Godzilla

Godzilla (from the Japanese: Gojira meaning, approximately, gorilla-whale), is a fictional creature featured in a number of popular Japanese films made by Toho Studios since 1954.

A 300-foot high, 20,000 ton, fire-breathing dinosaur, he typically emerges from hibernation to demolish major cities, especially Tokyo, and fight hand-to-hand with a selection of monstrous foes, notable amongst whom are Mothra (a gigantic moth), King Ghidorah (a three-headed golden space dragon), and Rodan (a huge pterodactyl). In the original 1954 film and many subsequently, Godzilla has been portrayed as a menace to humanity, in others as a saviour and guardian. In Son of Godzilla, he is shown to be a stern but conscientious father.

Being traditionally portrayed by a man in a suit, in contrast to the stop-motion animation techniques used for films such as King Kong, allows Godzilla an almost human range of dramatic expression, at the expense of entirely convincing special effects. Though the versions commonly available in the West are often badly edited and cheaply dubbed, production values for Godzilla films are surprisingly high.

In addition to city-trampling and monster fights, science fiction themes such as robotics, mind control, and alien invasion are commonly featured. Leading human characters typically exhibit extreme devotion to duty and a readiness to make heroic self-sacrifices.

The enormous popularity and cultural resonance of Godzilla is perhaps due to his many positive characteristics. he is courageous and indomitable, a potent masculine symbol, and while pugnacious and solitary, is essentially dispassionate and impartial in his dealings with others. Godzilla also represents the personification of the threat to Japan from atomic bombing and earthquakes, and to some extent the traits of Japanese nationalism, isolationism and xenophobia.