Something Real
MemberGodzillaSep-23-2015 4:24 PMHello there.
Over the past few weeks there has been an outpouring of what can easily be described as a delightfully tantilizing amount of information concerning Toho's 2016 Godzilla. we now know that it is entitled "Shin-Gojira" or "True Godzilla", and many have begun to cheer that this will likely be the beginning of a forray back into the days in which Godzilla was a terror to Mankind. With that being said, I have seen many individuals praising this upcoming film for taking Godzilla back to being "evil". I challenge that assertion. Within the 1954 Godzilla, the acclaimed monster is not evil - he is the product of powers with which we humans should never have tampered. Godzilla is not driven by an urge to wipe us out for sadistic glee; he is a nightmare arisen from our disregard for scientific boundaries that knows nothing of his creation or purpose - he simply is. Godzilla is much more than a simple monster out to get us. He is the culmination of our heedless nature to explore ever further beyond what nature rightfully designated. Godzilla is a boundary; a warning made flesh and blood. He is nature twisted and malformed by man's hubris and serves as an equilizer. Imagine what horrors would arise if we were to step beyond the boundary Godzilla imposes? What dread would arise if we were to cast down and ignore the nuclear abomination that we rightfully earned as a telling punishment for our crimes against the planet?
When he first arose from the sea, driven by some unknown force to come into direct conflict with the human race, Godzilla was not an agent of evil. He was a symptom of an ailing world tearing itself to pieces - and in this day and age, he is a far more powerful presence than we might readily suspect.
As always, I welcome your thoughts and conjecture with regards to this topic, even if you choose to keep them to yourself. :)
I'm not a Godzilla fan myself but the reports that this new movie will see Godzilla as "Evil Incarnate" could be due to a case of mistranslation with the character reportedly being called "Shin-Godzilla"...
No doubt Godzilla fans will know that Godzilla is a transliteration of the Japanese Gojira, which is itself a combination of Gorira and Kujira, or in English Gorilla and Whale.
Shin is a Japanese term, with multiple meanings (true, extend, new, heart, belief, progress, humility, advance, gentleman) all of which have benevolent meanings. Shin is often used in video games to denote a character as a super, more powerful version of that character. The most well known example being Shin-Akuma or Shin-Gouki (same character - pictured above) from the Street Fighter Alpha series. Akuma is Japanese for Devil or Demon, with Gouki being Japanese for Great Demon or Great Ogre.
I think it is because of the Shin-Akuma/Gouki that some reporters are assuming Shin-Godzilla as evil, when in actuality the term suggests that this forthcoming iteration of the character would in fact be either a super-powered version of Godzilla or much friendlier, benevolent Godzilla.
