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Indeed, Fukushima is so important with this film that it can be said that now Godzilla has become an allegorical representation of Fukushima and the dangers which it brought to Japan. When Godzilla first emerges, it is believed Japan is facing a terrible natural disaster; indeed, only when video footage shows a living creature behind it does the government accept the suggestion some signs indicated that a creature was behind the disaster. Godzilla in this film is an evolving creature, and so it has many forms, the earliest of which slowly finds itself on land, plodding through and destroying whatever is in its path. Slowly it gains strength to change and become the Godzilla which we all expect, and indeed, Godzilla more powerful than ever before. Here, Godzilla actually takes on the best elements of Hedorah, which is not surprising, because of Godzilla arises here similar to the way Hedorah did in the 70s Godzilla movie. It would seem the creature developed in part to nuclear waste which had been collected in the ocean for over sixty years; when it started partaking of that waste and became Gojira, we do not really know: all we have is a Japanese scientist who left notes predicting its emergence, the scientist who gave it the name Godzilla.
Key to the story – outside of the attempt to stop Godzilla in its tracks – is the political situation which develops as a result of its walk into Tokyo. For that is more or less the extent of Godzilla’s objective – to get into land, and eventually, to propagate itself once inland. This of course makes the rest of the world worried: no one knows the extant of its potential evolution, and if more Godzillas would emerge, the world feared that they would destroy humanity in the process. The United States wanted a nuclear solution, thinking it was the only way to stop Godzilla and make sure it did not threaten the rest of the world, and gets the United Nations onboard its plan Japan, of course, does not want this, indeed, it frightens them as they think about the two previous bombs which hit the nation and the devastation which occurred. And so, as a way to prevent such a disaster, some scientists working with the Japanese government and some allies in the United States try to find a way to stop Godzilla so that Japan does not suffer under a third bomb in its history.
The governmental reaction parallels elements of its reaction with Fukushima. At first many leaders suggested telling the public only the bare minimum, so as to avoid creating a panic. The hope was that Godzilla, having come from the ocean, would not be able to withstand entry upon land, and once that was shown to be wrong, then various committees were put in place, each with their own suggestion of what to do, many more concerned about their own political career than the safety of the nation. Eventually, when a plan develops to take on Godzilla, many go preparing for death, knowing they will not survive similar to the way many went into Fukushima to take care of its reactors. For our heroes to get their plans through, they had to deal with the worst side of democratic government: its bureaucracy. To get a defense force into place took a lot of political clout, because it also meant that Japan would in theory be acting contrary to its treaty with the United States. But because Japan was also, for most of the film, working with officials from Washington, the risk associated with breaking the treaty was minimum, especially due to the emergency situation.
Read more at Quick Summary-Review After Seeing Shin Godzilla
