Godzilla

**Godzilla** (Japanese: ゴジラ, Hepburn: *Gojira*, /ɡɒdˈzɪlə/; [ɡoꜜ(d)ʑiɾa] ⓘ) is a fictional monster, or *kaiju*, that debuted in the eponymous 1954 film, directed and cowritten by Ishirō Honda. The character has since become an international pop culture icon, appearing in various media: 33 Japanese films produced by Toho Co., Ltd., five American films, and numerous video games, novels, comic books, and television shows. Godzilla has been dubbed the **King of the Monsters**, an epithet first used in *Godzilla, King of the Monsters!* (1956), the American localization of the 1954 film.

Godzilla is a prehistoric reptilian monster, awakened and empowered after many years by nuclear radiation. With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the *Lucky Dragon 5* incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons. Others have suggested that Godzilla is a metaphor for the United States, a "giant beast" woken from its "slumber" that then takes terrible vengeance on Japan. As the film series expanded, some storylines took on less-serious undertones, portraying Godzilla as an antihero or as a lesser threat who defends humanity. Later films address disparate themes and commentary, including Japan's apathy, neglect, and ignorance of its imperial past, natural disasters, and the human condition.

Godzilla has been featured alongside many supporting characters and over the decades, has faced off against various human opponents, such as the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), in addition to other gargantuan monsters, including Gigan, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla. Godzilla has fought alongside allies such as Anguirus, Mothra, and Rodan as well as had offspring, including Godzilla Junior and Minilla. Godzilla has also battled characters and creatures from other franchises, in crossover media—such as King Kong—as well as various Marvel Comics characters, like S.H.I.E.L.D., the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers.

## Appearances

Main article: Godzilla (franchise)

First appearing in 1954, Godzilla has starred in a total of thirty-eight films, thirty-three Japanese films produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. and five American films, one produced by TriStar Pictures and four produced by Legendary Pictures. He has also appeared in countless other entertainment mediums, which include comic book lines, novelizations, and video games; each appearance expands upon the universe created by the films.

## Development

### Naming

Although the process of creating Godzilla's first film is comprehensively recorded, exactly how its name came to be remains unintelligible. The most widely accepted report of its origin is that producer Tomoyuki Tanaka named the monster after a sturdy Toho worker who was jokingly dubbed "*Gojira*" (ゴジラ), a portmanteau of the Japanese words *gorira* (ゴリラ, "gorilla") and *kujira* (, "whale"). The account has been acknowledged by Toho themselves, director Ishirō Honda, producer Tanaka, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya, producer Ichirō Satō, and production head Iwao Mori [ja], with Satō and Mori recalling that the employee was named Shirō Amikura. However, Honda's widow Kimi dismissed the employee-name story as a tall tale in a 1998 BBC documentary on Godzilla, believing that Honda, Tanaka, and Tsuburaya gave "considerable thought" to the name of the monster, stating, "the backstage boys at Toho loved to joke around with tall stories, but I don't believe that one". Honda's longtime assistant director Kōji Kajita [ja] added: "Those of us who were closest to them don't even know how and why they came up with *Gojira*."

Toho later translated the monster's Japanese name as "Godzilla" for overseas distribution. The first recorded foreign usage of "Godzilla" was printed in the *Hawaii Tribune-Herald* on November 20, 1955.

During the development of the American version of *Godzilla Raids Again* (1955), Godzilla's name was changed to "Gigantis" by producer Paul Schreibman, who wanted to create a character distinct from Godzilla.

### Characterization

Within the context of the Japanese films, Godzilla's exact origins vary, but it is generally depicted as an enormous, violent, prehistoric sea monster awakened and empowered by nuclear radiation. Although the specific details of Godzilla's appearance have varied slightly over the years, the overall impression has remained consistent. Inspired by the fictional *Rhedosaurus* created by animator Ray Harryhausen for the film *The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms*, Godzilla's character design was conceived as that of an amphibious reptilian monster based around the loose concept of a dinosaur with an erect standing posture, scaly skin, an anthropomorphic torso with muscular arms, lobed bony plates along its back and tail, and a furrowed brow.

Art director Akira Watanabe combined attributes of a *Tyrannosaurus*, an *Iguanodon*, a *Stegosaurus* and an alligator to form a sort of blended chimera, inspired by illustrations from an issue of *Life* magazine. To emphasize the monster's relationship with the atomic bomb, its skin texture was inspired by the keloid scars seen on the survivors of Hiroshima. The basic design has a reptilian visage, a robust build, an upright posture, a long tail and three rows of serrated plates along the back. In the original film, the plates were added for purely aesthetic purposes, in order to further differentiate Godzilla from any other living or extinct creature. Godzilla is sometimes depicted as green in comics, cartoons, and movie posters, but the costumes used in the movies were usually painted charcoal grey with bone-white dorsal plates up until the film *Godzilla 2000: Millennium*.

