More than ten years ago, the little turnips of every household sat obediently in front of the TV, watching the fighting scenes on the TV with relish. At the end of the episode, the ending sounded, but still reluctant to leave, shook their heads and sang along:
Just like the sun passing through the night and dawn quietly across the horizon, whose figure is shuttled between the samsara, the road to the future is under your feet, don’t be sad, don’t be afraid, look forward to tomorrow with confidence that a new storm has appeared, how can I stand still and travel through time and space with all my strength, I will come To you...
This song is called "Miracle Reappearance" and is the theme song of "Tiga Ultraman" in 1996. At that time, the innocent and happy children were waiting happily for the daily screenings on the TV. Back then, I was also one of the turnips who watched Ultraman fight little monsters, cheered for Ultraman, and was seduced by the beauty of the actor Dagu.
At that time, I would not have thought that Ultraman fighting monsters is not only one Ultraman Tiga. In fact, Ultraman is the surname of a race, and there are 60 or 70 members of Ultraman's family.
And after a long time, I learned that the true "big brother" of Tiga Ultraman is not the righteous Ultraman, but the terrifying monster-Godzilla.
1. The terrifying prehistoric behemoth
In 1933, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schödersack co-produced a groundbreaking horror monster movie-"King Kong".
A good movie can continue to inspire later creators.
More than 70 years later, Peter Jackson, who was deeply influenced by this movie, used modern technology to reproduce the story of the year. The remake won the 78th Oscar for its technology and beauty of the picture. The best visual effect award.
Before Peter Jackson, the movie’s diehard fan also had a gradually forgotten name—Eiji Tsuburaya.
In 1954, the film "Godzilla" with Eiji Tsuburaya as the technical photographer was released. The original author of this film is Xiang Shanzi, a detective novelist who is very good at writing bizarre secret adventures. The content of his works is greatly related to biology and geography.
In the 1954 "Godzilla" movie, Godzilla's setting is exactly the Jurassic behemoth hidden in the deep sea cave. Due to the damage of the hydrogen bomb, he was driven out of his sanctuary and came to Japan on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. , Causing Japan to panic.
King Kong and Godzilla are both human imaginations of early creatures. Both films show the conflict between primitive civilization and modern industrial civilization, and the conflict between human beings and nature.
And "Godzilla", in addition to the horror atmosphere that creates the threat of giant beasts, it also incorporates the director's deeper feelings-the background of fear and the dream of humanitarianism.
2. Japan's nuclear fear
In the movie, the Japanese are shrouded in the shadow of Godzilla. In reality, Japan is trembling under the nuclear threat.
In 1945, in order to urge Japan to surrender, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, which turned the two islands into a sea of flames and caused endless troubles of nuclear radiation.
After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki incidents, the United States and the Soviet Union began to conduct even more powerful hydrogen bomb tests.
In March 1954, the United States secretly detonated a 15 million-ton hydrogen bomb near the Marshall Islands. During the test, local residents, some American soldiers, and the crew of a Japanese fishing boat that was fishing in the nearby waters were all exposed to nuclear radiation.
Two weeks later, the crew returned to Japan. The relevant departments analyzed the "ash falling after the explosion" brought back by the crew, and only then did they learn about the secret U.S. experiment.
The 23 crew members on board at that time were sent to Tokyo for treatment. Half a year later, Kuboyama Aiki, the oldest person on board and responsible for communications, died at the age of 40.
After the hydrogen bomb test, the Japanese government announced that the fishing boat had to give up fishing because the sea area had suffered nuclear pollution.
By planting realistic fears in the movie, Godzilla turns into a nuclear threat.
In the movie, in the characters' lines and dialogues, Japanese people's fear of hydrogen bombs can be seen everywhere.
Government officials asked the zoologist Dr. Yamane what way to kill Godzilla. The doctor retorted: "This can't be done. Godzilla who survived the hydrogen bomb attack can still be killed."
Indeed, Godzilla survived a hydrogen bomb attack. He was covered in nuclear radiation. The land he stepped on and the sea he swam over were all infected with nuclear radiation. What power could be greater than the power of a hydrogen bomb.
After Godzilla entered the Keihin area, Godzilla showed his fire-breathing skills. Godzilla's appearance design refers to the dragon. What's interesting is that it also refers to the breath of the dragon in terms of skills.
