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CNN Live At Daybreak

Look at New Godzilla Movie

Aired July 24, 2002 - 05:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We want to warn you, this next story may be very scary to anyone in Japan. It concerns the lizard known as Godzilla, a monster to some, an icon to others. Godzilla has appeared in more than two dozen movies, second only to actor Michael King, though at 48, Godzilla is younger than Michael King.

In Japan, Godzilla is still admired by legions of fans. Though he has been killed several times on screen already, somehow he always manages to return.

CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon explains the monster's appeal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Guys in rubber suits slugging it out in a miniature replica of Tokyo. Key scenes in Japan's 26th Godzilla movie, "Godzilla Versus Mecca Godzilla," are made much the same way as the first Godzilla movie in 1954. But its theme, a battle between a flesh and blood creature and a high tech robot, is for the 21st century.

SHOGO TOMIYAMA, PRODUCER: We use Godzilla as a mirror to reflect the issues faced by our society.

MACKINNON: It has been that way from the beginning. Nine years after WWII ended with nuclear bombs dropped on two Japanese cities, the U.S. tested a hydrogen bomb in the South Pacific in 1954. Twenty- three Japanese fishermen, who had been well outside the designated safety limits, came down with radiation sickness.

The first Godzilla movie came out later that year. Godzilla was, of course, a mutant nuclear monster.

PETER MUSOLF, AUTHOR: The Japanese people knew exactly what Godzilla meant. He was a metaphor for nuclear disaster. In the 1956 American version, Godzilla was presented as something unknown.

MACKINNON: Author of the book on Godzilla, Peter Musolf says the American recuts and one full remake largely ignored Godzilla's social messages. Those messages weigh heavily in a new museum exhibit devoted to the monster.

(on camera): Godzilla has been squashing cars like bugs and smashing buildings like toys for almost 50 years now. But his Japanese creators and recreators say Godzilla can never really die because he represents the consequences of human behavior.

(voice-over): Generations of Japanese grew up influenced by Godzilla movies. Many included themes like environmental disaster or a cold war turned hot. Godzilla movies taught us the world we live in is not stable at all, says this young man.

One thing about Godzilla is stable. He's always really just an actor in a rubber suit. Curator Hiroshi Oshugi says Japanese moviegoers don't care if he looks fake because Godzilla is a symbol, symbol of all that's frightening about the real world.

Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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