Godzilla in Focus at the Japan Foundation!

 Wednesday, July 30th, was a night at the Japan Foundation for a presentation of Godzilla in Focus: The Evolution of Japan’s Greatest Monster! The authors of Godzilla: The First 70 Years, Steve Rylfe and Ed Godziszewski, were the hosts of the evening. They are co-authors of Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, From Godzilla to Kurosawa (2023). The book is comprehensive, there are sections on creating the suit, behind the scenes photos from Toho Archives, and interviews with filmmakers. There were a few attendees who brought copies of the book, but there was a table for Chevalier’s Books that had a few stacks of books. The event was organized with Abrams Books, the publisher, and Toho International. The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles is a non-profit organization that has programs that build cultural exchange for Japan and the U.S. The offices were in a tight building space, a lobby, a few rooms, and a speaking area. 

The popular kaiju first stomped on screen with the 1954 film, Godzilla, directed by Ishiro Honda. Rylfe and Godziszewski presented the different eras of the Godzilla movies and separated them into categories. This is interesting to understand the beast. So the first part was Atomic Terror with Godzilla and then a kaiju battler with Godzilla Raids Again (1955). This Kaiju war built the Showa era from 1954 to 1975. The authors didn’t go into detail for every film, but really pointed out what identified their categories. The book is really covering the behind the scenes, interviews, and analysis. This moved to a defender for children, the authors explained that the young audience was returning to watch the movies, and started changing Godzilla for those movie goers. Personally, I found the movie genre of the Godzilla films can be seen in the human characters; inventors with sci fi, pilots more in the action genre, and of course kid fantasy with the young boy in Godzilla’s Revenge (1969). 

                    Steve Rylfe and Ed Godziszewski at the Q&A part of Godzilla in Focus, Japan Foundation, author’s photo. 

Godziszewski and Ryfle hope to contact the actor for Ichiro Miki, Tomonori Yazaki. Godzilla became an ally to humanity from this point. The first era ended with Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975). Another interesting point made by the authors was that Toho worked how to refresh Godzilla. I think this may be what has made the franchise last over the years. The Heisei era kicked off with The Return of Godzilla, known here as Godzilla 1985. The American parts were directed by R.J. Kizer who was at the event! He told me that the Dr. Pepper product placement in the film was due to its successful commercials and decided to tie into the Godzilla movie! The era also gave a new origin to Godzilla with Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991). The dinosaur, Godzillasaurus, that gets mutated. 

The Heisei era also had a continuing character over the films, Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka) who starred in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) to Godzilla vs. Destroyah (1995) which closed that era. Odaka provides an introduction to Godzilla: The First 70 Years. The next period of movies was the Millennium era. The standout movie for me is Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002). It brought back a popular rival, but based his cyborg body around the original Godzilla’s skeleton. This series ended with Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) which I think is a sad final film with Godzilla and his battles as side stories to The Matrix and X-Men rip-offs. The current Reiwa era had the co-creator of the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion  Hideaki Anno, reboot Godzilla in Shin Godzilla (2016). I think the best film is Godzilla Minus One (2023), a perfect ending for the book. Godzilla in Focus was a great presentation that gave insight on the cultural influences on Godzilla movies and it was great to meet Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski! 

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