In the comic-with in San Diego, in the tail to take photos with a replica of the beast in Scales, Angela Hill made the trip from Arizona. This teacher is very sensitive to the symbolism of Godzilla, a prehistoric amphibious monster that raises and wakes up due to nuclear tests in the Pacific, before attacking Japan, a reference to the traumatic history of the archipelago, bombarded during World War II.
“It comes from a historical event. Many other monsters are simply interesting creatures, but they don’t cry to a nation.”
Studio Toho, creator of Godzilla, had chosen Comic-Con, the largest festival dedicated to pop culture, as one of the stages to celebrate its creature, which appeared on the screens on November 3, 1954 with the Ishiro Honda film. Since then, the monster has given birth to a franchise that has almost 40 feature films and hundreds of cartoon, as well as series and bands.
Godzilla: Heroes and antiheroes
“It is the longest feature film franchise in the history of cinema that focuses on a single continuous character,” said Steve Ryfle, present with his co -author Ed Godziszewski to sign autographs in his books Godzilla: The first 70 years. “It has existed for longer than James Bond,” he insists. The imagined British spy was born in 1953 in Ian Fleming’s books, but his adventures adapted to the screen until 1964.
For Mr. Ryfle, the character’s longevity key has the fact that he has constantly evolved, while he is still faithful to his origins. “Godzilla was serious, he was scary, he was heroic, he was fun. But at the same time, he is a film character who is anchored in something very real,” he remembers again. “It is the trauma that Japan lived, both during World War II and in the consequences of war, and after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
Ishiro Honda, the director of the original film, was a veteran who wanted to deliver a message against war and, in particular, against nuclear weapons, he recalls.
Among fans, Michelle Pena also appreciates the multiple facets of Godzilla, which was sometimes “bad, hero, antihero.” “It is not done to be loved,” he summarizes. “It is a great thing that looks like a dinosaur, scares. But we really are leaving us behind.”
Source: BFM TV
