The classic Godzilla movies I grew up with embraced the same sort of approach, taking the giant lizard seriously, but not too seriously. Early trailers presented the destruction wrought as a giddy extravaganza, with actors spitting out punchy one-liners while the world collapses around them. A sequel to 2014’s Godzilla, the film sees the desperate people of Earth calling upon the creature they’re most afraid of in order to fight an even greater peril. Hollywood’s latest Godzilla movie, subtitled King of the Monsters, is set to maintain this tension. No matter how playful or haunting his movies have been over the decades, this duality-Godzilla as both a terrifying metaphor for mankind’s hubris and a protector capable of almost cosmic benevolence-has always been at the heart of the character. Nevertheless, when a bigger threat to humanity’s survival emerged, Godzilla would rise as our champion. His power was fearsome, and he couldn’t be controlled or negotiated with. The films of the mid-’80s through ’90s took on a much darker tone, with Godzilla reemerging as a menace even as he delighted in his fights with other monsters.
Many of the movies in the 1970s were almost comical, featuring kaiju (giant monster) battles that resembled professional wrestling. Godzilla movies have typically tried to highlight both of these qualities-often in the same film-with varying degrees of emphasis. But he could also sometimes be a friend to humanity-a savior in moments of crisis, a mythological titan that danced when he won a battle. Having first debuted in Ishiro Honda’s 1954 film Gojira, the Godzilla I knew was an unpredictable force of destruction.
I’d flip to the listing for the following Saturday to see which monster movies would be part of that morning’s “Creature Features.” Any film would’ve thrilled me, but I was always hoping for ones starring the heavy-footed, radioactive behemoth known as Godzilla.
As soon as I got out of bed, I’d retrieve the thick Sunday edition of the newspaper, pull out the comics section, and then dig for the weekly TV guide. On Sunday mornings in the 1970s, I was the first in my house to wake up.