Gojira 1954 or Godzilla is the cult classic and probably the first kaiju film by Ja- pan, Now with a whopping franchise of close to 32 films. It was heavily inspired by the 1953 film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and the Daigo Fukuryū Maru incident that happened in March 1954.

On one level it may look like a regular Monster film but it actually has heavy political and social undercurrents.

In the film, Godzilla symbolizes nuclear holocaust from Japan’s perspective and has since been culturally identified as a strong metaphor for nuclear weapons.[17] Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that, “The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind.”[18] Director Ishirō Honda filmed Godzilla’s Tokyo rampage to mirror the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Naga- saki, stating, “If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball. But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn’t know what to do. So, I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to Godzilla.”

Original Design/Illustration © madpaule