-
Essay / Political Emphasis in Japanese Studio Films in the Late 1950s
During the late 1950s and into the 1960s, radical politics created change around the world. This has affected many aspects of society, including cinema. Like the French film movement, Japanese New Wave cinema has undergone its own developments. This latest generation of filmmakers strove to move away from the rigid film school system, where students followed a strict apprenticeship. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essay Unlike their French counterparts, these radical filmmakers started out in the studio system (like the Czechoslovak New Wave), but later created independent studios where they could work on taboo subjects. However, the political emphasis is also visible in earlier Japanese studio films after the end of the American occupation in 1952. An example would be the film Kaiju Gojira (1954). Directed by Ishiro Honda, the film is a depiction of the conflict found in post-Cold War Japan. The film is dark and highlights a society deeply influenced by the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bomb tests that took place less than a decade before. Gojira focused not only on natural fears (fires, typhoons, and earthquakes that frequently reshaped the islands), but also man-made fears such as hydrogen bombs. Chon Noriega examines this representation with allusions to the ship Daigo Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon #5) and the phenomenological concept of "otherness" displayed by the titular character. Ultimately, these examples would allow Japanese audiences to view Gojira not as a monster but as a victim. In the opening scene of the film, we see a group of Japanese sailors on the deck of the ship playing Go and resting after what would have been a long day. In the distance, a flash of light crossed the ocean and a loud booming noise drew attention to the men. The ship becomes completely decimated. The townspeople were extremely worried about the missing people and no one knew what had happened; only that it was unnatural. This echoes the historic story of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a tuna fishing boat that was contaminated by radioactive fallout during testing of the Castle Bravo on Bikini Atoll months before filming. As fallout fell around them, the crew continued to fish and eventually returned to port. A few months later, the crew began showing signs of radiation sickness from the hydrogen bomb. The twenty-three crew members suffered enormously physically and emotionally. The bomb victims' keloid scars will serve as inspiration for Gojira's skin in the film. This would not be just for aesthetic reasons, but to play Gojira's role as a victim of the bombs just like any other Japanese victim. This brings us to the concept of “otherness” or “otherness.” Othering is the action of qualifying a person as someone who belongs to a different or subordinate social group. Often this alienates the labeled person from society and places them on the fringes of society. This is a concept that comes up regularly in studies of genocide and atrocities, as well as a major Cold War motivation. Noriega points out that in America in the 1950s, monster movies were based on characters with impersonal names such as "Them" and "It." Alternativity Gojira has a name as well as a story. That.