"Godzilla" The first work that stands out as the origin [Mizumaru Kawahara's CINEMONOLOGUE Vol.57]

There are no Monster without humans

Personally, I think the drama of people being toyed with on the ground is also essential to a monster movie. The fear and presence of monsters is emphasized precisely because it depicts how people react and act when monsters appear. The depiction of the human side can sometimes seem redundant, and it is difficult to draw giant monsters and humans together in the first place, but the human story is perfectly integrated into the situation of a monster attack, and it is ``Godzilla'' working towards its overthrow is spectacular.

First, there are human relationships. The relationship between the main character Kaku Ogata and his girlfriend Emiko. The relationship between Emiko and her father, Dr. Yamane. Furthermore, Emiko's relationship with her ex-fiancé, Dr. Serizawa. The relationship between Ogata and Dr. Serizawa, and the relationship between Dr. Serizawa and his mentor, Dr. Yamane. And the relationship between Ogata and Dr. Yamane. Ogata's feelings for Emiko are serious, but he cannot shake his reservations about Serizawa, who has pushed Emiko away due to the scars he received in the war. He decides to exterminate Godzilla. Also, Dr. Yamane seems to approve of Ogata, who is a nice young man, but they have conflicting opinions regarding Godzilla. Dr. Yamane, in his position as a paleontologist, believes that Godzilla, which is still alive despite being baptized by hydrogen bombs, should be protected and research its vitality, but Ogata, who has witnessed the devastation caused by Godzilla, has no idea that the monster is I don't think of him as an enemy that should be killed. This is where the relationship between Dr. Yamane and Godzilla is born (Dr. Serizawa, played by Ken Watanabe in Legendary's MonsterVerse, is close to Dr. Yamane in personality).

Furthermore, there is the relationship between Dr. Serizawa and Godzilla. Serizawa is holed up in a laboratory due to the wounds he received in the war, but Godzilla wakes up due to the shock of the hydrogen bomb test and has his body radioactive. He is a lonely existence with a burden. Serizawa allows the Oxygen Destroyer, an underwater oxygen destroyer he discovered and invented during his research, to be used to exterminate Godzilla, but he also decides to bury the research along with his memories for fear that it will be used as a weapon. He shares his fate with Godzilla, who is injured like himself and has no friends. From the devastation caused by Godzilla, Serizawa probably foresaw the destruction and death that his invention would bring. He may have seen his future self in Godzilla, and in that sense, the two were similar.

The human relationships surrounding Godzilla also remind us of the human nature of the vampire Dracula . The relationship between Ogata and Serizawa, the men who courted the same woman, is similar to the relationship between the men who courted the same woman in ``Dracula,'' and instead of fighting each other, they fight together as good friends and confront the Monster. It's the same. In addition, Dr. Yamane is Serizawa's mentor, but Van Helsing, the old professor who hunts down Dracula, is also the mentor of Jack Seward, the psychiatrist who heads the men's group. Shinkichi, a young man who lost his mother and brother when his house was crushed by Godzilla, parallels Jonathan Harker, who first visited Dracula's castle and witnessed the existence of vampires. The teamwork of these people is also a highlight of ``Dracula,'' and their friendship sometimes adds passionate and dramatic color to the story about the terrifying vampire. Although not everyone plays an active role in "Godzilla," the relationships between people eventually lead to a breakthrough, and Godzilla also shows that an immortal being that has lived since ancient times attacks modern cities as a ghost of the past. and Dracula are similar.

There are many memorable characters in addition to the main characters. An old man talks about the legendary Monster"Kurera" from Odo Island, and a woman grumbles on the bus that even though she survived the atomic bomb in Nagasaki, she thought it was Godzilla this time (in those days, that was just a long time ago) , when Godzilla attacks Ginza, a mother hugs her children on the street and tells them, ``You'll be going to your father soon,'' even though Godzilla is approaching the radio tower they're standing on. A reporter who continues to provide live commentary until the very moment of the movie... In any case, the ordinary people in ``Godzilla'' are impressive, and their reactions make the invasion of Godzilla feel vivid. When a monster attacks, how does it cast a shadow on people's lives, and how do they react as individuals, rather than just as a crowd running away? It goes without saying that Godzilla was awakened by the human action of the hydrogen bomb test, but it is humans who make Godzilla Godzilla.

The history of Godzilla began here, but I also think that the existence of Godzilla was completed here. Godzilla works will continue to be created in the future, but this first Godzilla is one that I want to revisit from time to time, and I want to remember what the first Godzilla was like and what it meant for Godzilla to arrive.

Illustrations and text: Mizumaru Kawahara

Born in 1991. Illustrator. In addition to illustrations and covers for magazines and books, there are also illustration columns for movies and books. New movie reviews are currently being serialized in "SPUR" (Shueisha).

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