Godzilla makes the dramatic shift from being a villain and enemy
of the human world to a dedicated (if reluctant…) Earth defender in the
rip-roaring Toho effort, Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster
(1965).
This film also introduces the world to Godzilla’s key nemesis:
the three-headed flying alien dragon known as King Ghidorah.
Ghidorah would return to battle Godzilla in many other films,
including the brilliant adventure Monster Zero (1970), Godzilla
vs. King Ghidorah (1991), and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), to name
just a few titles.
The enduring charm of Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster,
in large part, rests on its fanciful depiction of the monster world and,
importantly, the monster viewpoint about that world.
Specifically, in the film’s delightful and unexpected final act, humanity asks
for assistance battling the berserker Ghidrah, and Godzilla and Rodan must
consider their priorities.
Are they man’s enemies, or do these beasts have a basis for
cooperation with the human race?
Fortunately for mankind, Mothra is present to talk some sense
into the recalcitrant Godzilla…
“These monsters are as stupid as human
beings!”
A foreign princess, Selina (Akiko Wakabayashi) is presumed dead
after her plane is destroyed by assassins en route to Japan.
However, Selina soon re-appears in perfect health...but claiming
to be a Martian princess.
In this new identity, Selina warns the people of Earth of an impending crisis, a repeat of the very one that destroyed her advanced home world.
In this new identity, Selina warns the people of Earth of an impending crisis, a repeat of the very one that destroyed her advanced home world.
While assassins from her home-land continue to seek to
assassinate Selina, the alien princess’s warnings come to pass. As she forecasts, the fearsome pterodactyl
Rodan awakens at Mount Aso, and Godzilla ascends from the sea.
Selina’s protector, Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki) and
psychiatrist Dr. Tsukamoto (Takashi Shimura) become convinced that Selina is
acyually possessed by the spirit of an alien, and she makes a final, dire prediction. The monster that destroyed her home planet,
Mars, in a matter of months, is now on Earth.
This too comes to pass, as King Ghidrah, or Ghidorah --
a three-headed goliath -- emerges from a meteor and lays waste to Japan.
Desperate, authorities make an effort to
solicit Mothra’s help on Infant Island, and the giant insect acquiesces.
However, Mothra alone cannot defeat
Ghidorah. So Mothra attempts to convince
the quarrelsome Godzilla and Rodan to join forces and vanquish their common
enemy, but it is not an easy sell.
When Mothra decides to go it alone, and
is savagely attacked -- and ridiculed -- by malevolent Ghidorah, however,
Godzilla comes to the rescue, followed by Rodan…
“Godzilla, what terrible language!”
The theme of cooperation, already given
voice in Godzilla vs. The Thing (1964) is front and center in Ghidrah:
The Three Headed Monster. Here, Godzilla and Rodan must stop their
bickering -- with the help of a third monster, Mothra -- and defend the Earth
from a threat of monumental proportions.
In terms of metaphor, it is not difficult to gaze at the film as a post-Cuban Missile Crisis, Cold War Era plea for sanity and cooperation among
the argumentative powers of the world. If we follow it
through symbolically, Godzilla may here represent the U.S. (as he is the avatar of
American nuclear tests), Rodan the Soviet Union, and Mothra...level-headed, practical Japan. Only by all three “monsters” (or
nations…) working together will the “alien” Ghidorah be defeated.
This theme finds voice in the brilliant finale, as Mothra,
Godzilla, and Rodan share a meeting of the minds, or international monster summit of sorts. Mothra attempts to sway them with reason and logic, but Godzilla
and Rodan are too busy kicking rocks into each other’s faces, at least at first, to
listen. Eventually Mothra gets their
attention, and then Godzilla and Rodan must consider their options.
They both hate mankind, and remember, importantly, that mankind hates them. Why should they help?
They both hate mankind, and remember, importantly, that mankind hates them. Why should they help?
Well, as Mothra points out, we all share this Earth together, and
so Godzilla and Rodan must put their hatred for man aside and do what is right for the planet.
I absolutely love the imagination and audacity of this film's climactic
sequence. Mothra’s tiny princesses
translate for the human audience while three monsters gurgle, growl and squeal
at one another in serious conversation, determining the fate of the planet in the process.