In the original Japanese films, Godzilla and all the other monsters are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns equivalent to "it", while in the English dubbed versions, Godzilla is explicitly described as a male. In his book, Godzilla co-creator Tomoyuki Tanaka suggested that the monster was probably male. In the 1998 film *Godzilla*, the monster is referred to as a male and is depicted laying eggs through parthenogenesis. In the Legendary *Godzilla* films, Godzilla is referred to as a male.

Godzilla's allegiance and motivations have changed from film to film to suit the needs of the story. Although Godzilla does not like humans, it will fight alongside humanity against common threats. However, it makes no special effort to protect human life or property and will turn against its human allies on a whim. It is not motivated to attack by predatory instinct; it does not eat people and instead sustains itself on nuclear radiation and an omnivorous diet. When inquired if Godzilla was "good or bad", producer Shōgo Tomiyama likened it to a Shinto "God of Destruction" which lacks moral agency and cannot be held to human standards of good and evil. "He totally destroys everything and then there is a rebirth. Something new and fresh can begin."

#### Abilities

[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Godzilla\_King\_of\_the\_Monsters\_(1956)\_Atomic\_ray.png%7Cthumb%7CGodzilla's atomic heat beam, as shown in *Godzilla* (1954)]]
[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KK\_v\_G\_trailer\_(1962).png%7Cright%7Cthumb%7CGodzilla battles King Kong in *King Kong vs. Godzilla* (1962). This film attracted the highest Japanese box office attendance figures in the entire *Godzilla* series to date.]]
Godzilla's signature weapon is its "atomic heat beam" (also known as "atomic breath"), nuclear energy that it generates inside of its body, uses electromagnetic force to concentrate it into a laser-like high velocity projectile and unleashes it from its jaws in the form of a blue or red radioactive beam. Toho's special effects department has used various techniques to render the beam, from physical gas-powered flames to hand-drawn or computer-generated fire. Godzilla is shown to possess immense physical strength and muscularity. Haruo Nakajima, the actor who played Godzilla in the original films, was a black belt in judo and used his expertise to choreograph the battle sequences.

Godzilla is amphibious: it has a preference for traversing Earth's hydrosphere when in hibernation or migration, can breathe underwater and is described in the original film by the character Dr. Yamane as a transitional form between a marine and a terrestrial reptile. Godzilla is shown to have great vitality: it is immune to conventional weaponry thanks to its rugged hide and ability to regenerate, and as a result of surviving a nuclear explosion, it cannot be destroyed by anything less powerful. One incarnation possesses an electromagnetic pulse-producing organ in its body which generates an asymmetrical permeable shield, making it impervious to all damage except for a short period when the organ recycles.

Various films, non-canonical television shows, comics, and games have depicted Godzilla with additional powers, such as an atomic pulse, magnetism, precognition, fireballs, convert electromagnetic energy into intensive body heat, converting shed blood into temporary tentacle limbs, an electric bite, superhuman speed, laser beams emitted from its eyes and even flight.

#### Roar

Godzilla has a distinctive disyllabic roar (transcribed in several comics as *Skreeeonk!*), which was created by composer Akira Ifukube, who produced the sound by rubbing a pine tar-resin-coated glove along the string of a contrabass and then slowing down the playback. In the American version of *Godzilla Raids Again* (1955) titled *Gigantis the Fire Monster* (1959), Godzilla's roar was mostly substituted with that of the monster Anguirus. From *The Return of Godzilla* (1984) to *Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah* (1991), Godzilla was given a deeper and more threatening-sounding roar than in previous films, though this change was reverted from *Godzilla vs. Mothra* (1992) onward. For the 2014 American film, sound editors Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl refused to disclose the source of the sounds used for their Godzilla's roar. Aadahl described the two syllables of the roar as representing two different emotional reactions, with the first expressing fury and the second conveying the character's soul.

#### Size

link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Godzilla\_(1954)\_Teiz%C3%B4\_Toshimitsu.jpg|left|thumb|Teizō Toshimitsu sculpting a prototype for Godzilla's design
Godzilla's size is inconsistent, changing from film to film and even from scene to scene for the sake of artistic license. The miniature sets and costumes were typically built at a 1⁄25–1⁄50 scale and filmed at 240 frames per second to create the illusion of great size. In the original 1954 film, Godzilla was scaled to be 50 m (164 ft) tall. This was done so Godzilla could just peer over the largest buildings in Tokyo at the time. In the 1956 American version, Godzilla is estimated to be 121.9 m (400 ft) tall, because producer Joseph E. Levine felt that 50 m did not sound "powerful enough".

As the series progressed, Toho would rescale the character, eventually making Godzilla as tall as 100 m (328 ft). This was done so that it would not be dwarfed by the newer, bigger buildings in Tokyo's skyline, such as the 243-meter-tall (797 ft) Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building which Godzilla destroyed in the film *Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah* (1991). Supplementary information, such as character profiles, would also depict Godzilla as weighing between 20,000 and 60,000 metric tons (22,050 and 66,140 short tons).

