While all these things are still fresh in my mind I would like to jump right into some of what was mentioned today during the class discussion. Those things of course being some of the psychoanalysis and the repression aspect of this film Godzilla. With this I am also going to make a brief reference back to the first reading that we did when we watched Atomic Café, the article titled Civilian Threat, the Suburban Citadel, and Atomic Age American Women, by Kristina Zarlengo. Moving on, in case you guys missed it, in my broken frame of thought today, I made a statement about a section of the third page in today’s reading,
"After the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, an essentially American military occupation force dismantled and rebuilt the Japanese family and society in such a way as to ensure that Japan could never again become a military threat to the Allies. Reform gave women full legal equality and ended the authority of the clan over the family and the father over adult children. Compulsory education was extended to nine years, further reducing parental influence. So-called reform exceeded what American society would have accepted for itself at the time,indicating that the purpose was more to undermine the patriarchal base of Japanese society than to reform it. (In America, women were being forced out of the workplace in order to make room for returning soldiers cum patriarchs.) For the most part, however,the Japanese cooperated with the Americans, bringing about enormous socioeconomic and political change during the relatively short occupation (1945-52)."
I believe what I had said was, something to the affect of We, (America at the time) moved in on the Japanese and “made them us” and from what you should be able to tell from this excerpt is that we did, well sort of. What happened basically was that we moved in and erased much of the pre-existing institutions of the time in order re-assert our dominance over the Japanese, which I think is easily comparable to a situation such as if a bully was picking on a little kid, and not only did the bully steal the poor kids lunch money, but he gave him an atomic wedgy to boot, no pun intended. So now not only is the poor kid going to hungry all day, his underwear is all stretched out, and he probably has a few uncomfortable brush burns as well, which are going to last a lot long than his hunger. Moving away from this example, the connection that I am trying to draw up, which I’m sure many on you already have is that us bombing Japan, as bad as it was, is like the bully stealing the lunch money, then us moving in and changing everything around as to how it suited us at the time and not the Japanese, is like the wedgy followed by the brush burns. Now, if you asking where Godzilla comes into this scenario, this is it, what I had attempted to say when stating that “we made them us” was that with our occupation of Japan, and the social institutions that we destroyed, we really did make them us, and they, though not much choice was given, accepted that. This is the reason why I think the image of Godzilla, the “big bomb” doubles as being both Japanese and American, at least from the Japanese point of view. I feel that the way the Japanese saw it, was that the American influence being instilled upon the Japanese in such a way could not bring good things, and thus Godzilla, the radiation emitting monster was born, half Japanese and half American.
One of my biggest reasons for coming to this type of thinking would have to be the debate scene in both parts of the movies, as well as the love triangle that developed as a side plot with Emiko. This is also where I am going to mention the reading that was assigned with Atom Cafe. In the Americanized version of Godzilla, the debate is relatively short from what I recall, and much of what they talk about is not translated. In the original Japanese version however, we can see the argument that rages clearly between the male influenced crowd and the female influenced crowd, an argument that is completely cut out from the Americanized version. What they are arguing about, at least as far as my blog is concerned, is of no large importance, but the fact that there is an argument between a male influenced party and a female influenced party, and furthermore that it is completely cut out of the Americanized version is of great importance. If you remember from the reading assigned with Atomic Café, in America at this time there was very much sexual repression being instilled on the people at the time, the nuclear family for example, which included a male dominated family, with the stay at home, sexually submissive wife. So with that in mind, it should be no surprise as to why this argument was cut right out. On the flipped side, this argument being very present in the Japanese version I feel shows very much the apparently American influence of the times, which as I have mentioned did much to destroy Japanese social institutions, the standing of women in society, according to the reading assigned for Godzilla being one of them. This of course would be why we can see a group of women, dominating a group of men in a social debate on how to handle the matter of a giant monster.
