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Godzilla 1954

Especially considering this movie came out in 1954, I was extremely impressed by the scale of the film, as well as all of the practical effects used. From fog to fire and huge crowds, it made sense that it costed around ¥62.9 million.

I think a lot of the horror came from the overwhelming crowds, and a feeling of unease/impending doom/uncertainty. Toho expressed this many times throughout the movie, such as people in crowded public transportation about how they're upset that they've had to relocate again, about how they were just lucky enough to avoid recent bombings, or about how they don't know when or where Godzilla will show up next. This combined with the frame always full of life, and often crowded with plants, people, or architecture adds to this feeling that the people don't know what's going to happen to them next, and that if something does happen, they'll likely be unprepared (ex: busy working at their office job, being far from any shelters, fishing in the middle of the sea) to handle it.

So when the oxygen destroyer is first introduced, we the audience are unaware of what it is, or what it does--rather, we can only imagine the worst through the reaction of Emiko. I really appreciated that they kept this secret a mystery, as the flashback to the fish turning into bones at the climax of Godzilla's appearance was really dramatic. Especially since in more recent Hollywood movies, a groundbreaking solution found right at the climax could be seen as an unconditionally beneficial scenario, I appreciated even more that the oxygen destroyer was framed as both an object of hope and destruction, through Serizawa establishing that it should never be used again.

Otherwise, like some of the other horror films we watched, this movie also includes a sacrifice from a main character for the good of others. In some other movies, this sacrifice is framed as a character taking drastic action after being consumed by an obsession--I feel like in Godzilla, this is similar, except the death of Serizawa in this movie is framed as much more heroic and directly impactful to the entire world, rather than impactful to a handful of characters.

Unlike some other movies where it was a bit hard to see how the main message tied into bigger themes, such as how it took effort for me to understand how Epitaph related to the Japanese occupation of Korea, Godzilla was clearer to me in its messaging: That the creation and use of deadly weapons will lead to the destruction of humanity and the environment. It seems to also stress the responsibility of researchers to conduct ethical research, of governments to not abuse these technological advances, and the public to continue fighting for peace over warfare.