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Why did monster films appeal so much to the Japanese in the 1950s?
Posted on 9/27/16 at 4:45 pm
Posted on 9/27/16 at 4:45 pm
During WWII nearly every major city in Japan was leveled flat by firebombing, including two nuclear bombs, which caused nearly four million deaths across the country. Think about that for a second and imagine a scenario where New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. were utterly destroyed.
Yet within a few years and before the Allied bombers' mess was even cleaned up, Japanese film makers responded with movies featuring giant beasts wrecking havoc and destruction on Japanese city streets. Films with monsters such as Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan recreated the horror the Japanese people had just lived through- and for reasons I cannot fathom- were wildly popular in the 1950s and 60s. Those monsters that were formed from nuclear accidents were even more appealing.
Can anyone explain the psychology behind this? Again, look to the US and how 9/11 scarred this country. Imagine that times 1,000 and then imagine Hollywood celebrating such an enormous defeat. I don't get it.
Yet within a few years and before the Allied bombers' mess was even cleaned up, Japanese film makers responded with movies featuring giant beasts wrecking havoc and destruction on Japanese city streets. Films with monsters such as Godzilla, Mothra and Rodan recreated the horror the Japanese people had just lived through- and for reasons I cannot fathom- were wildly popular in the 1950s and 60s. Those monsters that were formed from nuclear accidents were even more appealing.
Can anyone explain the psychology behind this? Again, look to the US and how 9/11 scarred this country. Imagine that times 1,000 and then imagine Hollywood celebrating such an enormous defeat. I don't get it.
This post was edited on 9/27/16 at 4:48 pm
12
Posted on 9/27/16 at 4:48 pm to ClientNumber9
quote:
Godzilla
Godzilla is/was the nuclear bomb. Something powerful, devastating, and uncontrollable by man (though, I guess the nuclear bomb is "controllable.")
Edit: Probably also an on film image of the "monster" that is/was the United States for unleashing holy hell on Japan.
This post was edited on 9/27/16 at 4:50 pm
Posted on 9/27/16 at 4:51 pm to ClientNumber9
quote:
During WWII nearly every major city in Japan was leveled flat by firebombing, including two nuclear bombs, which caused nearly four million deaths across the country. Think about that for a second and imagine a scenario where New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. were utterly destroyed.
I can't stand when people ask and then answer their own questions
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:20 pm to Breesus
quote:
I can't stand when people ask and then answer their own questions
Why do you say that? Some people have a low tolerance for idiocy.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:26 pm to ClientNumber9
Horror movies in general deal with the modern fears of the population. End of civilization movies with monsters or nuclear weapon use make sense for the Japanese as a way of processing the history of their country.
That apocalypse style (often zombie) movies over the last fifteen years in the United States are probably so popular for somewhat similar reasons - as a way to deal with fears about the collapse of civilization after 911.
That apocalypse style (often zombie) movies over the last fifteen years in the United States are probably so popular for somewhat similar reasons - as a way to deal with fears about the collapse of civilization after 911.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:28 pm to ClientNumber9
9/11 had an attack on a major US govt icon (pentagon)
10 years later we got not one but two movies about the White House being destroyed.
Who knows
10 years later we got not one but two movies about the White House being destroyed.
Who knows
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:29 pm to ClientNumber9
quote:
Again, look to the US and how 9/11 scarred this country. Imagine that times 1,000 and then imagine Hollywood celebrating such an enormous defeat. I don't get it.
I don't think anyone is celebrating. And there is obviously a post-9/11 cinema. See Spielberg tapping into the iconography in War of the Worlds. See Cloverfield which directly quotes street coverage of the day. And dozens of others as well. I'm sure you can find numerous essays on the subject.
This post was edited on 9/27/16 at 5:32 pm
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:31 pm to ClientNumber9
because monsters stomping on tanks is awesome
metaphor for the bomb
metaphor for the bomb
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:33 pm to ClientNumber9
because they're awesome.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:43 pm to molsusports
quote:There's another reason Zombie movies are popular, but I'd rather not get banned
That apocalypse style (often zombie) movies over the last fifteen years in the United States are probably so popular for somewhat similar reasons - as a way to deal with fears about the collapse of civilization after 911.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 5:44 pm to ClientNumber9
quote:
9/11
quote:
times 1,000
Damn...how did I miss this the first time.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 6:33 pm to Sasquatch Smash
9/11 times a thousand! Jesus, that's....
Posted on 9/27/16 at 6:38 pm to Breesus
quote:
9/11 times a thousand! Jesus, that's....
I don't even know what that is.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 6:40 pm to OMLandshark
Way to frick up the Team America set up
Posted on 9/27/16 at 6:43 pm to ClientNumber9
quote:
During WWII nearly every major city in Japan was leveled flat by firebombing, including two nuclear bombs, which caused nearly four million deaths across the country. Think about that for a second and imagine a scenario where New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Boston, etc. were utterly destroyed.
Think what it did to Japanese society. Japan was probably the single most violent major civilization of the 20th century. 50s Japan, they took a complete 180. Sorry, but untold monsters covered up by propaganda that rains nuclear obliteration from the sky seems like a rational thing for the Japanese society.
quote:
Again, look to the US and how 9/11 scarred this country. Imagine that times 1,000 and then imagine Hollywood celebrating such an enormous defeat. I don't get it.
They weren't celebrating it. They were more in awe of it. It changed everything. Their whole society changed because of it.
And 9/11 has been much more prominent in influencing our films than you think it has. Just watch a superhero movie these days, and you should be able to see some parallels of 9/11 in many of them.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 6:46 pm to OMLandshark
quote:
Japan was probably the single most violent major civilization of the 20th century
Also one of the most badass
Posted on 9/27/16 at 7:55 pm to Cockopotamus
The white house was destroyed in the 1996 blockbuster "Independence Day"
Posted on 9/27/16 at 8:16 pm to ClientNumber9
The original Godzilla was anti-nuke, not a celebration of it. Monster movies are still popular over there today. A new Godzilla came out this year and anime is full of giant monsters. Maybe they just like giant monsters.
Posted on 9/27/16 at 8:23 pm to ClientNumber9
Small penis
Posted on 9/27/16 at 8:36 pm to Sasquatch Smash
quote:If you look at sci-fi in the 50s, there's a lot of fear presented that things like nuclear weapons were messing with things you can't control.
Godzilla is/was the nuclear bomb. Something powerful, devastating, and uncontrollable by man (though, I guess the nuclear bomb is "controllable.")
I remember reading somewhere that there were some respected scientists opposed to both the atomic (fission) and hydrogen (fusion) bombs before they were complete, because of the fear that we'd set off an unstoppable chain reaction that would destroy the world.
Gojira (the original Japanese Godzilla movie) was majorly anti-nuke, and the monster was a pretty blatant representation of the US. Giant, unstoppable atomic beast ravaging the Japanese mainland. In the end, the heroic Japanese are able to destroy it, using an even more terrible science, which dies out with the Japanese scientist who sacrifices himself to stop the beast.
But yeah, the later movies tend to be just fun, although they still usually involve aspects of Japanese culture that the West lacked.
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