As far as the love triangle with Emiko goes, it is in my opinion that this situation in itself is in no way a normal Japanese issue. I feel as though it is a completely American born situation, that the writers put in to show the viewers how the American influence can affect the Japanese way of life on a different level. I do realize that this side story does not hold much weight on the actual story, and that Emiko is not portrayed as a bad person, but I still believe that the Japanese viewers are supposed to see this broken relationship between Emiko and her scientist husband, as well as her involvement with another man, something I feel Americans are so used to seeing that it comes as no big surprise to us. Furthermore, another piece of evidence towards my argument that bad things come from the Americanized Japan, not only big radioactive monsters, but broken and unhappy marriages even. Just to add to that though, and I’m asking you guys directly, am I the only one who was reminded of the mad scientist’s lab from Frankenstein at the scenes inside of Emiko’s husband’s lab? Maybe another cultural reference? Regardless, do you agree? Disagree?
I myself would not describe the scientist as mad, but rather a man who kept a horrible secret. The equipment in his lab however did give off a Frankenstein vibe. The oxygen eliminator that the scientist developed was in many ways like the atomic bomb as there happened to be environmental repercussions in both instances. I found it interesting that following the Second World War we occupied Japan and attempted to reform their country. This is something that I had no knowledge of previous to this class. Japan extended education requirements, gave equal rights to women, and ended the traditional family/clan institution. The required reading brings up other reforms that nic doesn’t mention. When we dropped the bombs on Japan we instantly reformed the country in a way still prominent today. The reading mentions sequels to Godzilla in which the monster returns and the only way to eliminate the threat is to utilize nuclear weapons. In the movies however Japan refuses to use nuclear weapons due to the fact that they are strongly opposed to it after World War Two. Japan’s stance on nuclear non-proliferation is demonstrated even in film. Godzilla may have been summoned by nuclear fallout but the Japanese knew the horrors of further nuclear action.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Emiko's husband was just a troubled scientist that made a gruesome discovery and did everything in his power to keep it a secret. Yes he can be viewed as a mad scientist, with eye patch to boot, but he in a way represented Japan as being completely against nuclear weapons. I haven't gotten the chance to view the original Godzilla, but I wish I did to see their representation of women. It's interesting to think that America is one of the most forward thinking countries and even by the end of World War II, women were still treated far less than equal. Especially since women worked in the place of men while they were fighting in the war. The film as a whole did bug me because I knew that it was just a copy of the original with an American thrown in. In the trivia on IMDB it actually says that Raymond Burr, the actor who played Steve Martin, shot all of his scenes within 24 hours. His contract only allowed him a day to actually work on the film. There was apparently much buzz that the actor had gone to Japan for two months to prepare, in actuality he filmed all of his scenes in Hollywood. According to the trivia there was originally more references to the bombing on Nagasaki and Hiroshima which were cut from the American version. It's actually embarrassing to me that a film made to protest nuclear war, and reference atomic bombs that were dropped by America was then remade by Americans. Just seems quite ridiculous to me.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Matt, I didn't view Emiko's husband as a mad scientist. I saw his actions as exemplifying Japanese ideologies. He knew about this technology yet understood the destructive properties and wanted to keep it a secret so that people would not seek it to destroy Godzilla. He wanted to study it rather than destroy it (a rather American way of thinking). It was interesting reading your comments on how American ideology changed the landscape of the Godzilla remake. I'm not sure if I completely follow your argument about Americans making the Japanese us. Looking back at a portion of the quote you used, "...So-called reform exceeded what American society would have accepted for itself at the time, indicating that the purpose was more to undermine the patriarchal base of Japanese society than to reform it," suggests that the institutions instilled in Japan were more progressive than that in the United States at the time. This being said, I'm not sure how we "made them us." I think you are right in noting the differences in ideologies between the United States and Japan. It was interesting in class when we discussed how that the Japanese view events as being apart of them. Godzilla was a destructive force yet it came from the Japanese soil. Where as Americans are more likely to define enemies, and separate themselves from the lesser and undignified. Analyzing the movie in this way may be more interesting than just focusing on only what American seemed to imply on the Japanese. It may also help to explain the differences in the remake to the original. I really need to watch the original so I can compare the two!
