Godzilla

is a set of films that moved in step with the moods and fortunes of Japanese society in the decades after 1954. The monster itself was “tamed and transformed” in the 1960s, reflecting not just the swelling national self-confidence of the “economic miracle” years but also the changing demographics of the Japanese moviegoing audience and the creeping infantilization—the cute- ification—that is a distinguishing characteristic of postwar Japanese pop culture.

As Yoshikuni Igarashi has skillfully delineated, the tone and message of the Godzilla films moved in step with the moods and fortunes of Japanese society in the decades after 1954. The monster itself was “tamed and transformed” in the 1960s,11 reflecting not just the swelling national self-confidence of the “economic miracle” years but also the changing demographics of the Japanese moviegoing audience and the creeping infantilization—the cute- ification—that is a distinguishing characteristic of postwar Japanese pop culture.

Yoshikuni IgarashiThinkers

Yoshikuni Igarashi