This sequence conveys some important information, too. The first thing is
that man, in his arrogance, presumes that he controls the planet and its future. Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster
reveals him “humbled” before the monsters. If man is to survive, and not suffer the same
fate as the Martians, he will have to put his trust into beings -- monsters -- he considers enemies.
Secondly, the monsters dislike man as much as man dislikes them,
apparently. More is made of this notion
throughout the Godzilla franchise, actually. In Godzilla:
Final Wars, for instance, we learn that Godzilla hates man -- and can’t
forgive him -- because of his misuse of the planet, and because of all the “fires” (wars?)
man has started.
Third, and finally, Godzilla, we learn here, seems to possess
both a grumpy attitude (and the vocabulary of a sailor…) but also a strong moral
barometer. He cusses and uses bad
language when talking to Mothra, and that’s a funny moment. But more importantly, Godzilla refuses to
fight until he sees what a total bastard Ghidrah really is. Ghidrah mocks and plays with poor Mothra and
that action offends Godzilla’s sense of honor, even though Mothra has, in the
past, defeated him.
Mothra is quite the smart creature too. No doubt, Mothra goes it alone intentionally,
hoping that Godzilla will detect the level of the danger, and be drawn into the
battle to save the planet. That seems to be precisely what
happens.
Indeed, what seems to separate good monsters from bad monsters in this thoroughly enjoyable film is a sense of justice or honor.
Mothra, Godzilla and Rodan all demonstrate the capacity not merely for growth, but for cooperation. They are able to rally to a cause greater than themselves, in other words.
By contrast, King Ghidorah is really a berserker with no value system beyond destruction.
Mothra, Godzilla and Rodan all demonstrate the capacity not merely for growth, but for cooperation. They are able to rally to a cause greater than themselves, in other words.
By contrast, King Ghidorah is really a berserker with no value system beyond destruction.
I suppose that the question that must be reckoned with involving
Ghidrah:
The Three Headed Monster involves changed premises or changed assumptions in
the Godzilla franchise. Are audiences
willing to embrace Godzilla the hero, over Godzilla the avatar of nuclear
destruction?
And if so, is it a corruption of the franchise’s original idea?
And if so, is it a corruption of the franchise’s original idea?
Although on an artistic front, I do prefer the purity of the
nuclear metaphor in Godzilla (1954), I must confess that on an emotional level, I love
the idea of Godzilla as Earth’s (grumpy) defender.
I love the big green monster as a hero, and as a friend to the human race. It may be a corruption of the original
premise, but I do find Godzilla in these Showa "versus" films to be an appealing combination
of innocent, tragic, and lovable.
One further quality of Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster
that may keep it from being a corruption of the original franchise intent and rather an evolution
of key concepts is the example of Mars. The
alien princess reports: “Centuries ago, the
monster appeared in the skies of Mars. Within a month, the culture of Mars had
been wiped out completely. The civilization on my planet had reached a stage of
development which you people will not achieve for a long time…Today, because of
the space monster, it is a dead world…dead and unpopulated.”
Encoded there is a direct corollary to the
warning in Godzilla (1954).
Man has and will continue to achieve advances in terms of his technology, and his capacity for war. But if he brutalizes nature in that evolution, nature will have its revenge, and man will, in that conflict, lose.
Ghidorah, in essence, here takes on the role of Godzilla from the first film. He is Out-of-Whack Nature Personified: a threat that can’t be reckoned with in terms of technology or conventional war.
Man has and will continue to achieve advances in terms of his technology, and his capacity for war. But if he brutalizes nature in that evolution, nature will have its revenge, and man will, in that conflict, lose.
Ghidorah, in essence, here takes on the role of Godzilla from the first film. He is Out-of-Whack Nature Personified: a threat that can’t be reckoned with in terms of technology or conventional war.
Ghidrah: The Three Headed Monster is such an
imaginative and entertaining film not only because it features lovable and idiosyncratic monsters, but because it endows its
monsters with a point of view that is not human-centric, and allows them -- in
their own destructive way -- to settles matters based on those points of view.
To some, this approach of giving the monsters human personalities may seem silly or childish, but in a way, this creative choice perfectly expresses the childish nature of the Cold War conflict.
To some, this approach of giving the monsters human personalities may seem silly or childish, but in a way, this creative choice perfectly expresses the childish nature of the Cold War conflict.
Are we really going to destroy the world
because we can’t get along with each other? Can we stop kicking sand in each other's faces long enough to see that the planet needs our help?
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