ReplyDeleteWell I didn't intend you guys to think of him as a mad scientist, I was just referring to the lab by itself. More importantly though, Stop making Sense, I'm not really getting what you're saying about being progressive, the part of the quote, "indicating that the purpose was more to undermine the patriarchal base of Japanese society than to reform it". That intention of undermining the "patriarchal base" is by no means progressive, it's the exact opposite. Could you flush this out for me a little?
ReplyDeleteSorry if my point wasn't clear. What I meant is that 1950s society in the United States was still very much headed by the man in the family, patriarchal, which you mention in your blog, "America at this time there was very much sexual repression being instilled on the people at the time, the nuclear family for example, which included a male dominated family, with the stay at home, sexually submissive wife ." So for America to break down the patriarchal base of the Japanese by "giving women full legal equality and ended the authority of the clan over the family and the father over adult children" does not reflect what was going on in the United States at the time. The home was run by the man and the submissive wife stayed home and took care of the kids. "Reforming" Japan with these sort of ideals does not reflect the ideals of the United States at the time. So I don't really think the United States was trying to turn Japan into a society embracing the beliefs of americans at the time because americans were not accepting of letting women have full power or expanding school years to reduced patriarchal influence on children.
ReplyDeleteSorry for the delayed response folks, I think I've fixed all my computer troubles. Anyway, the reading on Godzilla clearly stated that America reformed Japan in a way meant to prevent them from ever becoming a military threat again down the line. If America's thoughts at the time were military prevention, then perhaps they reformed Japan in a gender equality fashion out of some backwards idea that if the males and females in Japan are equal, they will not be able to rise to power again. America perhaps believed themselves to be superior in power simply because of the fact that American males still held the power in society.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the doctors lab goes, yeah. It totally looks like something out of a mad scientist's lab. At first my thoughts about that were simply that the film is old and cheesy, and that the typical view of a laboratory is like that one seen in the film. However, if the oxygen eliminator is supposed to be seen as a parallel to our world's atom bomb, then perhaps the film makers were making a statement by portraying the creator of the oxygen eliminator as some crazed madman who has created something that never should have been. At the end of the film, we see that the scientist actually realizes his mistake in creating the oxygen destroyer, and elimnates all traces of it except for the bomb meant for godzilla. As the final bomb is used and consequentally destroyed, so is Godzilla, and all the greatest troubles of the world. The film could be trying to say that if nuclear weapons would cease to exist, so would the troubles they bring.
Interesting discussion, everyone!
ReplyDeleteJust to be clear, Dr Serizawa wasn't Emiko's husband, but her fiance. He had been chosen for her by her father--part of what was going on there was a very 20th century Japanese struggle having to do with tradition and how the War and modernity impacted that. There's some interesting tension in the original between Emiko's father and Ogata her boyfriend. Her father wants to study and understand Godzilla and Ogata just wants to shoot him--the two of them represent a class between two different phases of Japan maybe, or traditional and modern, and Ogata and Seriwaza something maybe like modern with more of a conscience. He's also set up as a kind of tragic hero. Not sure why you're assuming that the love triangle isn't Japanese, Nic. Reading the movie just as a reflection of American aggression makes the movie more about America than about Japan, which doesn't seem to be the case, really.
I can totally see where some of you are getting mad scientist though. The oxygen eliminator was some deeply creepy technology. And he was so melancholy with his awful secret. But tragic hero works better. His death was so sad.
It's important to remember when considering the reading, and how Godzilla was both an American and a Japanese monster, that Japan had its own concerns--which are much more evident in the 1954 original. Certainly the War changed their culture in some drastic ways, but the US direct role was fairly minor.
Nic, your wedgie imagery was hilarious and kind of distracting. :-) Keep in mind also though that it wasn't just the big bad US knocking over innocent Japan that was just minding its own business. They originally declared war, and refused to back down until they had won (Pearl Harbor and all). They must have felt, to a certain extent, that they had brought the monster (the US/Godzilla) on themselves. He's a guilt-monster as well as an outsider aggressor.