In the American film *Godzilla* (2014) from Legendary Pictures, Godzilla was scaled to be 108.2 m (355 ft) and weighing 90,000 short tons (81,650 metric tons), making it the largest film version at that time. Director Gareth Edwards wanted Godzilla "to be so big as to be seen from anywhere in the city, but not too big that he couldn't be obscured". For *Shin Godzilla* (2016), Godzilla was made even taller than the Legendary version, at 118.5 m (389 ft). In *Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters* (2017), Godzilla's height was increased further still to 300 m (984 ft). In *Godzilla: King of the Monsters* (2019) and *Godzilla vs. Kong* (2020), Godzilla's height was increased to 119.8 m (393 ft) from the 2014 incarnation.

### Special effects

[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Godzilla\_Raids\_Again\_(1955)\_Behind\_the\_scenes.gif%7Cthumb%7CSuit fitting on the set of *Godzilla Raids Again* (1955), with Haruo Nakajima portraying Godzilla on the left]]
Godzilla's appearance has traditionally been portrayed in the films by an actor wearing a latex costume, though the character has also been rendered in animatronic, stop-motion and computer-generated form. Taking inspiration from *King Kong*, special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya had initially wanted Godzilla to be portrayed via stop-motion, but prohibitive deadlines and a lack of experienced animators in Japan at the time made suitmation more practical.[*citation needed*]

The first suit, weighing in excess of 100 kg (220 lb), consisted of a body cavity made of thin wires and bamboo wrapped in chicken wire for support and covered in fabric and cushions, which were then coated in latex. It was held together by small hooks on the back, though subsequent Godzilla suits incorporated a zipper. Prior to 1984, most Godzilla suits were made from scratch, thus resulting in slight design changes in each film appearance. The most notable changes from 1962 to 1975 were the reduction in Godzilla's number of toes and the removal of the character's external ears and prominent fangs, features which would all later be reincorporated in the Godzilla designs from *The Return of Godzilla* (1984) onward. The most consistent Godzilla design was maintained from *Godzilla vs. Biollante* (1989) to *Godzilla vs. Destoroyah* (1995), when the suit was given a cat-like face and double rows of teeth.

Several suit actors had difficulties in performing as Godzilla due to the suits' weight, lack of ventilation and diminished visibility. Haruo Nakajima, who portrayed Godzilla from 1954 to 1972, said the materials used to make the 1954 suit (rubber, plastic, cotton, and latex) were hard to find after World War II. The suit weighed 100 kilograms after its completion and required two men to help Nakajima put it on. When he first put it on, he sweated so heavily that his shirt was soaked within seconds. Kenpachiro Satsuma in particular, who portrayed Godzilla from 1984 to 1995, described how the Godzilla suits he wore were even heavier and hotter than their predecessors because of the incorporation of animatronics. Satsuma himself suffered numerous medical issues during his tenure, including oxygen deprivation, near-drowning, concussions, electric shocks and lacerations to the legs from the suits' steel wire reinforcements wearing through the rubber padding. The ventilation problem was partially solved in the suit used in 1994's *Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla*, which was the first to include an air duct that allowed suit actors to last longer during performances. In *The Return of Godzilla* (1984), some scenes made use of a 16-foot high robotic Godzilla (dubbed the "Cybot Godzilla") for use in close-up shots of the creature's head. The Cybot Godzilla consisted of a hydraulically powered mechanical endoskeleton covered in urethane skin containing 3,000 computer operated parts which permitted it to tilt its head and move its lips and arms.

In *Godzilla* (1998), special effects artist Patrick Tatopoulos was instructed to redesign Godzilla as an incredibly fast runner. At one point, it was planned to use motion capture from a human to create the movements of the computer-generated Godzilla, but it was said to have ended up looking too much like a man in a suit. Tatopoulos subsequently reimagined the creature as a lean, digitigrade bipedal, iguana-like creature that stood with its back and tail parallel to the ground, rendered via CGI. Several scenes had the monster portrayed by stuntmen in suits. The suits were similar to those used in the Toho films, with the actors' heads being located in the monster's neck region and the facial movements controlled via animatronics. However, because of the creature's horizontal posture, the stuntmen had to wear metal leg extenders, which allowed them to stand two meters (six feet) off the ground with their feet bent forward. The film's special effects crew also built a 1⁄6 scale animatronic Godzilla for close-up scenes, whose size outmatched that of Stan Winston's *T. rex* in *Jurassic Park*. Kurt Carley performed the suitmation sequences for the adult Godzilla.

In *Godzilla* (2014), the character was portrayed entirely via CGI. Godzilla's design in the reboot was intended to stay true to that of the original series, though the film's special effects team strove to make the monster "more dynamic than a guy in a big rubber suit." To create a CG version of Godzilla, the Moving Picture Company (MPC) studied various animals such as bears, Komodo dragons, lizards, lions and wolves, which helped the visual effects artists visualize Godzilla's body structure, like that of its underlying bone, fat and muscle structure, as well as the thickness and texture of its scales. Motion capture was also used for some of Godzilla's movements. T. J. Storm provided the performance capture for Godzilla by wearing sensors in front of a green screen. Storm reprised the role of Godzilla in *Godzilla: King of the Monsters*, portraying the character through performance capture. In *Shin Godzilla*, a majority of the character was portrayed via CGI, with Mansai Nomura portraying Godzilla through motion capture.