But Godzilla spit out not fire, but nuclear energy, because Godzilla's body is a nuclear reactor, because Godzilla is the product of a nuclear test. The creature that has absorbed huge nuclear radiation energy is equivalent to a moving open air. As the boyfriend of Dr. Yamane’s daughter said, “Godzilla is the same as the hydrogen bomb that persecutes us Japanese, and it cannot be left alone.”
3. Humanitarian ideals
The background color of "Godzilla" is horrible, and on this horrible background, warm flowers are still blooming.
Director Honda Inshiro and Kurosawa Akira are good friends. In "Kurosawa 100", Kurosawa commented on the movie like this:
"Bondo is a meticulous and good man. Godzilla is really going to appear, I am afraid everyone will have to leave their jobs and escape for life. However, in the movie, the staff carefully guide the evacuation of the crowd. This really has Bendo's style."
When I was watching a movie, I was also shocked by the army's behavior in evacuating the masses.
Godzilla first appeared on Oto Island, and the villagers were frightened to retreat. When they retreated, although it was urgent, they were in order, and there was a leader who directed everyone to retreat quickly.
The government introduced an eradication measure against Godzilla, building barbed wire fences near the coastline, trying to use 50,000 volts of electricity to electrocute Godzilla, so the residents inside and outside the barbed wire must retreat.
Subsequently, the army and police commanded the people to retreat to a safe area in an orderly manner.
Subsequently, the action to encircle Godzilla began.
Unfortunately, the strategy of electrocuting Godzilla failed, and Godzilla went deep into the interior without any hindrance. But the commanding staff and reporters still did not retreat. When Godzilla came to the TV tower, the radio staff did not retreat. They were still working meticulously until Godzilla tore the TV tower to pieces, and the anchor said "Farewell." , All the staff died.
At the last moment of work, it is the obsession of a meticulous person like Honda Inshiro. Therefore, he did not focus on expressing people's fear in the movie, but showed the warmth of people who are still working hard and supporting each other when facing danger. This is an extremely rare humanitarian sentiment.
In 1949, the famous Mitaka incident occurred in Japan, and the tragic Sakuragicho incident occurred in 1951. Both of these accidents resulted in a large number of casualties and were major tragic events in Japan.
Reaching Ango commented on the two incidents, angrily criticized the radical party members’ inhumanity for speaking but not doing practical things, the drivers’ brains were not bright, the onlookers were hopeless, and the leaders didn’t think about what to do first. Solved the problem, but ran to apologize to the emperor's absurd behavior.
In addition to the criticism, Ango Paikou praised the courageous behavior that appeared in the incident. When the Sakuragicho incident occurred, many people stood up for others regardless of their own safety.
The spirit of sacrifice to stand up for others is the most profound in the body of Dr. Serizawa.
Dr. Serizawa invented the "Water Oxygen Destroyer", which is a very destructive "weapon" that can destroy the entire Tokyo Bay with only a small piece of it, and its destructive power is greater than that of Godzilla. Once this invention Discovered by careerists, wantonly manufacturing, may ruin the world.
In order to prevent this destructive invention from being abused, he originally decided to keep it secret forever. When Emiko and Oyuki came to persuade him, he was caught in a dilemma again, with a future that might be abused by weapons on one side, and a present that Godzilla wreaks havoc on the other.
In the end, Dr. Serizawa agreed to Emiko and Onyuki's request. He burned all the research materials and asked to personally drop the last "water oxygen destroyer". He and Oyuki went into the sea together to confirm the correct placement and timing, but at the very moment, Dr. Serizawa cut the rope to go ashore in the deep sea, not only ensuring the destruction of Godzilla, but also about the "oxygen destroyer in the water." All threats of the country are completely eliminated.
After the explosion of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, most of the people close to the explosion center died directly. On that day, far more than 80,000 people died. After learning about this, Einstein said: "I knew this, I would rather continue to be a watch repairer."
Dr. Serizawa completely destroyed the research on "aquatic destructive agents" comparable to nuclear weapons, and also stifled the possibility of war using "aquatic destructive agents" as weapons.
The warmth of mutual support and anti-war sentiment, and the compassionate feelings of sacrifice make this film still exudes a warm human brilliance under the horrible shadow of Godzilla-style nuclear weapons.
After Godzilla, Tsuburaya Eiji created Ultraman, a hero who saves mankind.
I remember that in 1996's "Ultraman Tiga", there was a saying that "humanity will usher in a brand new era".
The creators of "Godzilla" must have been looking forward to it this way, and that's why they created a movie that combines horror and ideals.
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