20. Godzilla

I’ve already written some about my love for this movie. There will always be a special place in my heart for giant monsters stomping buildings and making humanity question its dominion over our planet.

I worry that our expectations of special effects quality make it less likely for more modern viewers to give movies like this a chance. I have a hard enough time convincing Sprout to watch something in black & white.

Because the lack of modern polish on this movie isn’t a flaw. It’s part of the story. A film becomes a historical document of when it was made and a time capsule of the influences and motivations of the artists responsible.

You’re less likely to feel scared watching a man in a rubber suit walk through models of a city than a photorealistic rendering of something that looks more naturally animal seamlessly composited into shots of an actual city. But Godzilla has never just been about the scares of the monster.

It’s about the horrors of what humans will do to each other. It’s the atom bomb as a slow-moving villain instead of an instantaneous horror. It’s the memory of recent war and the feeling of civilian helplessness.

It’s less about horror than humanity. Re-learning how to feel compassion for not just other people, but humanity as a whole. Dr. Serizawa in the film creates the weapon capable of destroying Godzilla, but sacrifices himself when using it so the secret of its power dies with him. There are no human hands worthy of the destructive power of a god.