Contrast of Japanese/ Western Cinema concerning Nuclear War

Japan portrays the concept of nuclear war negatively, as they were once victims of an attack caused by nuclear weaponry. American films choose to show nuclear war differently, in a way which is neither positive or negative. They choose to represent nuclear almost like a metaphor of the strength of America, that they have the power to destroy a nation. This can be seen in many pieces of American cinema.
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Tomoyuki Tanaka - creator of Godzilla
Tanaka created Godzilla in 1954 in an effort to illustrate the terror Japanese felt after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In an interview in 1985 Tanaka summed up the symbolism of Godzilla:

'In those days, Japanese had a real horror of radiation, and that horror is what made Godzilla so huge. From the beginning he has symbolized nature's revenge on mankind.'

Themes of Godzilla

In the film, Godzilla is represented as a symbol for nuclear holocaust and ever since the film's initial release, Godzilla has been culturally identified as a strong metaphor for nuclear weapons. In the film, Godzilla's attack mirrors the same horrors the Japanese experienced near the end of World War II, with the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka stated that, "The theme of the film, from the beginning, was the terror of the bomb. Mankind had created the bomb, and now nature was going to take revenge on mankind." Director Ishirō Honda filmed Godzilla's rampage on Tokyo with the mentality that the monster's onslaught was a parallel to, and a physical manifestation of, an Atom bomb attack. He stated, "If Godzilla had been a dinosaur or some other animal, he would have been killed by just one cannonball. But if he were equal to an atomic bomb, we wouldn't know what to do. So, I took the characteristics of an atomic bomb and applied them to Godzilla."

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