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Godzilla the Greatest Monster (Advanced) · Spotlight English: Advanced

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  Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Patrick Woodward and I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses
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  a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
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  matter where in the world they live. In the darkness, you hear the
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  footsteps of the creature before you see it. The windows of the buildings shake
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  and crack. Suddenly it appears, a huge creature, as tall as the
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  tallest towers. Its cry splits the night. Its backbone glows with a purple
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  light. Energy shoots out from its mouth, slicing the buildings in half.
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  Godzilla has returned to Japan. Godzilla is one of the most famous monsters of
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  the history of film. Pictured sometimes as an evil force and sometimes a hero.
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  Godzilla is always a force of ruin, but the roaring monster makes a
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  film fun. But the huge beast also shows the fears of those who created
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  him. Today's spotlight is on Godzilla, the greatest monster of the movies.
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  Three men created Godzilla. They worked for Toho, a Japanese film studio,
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  in nineteen fifty four. Their names were Ishi ro Honda, Takio Murata,
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  and Tomi Yuki Tanaka. Tomi Yuki Tanaka the producer of the project, originally
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  planned for the film to be a typical monster film, usually a frightening creatures
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  that people must fight. Usually the people kill the monster or drive it away.
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  But with director Ishio Honda's vision, this monster film became something more.
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  He and his co writer Takeyo Murata made the film into a metaphor of something
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  more important. A metaphor is a creative comparison describing something that shares the same
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  qualities with something else. Godzilla became a metaphor for the tragedy and horror of
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  nuclear weapons. Honda was no stranger to these weapons, nor was Japan.
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  In nineteen forty five, Japan was at war against the United States and its
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  allies. This war, called World War Two, had been going on for
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  many years. Hundreds of thousands of people had died. On the sixth and
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  again on ninth of August, the United States dropped two nuclear weapons on Hiroshima
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  and Nagasaki. These bombs immediately destroyed these two major Japanese cities. The explosion
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  killed tens of thousands of people. The radiation from these bombs also poisoned many
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  more. The ruin was terrible. The Japanese could do nothing to stop this
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  powerful weapon. Their government surrendered soon afterward the war was over. Ishiro Hoonda
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  was an unwilling soldier in that war. He spoke to the magazine Newsweek about
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  the experience that would shape his film. I was coming back from the war.
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  The army was returning from our final defeat. We passed through Hiroshima.
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  Back then, it was says that for the next seventy two years, nous
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  who'd grow there. That picture really stayed with me. So I have a
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  kind of hatred of nuclear weapons. Honda's hatred of nuclear weapons shaped the plot
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  of the first Godzilla movie. It also included another real life event involving nuclear
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  weapons called the Diigo Fukuru Maru incident. During this incident, the Japanese fishing
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  ship Diigo Fukuru Maru was fishing for tuna near the Marshall Islands in the Western
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  Pacific. Near those islands, the United States secretly was testing a new nuclear
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  weapon. The ship was fishing in a place that should have been safely outside
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  of the testing zone, but this bomb was much more powerful than expected.
