For the bonus episode this week, Nick Slayton joined me to discuss the 2016 Japanese movie Shin Godzilla. If you're a Patreon subscriber, you'll remember Nick from our Godzilla Minus One bonus episode. Nick told me he was meaning to get to Shin Godzilla, and no better excuse than recording an episode
In our previous episode, we talked about the difference between Japanese Godzilla movies and the American Monarch Extended Universe Godzilla movies. In the last generation of Godzilla, the Japanese movies treat the monster as a natural disaster and puts the story on the people involved. While in America we team him up with King Kong and send them into the hollow earth. Kind of a difference between serious and silly Godzilla. But we believe all Godzillas are beautiful on this show, no matter how many goofy podcasters the American movies have
Shin Godzilla sets itself apart from other Godzilla movies, both in monster design and story. Shin Godzilla doesn't come onto land in its upright form, instead starting as a large, belly crawling and destructive salamander tearing down the streets. As the movie goes on, Godzilla goes through various stages of evolution, standing on its hind legs and growing a massive tail. Shin also presents a mindless Godzilla instead of a monster with any agency. Godzilla team-ups are very common, but this is not an intelligent creature. Shin Godzilla is a mindless disaster reacting to the world around it.
For story, a lot of this movie takes place in government boardrooms. The human characters are politicians and political staff attempting to navigate government bureaucracy to deal with a disaster. The story is meant to satirize Japanese politics, particularly in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster and the Tohoku earthquake and resulting tsunami. Usually Godzilla is used as a metaphor fr the dangers of nuclear disaster, but this movie is a hit piece on the Japanese government's inability to respond to a disaster.
Nick and I both highly recommend this movie. If you'd like to hear more, subscribe to the Patreon at $5 a month for access to this and eight years of bonus content. We're already looking at other monster movies to talk about, but give us your recommendations in the comments - Patreon.com/hellofawaytodie