• Anno and Higuchi Shin Godzilla recreates the horror that nuclear weapons can evoke through terrifying and evolving monster forms.
  • The film’s portrayal of Godzilla’s atomic breath demonstrates the destructive power of nuclear radiation, highlighting the devastating effects.
  • The film depicts Godzilla as a truly terrifying and unstoppable force, serving as a metaphor for the ever-present threat of mutually assured destruction.

Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, after completing work on the atomic bomb, said the following: “I remembered a line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu tries to convince the prince that he must do his duty, and in order to impress him, he assumes his many-armed form and says: “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I guess we all thought one way or another.” It may refer to another character whose life depends on radioactivity: Godzilla! When it made its film debut in 1954, “King of the Monsters” served as an allegory for the devastation caused by Oppenheimer’s work when the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 2016 Shin Godzilla - retelling of the original Godzilla film - brought Big G back to his roots through work Hideaki Anno & Shinji Higuchi.

Godzilla’s design showcases the horrors of nuclear radiation

Monster comes out of Tokyo Bay
Image via Toho Pictures

From the start, Anno and Higuchi turn Godzilla into a terrifying force. His body is a throbbing mass of scar tissue, and his eyes are pinpricks full of hate. As if that wasn’t enough, Godzilla changes throughout the movie due to his evolutionary cycle. Each form is more terrible than the previous one; one is nothing more than red raw flesh, while the other has a hardened, jet-black hide similar to a burnt corpse. Its final form is the most terrifying; Godzilla’s signature spikes have become tower-sized, his chest pulses with an eerie purple light, and his tail appears to have grown its own mouth. Anno and Higuchi use these forms to recreate the horror that a nuclear weapon can cause.

Exploring the horrors of nuclear radiation isn’t just limited to Godzilla himself. During the fight in the middle of the movie, Godzilla unleashes his trademark atomic breath - and the results are completely devastating. Buildings are cut in half, and cars and people evaporate. It’s a far cry from how Godzilla’s atomic breathing has usually been portrayed in previous films: a controlled flow. Mankind is also trying to use nuclear weapons to fight Godzilla, but it’s all in vain as the King of the Monsters is able to absorb nuclear energy. Kayoko Ann PattersonSatomi Ishihara) flatly refuses to authorize a nuclear strike, saying “I will not see a third bomb dropped on my grandmother’s country, who lived through this.” Anno and Higuchi are well aware of what Godzilla is and can update this metaphor for modern days. Not to mention, in the process they created pure Lovecraftian horror.

Shin Godzilla brings the King of the Monsters back to his roots

Shin Godzilla - 2016 (1)
Image via Toho Pictures

By restoring Godzilla’s status as a metaphor for nuclear destruction, Anno and Higuchi also brought the Monster King back to its roots as a truly terrifying force. Over the years, Godzilla became known for taking on other kaiju. From Rodan to King Ghidorah and everything in between, Godzilla has gone from a terrifying force to a sort of heroic figure. Toys and video games let you play as the King of the Monsters, and a Marvel comic book series in the late 70s showed Godzilla taking on the Avengers. (I’m not kidding. This actually happened.) Anno and Higuchi chose the opposite path. Their evolution for Godzilla showcases him as a truly alien and terrifying force; no weapon of ours can harm him, and no power on Earth seems to be able to stop him. Even more horrifying is the lengths humanity will go to stop it. The United Nations is ready to launch a thermonuclear strike to destroy Godzilla - although this is a fictional story, it emphasizes the constant threat of mutually assured destruction. While creating a new version of Godzilla, the filmmakers also remember how terrible he was originally.

Shin Godzilla isn’t the only Godzilla movie to use him as a metaphor.

Godzilla fighting Kaiju
Image via legendary

Critical and commercial success Shin Godzilla Led to Shin Ultraman in 2022 and Shin Kamen Rider Earlier this year, Anno and Higuchi took their unique approach to tokusatsu icons. But they weren’t the only filmmakers to take the King of the Monsters in a new direction. Michael Doutery will steer Godzilla: King of the Monsters in 2019, and he chose to use Godzilla and his fellow Titans as a metaphor for climate change. Although the Titans seem to leave a trail of destruction in their wake, it is soon revealed that flora and fauna thrive along their path. Dr. Ishiro SerizawaKen Watanabe) has a scathing response when the United Nations asks if they should try to make Godzilla a pet: “No. We will be his.” Serizawa’s words prove to be prophetic when the three-headed King Ghidorah comes to Earth, igniting a war between the remaining Titans. The people in the story also deal with climate change; in fact, one group seeks to change the fate of the world by any means necessary. Alan John (English)Charles Dance) leads a group of eco-terrorists who believe that the Titans should wipe humanity from the face of the Earth. However, their efforts result in Ghidorah wreaking untold destruction, and once again Godzilla is the only force capable of saving the world.

Regardless of the year or the hand behind the camera, Godzilla remains a ubiquitous symbol of the horrors that humanity can bring to the world and how those horrors can change the future. WITH Oppenheimer draw attention to the creation of a nuclear bomb and Godzilla Minus One Set to hit theaters later this year, King of the Monsters could once again be the centerpiece of a cautionary tale.