Meaning of Godzilla

Dreamed up by Eiji Tsuburaya in 1954, Godzilla is the answer to the atomic bomb. The earliest Godzilla films, especially the original Gojira, attempted to portray Godzilla as a frightening, nuclear monster. Godzilla represented the fears of many Japanese of a repeat of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As the series progressed, so did Godzilla himself, changing into a less destructive and more heroic character as the films became increasingly geared towards children.

Taken into account the fact that the origin of Godzilla have slightly changed  to reflect the evolution of the myth and the inspiration of the artists,  the atomic power remains the key element of Godzilla power over more traditional dinosaurs like in Spielberg movies.

Godzilla is one of the first Japanese characters that made his way through western culture and widely considered to be the second greatest film ever to be produced in Japan, next to Akira Kurosawa’s ‘The Seven Samurai.'”. Toho would continue to produce Godzilla films into the 90s. However, Toho is known for other monsters than Godzilla. It was responsible for other great films as “Mothra,” and the 90s return of “Gamera.”

Kaiju is Japanese word that means “mysterious beast”, but usually translated in English as “monster”. Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of monsters that appear in tokusatsu (horror or fantastic) entertainment movies. Of course, the most famous Kaiju is Godzilla  but there are tens of other creatures typically modelled after conventional animals, insects or mythological creatures like Mothra, King Kong, Gamera, or King Ghidorah to name a few.