[Aaron Gerow]

Markus introduced, through a cross-post, a lot of good questions about 
the new "American" _Godzilla_.  Since I haven't seen it, I can't say much 
about it myself, but I am also intrigued about how the film is sparking 
the creation of discourses about national identity.  

After all, Godzilla is a "Japanese" star who has "made good" in 
Hollywood, and has thus fulfilled the dream narrative constructed for a 
lot of Japanese cultural items: full recognition by the Other.  Even 
today, there are still lots of stories about Komuro, Seiko (who just got 
remarried, if you didn't know), Ishibashi Takaaki, etc. making it "over 
there."  The Nomo, Ishii, and Irabu phenom fits into this narrative as 
well.  Much of the discourse in Japan about the American Godzilla is thus 
tinged with this sense of national pride.

But at the same time, it is a case of appropriation--of the 
Other/Hollywood making Godzilla by itself.  It is no longer a Japanese 
product, but an American one.  And thus I think you do see a bit of 
hesitation about recognizing it.  When the film opened in the U.S., the 
wide shows and papers here covered it heavily, with full page spreads and 
live TV reports, but you also had a lot of critical comments mostly 
focusing on the difference between the American and Japanese Godzilla.

Interestingly, most of these criticisms rather directly translate into 
attempts to construct national identity--not for monsters, but for 
humans.  It is as if Godzilla is the trope for defining the national 
self.  Thus one saw many comments like this: the Japanese Godzilla 
destroys, but would never do something so cruel as eat someone.  It is a 
monster with a heart, not a beast; a being with a mission, not a random 
destroyer, who can be on the side of humanity.  The American Godzilla, 
however, is simply an alien beast, a creature of pure violence who has no 
purpose other than to wreck havoc.  Implied in these comments--and 
sometimes directly stated--is that this reflects the fact Japanese 
themselves have more of a heart, have a better relation with nature, etc. 
 Americans, however, can only see monsters as alien beasts, in part 
because they themselves are so violent.

I haven't read everything written on the subject, so I suppose there is a 
large variety of discourses operating here, but I do have some questions 
for people:

1) Has anyone also paid attention to these discourses in Japan?  What 
impressions have you had?

2) Are similar discourses operating in the U.S.: i.e., is there an 
attempt to distinguish the American and Japanese Godzillas in terms of 
discourses of national identity?  How are the differences being 
articulated?  This includes what the film is doing, but it is as much a 
question of how it is being discussed.

3) Finally, just how has the original Godzilla operated in terms of 
constructing Japanese national identity?  The thesis that Godzilla 
represents resentment and fear about the nuclear age is not off the mark, 
but I think the series gets more complicated as it moved on.

Any thoughts?

Aaron Gerow
Yokohama National University
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