Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira?) (/ɡɒdˈzɪlə/; [ɡoꜜdʑiɽa] ( listen)) is a giant monster or daikaiju originating from a series of tokusatsu films of the same name from Japan. He first appeared in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The character has appeared in numerous media including video games, novels, comic books, television series, and two Hollywood reboots: one produced by TriStar Pictures released in 1998 as Godzilla[Note 1] and a second produced by Legendary Pictures released in 2014 also as Godzilla, with the latter studio proceeding with a planned trilogy.[15] The character is commonly alluded to by the title King of the Monsters, a phrase first used in Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the Americanized version of Honda's original 1954 film.
With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons.[16] As the film series expanded, some stories took on less serious undertones portraying Godzilla as a hero while other plots still portrayed Godzilla as a destructive monster; sometimes the lesser of two threats who plays the defender by default but is still a danger to humanity.
With the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident still fresh in the Japanese consciousness, Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons.[16] As the film series expanded, some stories took on less serious undertones portraying Godzilla as a hero while other plots still portrayed Godzilla as a destructive monster; sometimes the lesser of two threats who plays the defender by default but is still a danger to humanity.
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Short film