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  It sent clouds of radioactive fallout into the wind. The dust and ash in
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  the radioactive clouds fell on the Diigo Fukuru Marow. The radioactive fallout from this
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  nuclear test poisoned the ship's crew. Several crew members died within a few weeks,
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  and those who did not die immediately had permanent disabilities. Later, many
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  of those men died from cancer caused by the radiation. The Diigo Fukurio Marrow
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  incident directly influenced Godzilla's creators. The film even begins with fishermen disappearing. Nuclear
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  testing changes Godzilla into a radioactive monster. Ehiji Tsuburaya was the film's special effects
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  artist. He designed Godzilla. He made the monster's skin look like the skin
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  of the survivors of the nuclear attacks from World War II. Much of the
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  film shows Godzilla attacking Japan. The damage is like destruction of an atomic bomb,
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  but Godzilla is also victim. His unstoppable anger also comes from his own
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  pain caused by the atomic bomb. Godzilla also differed from other monster films in
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  many ways. Most of these films concentrate on the monster and the destruction it
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  causes. Godzilla does this too, but most of the film concentrates on people's
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  experience of Godzilla's destruction. In one part, the film shows a mother crying,
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  telling her children that they all will die, but that they will be
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  with their father who died before. As she speaks, Godzilla comes ever closer
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  to their hiding place. In another, a doctor knows a child that she
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  is treating has been poisoned by radiation. There is nothing that she can do
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  to help her. These parts purposely match events after the bombing of Hiroshima and
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  Nagasaki. John Rako Roberto was an American Godzilla expert. In his study of
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  the effects of the atomic bomb on Japanese culture, he wrote, Godzilla was
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  hidden as a normal Hollywood style monster film, but it made Japan and finally
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  the world, experience the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki all over again. The
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  movie Godzilla was a huge success on its release. It set a box office
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  record in Tokyo. Reviews of the film were mixed, but the movie was
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  very popular because so many people came to see it. It became the eighth
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  most profitable film in Japan that year. In the next few years, the
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  movie was shown in Germany and the United States. However, these films were
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  changed a lot. These did not include much of the original movies anti war
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  message. These also removed the nuclear weapons. In the United States, the
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  title was changed to Godzilla, King of the Monsters, but more people watched
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  the film in the United States than in Japan. The international showings of the
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  movie helped solidify Godzilla's popularity. The Toho Film Studio capitalized on this popularity,
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  releasing five more Godzilla films in the next ten years. In these films,
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  Godzilla is still a force of destruction, but he slowly turns into a hero
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  who fights other monsters that threatened the earth and its people. Some films were
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  more about the fights between these monsters than being a symbol for anything, but
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  they still considered Japanese attitudes at the time, like a growing feeling of teamwork
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  between Japan and other nations. Is Shiro Honder directed many of these later Godzilla
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  films. He spoke to Newsweek about this period. Of these films, in
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  parts with international meetings, I always show people from the Soviet Union and other
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  countries. They helped the Japanese government with a problem it faces. That kind
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  of assistance somehow became the subject of these sorts of films. Corporation or working
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  together is the most important subject. As time went on, Godzilla became a
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  friendly monster. Recent films such as the American made Godzilla X con The New
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  Empire followed this example. Here he is a force of nature that protects the
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  earth from outside danger, but Godzilla still has the to show the fears of
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  the Japanese people. In twenty sixteen, Toho released a new film called Shin
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  Godzilla. Shin Godzilla was influenced by the tsunami, a huge wave caused by
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  an earthquake that hit Japan in twenty eleven. The tsunami caused the Fukushima nuclear
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  power plant to melt down, releasing radiation into the environment. In the film,
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  Godzilla is a slow moving monster changed by radiation poisoning. The monster is
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  a danger, but much of the film is about how government officials fail to
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  address the problem. The movie shows the danger of a natural tragedy, but
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  it is also about the dangers of a slow moving government. Today, Godzilla
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  is the longest running film series of all time, with thirty eight movies completed
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  and more to be released. He is one of Japan's most well known creations.
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  He made people want to make other monster films and video games, but
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  Godzilla will always be more than just another monster. He shows both the fears
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  and joys that all people experience. In that way, we are a part
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  of Godzilla. Our experiences and expectations make him one of the greatest monsters of
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  all time. Have you ever seen a Godzilla film? Which film was your
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  favorite? You can leave a comment on our website or email us at Radio
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  at Radio English dot net. You can also comment on Facebook at Facebook dot
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  com slash Spotlight Radio. This program is called Godzilla the Greatest Monster. The
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  writer of this program was Dan Christman. The producer was Mitcheo Osaki. The
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  voices you heard were from the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted this program
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  and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again and read it
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  on the internet at www dot Radio English dot net. You can also get
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  our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight
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  English app. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.