All of you on this board who know thing one about me, know that I have loved Godzilla for a loooooonng time - but I don't think that many of you know just how long I mean when when I say "a looooonnnng time." For those of you who need to be brought up to speed, consider the below picture.
By my reckoning, this picture was taken no later than Easter weekend 1979. I'm the guy on the right, in case you were wondering, and that's my Godzilla doll, which was my teddy bear. I still miss that thing.
I've loved Godzilla flicks all my life. My own Mom and Dad tell me that the first movie they could get me to sit through without pitching a fit was Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster (Bambi was a shitshow, FYI) and after that, they were searching for any local showing of any G-flick cuz they knew I would be transfixed and they could get some down time. That's how I saw Gigan, Megalon, you name it. 40 years later, it still works, only this time it is my children who are benefiting from my obsession. Just pop in a Showa G-Flick and I'm good for the next two hours, guaranteed.
But enough about me, let's talk about the Showa Era, which was the reign of Emperor Showa, known more generally as Emperor Hirohito. It saw a rather... tumultuous time for our friends in The Land of the Rising Sun - a move toward totalitarianism, ultra-nationalism, and imperialism which, well, cost them dearly - they remain, after all, the only nation to suffer a direct nuclear strike.
The Showa Era would start in 1926, and go to 1989. And this is where the Showa Era Godzilla films get their name - they had a single continuity from Gojira in 1954 through the last Showa Era Godzilla movie, The Terror of Mechagodzilla, in 1975. Curiously, Godzilla 1984 (Godzilla 1985 in America) which technically was released in the Showa Era, is considered a Heisei era Godzilla film, but we can talk about that when the Heisei Criterion Collection is released.
Here is the plan. I am going to watch the Godzilla films in the order they were released, leveraging as much as I can the understanding I have gained through the decades of studying Japanese film, Japanese history, Japanese culture, and, yes, even Japanese language. I love these films, and I love these people. My hope is that after reading all of this self indulgence, you just might understand why.
Tomorrow I'll lay out the context, showing you the artists and dreamers, both behind the camera and in front of it, who were responsible for bringing these great beautiful messes to life. Then I will lay into the films, starting with a side by side comparison of Gojira, the original Japanese release, with Godzilla, the American release. Stay tuned!
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