ScholarWorks@숙명여자대학교

초록

Shin Godzilla has given rise to widespread discourse in Japan since its release. They have shown the Japanese people's views on disasters and national defense. Among them, the argument for “Godzilla = Japanese military spirit” is strongly expressed, from which we can see the impact of Norihiro Gato's argument in the 1990s. This paper reviewed his argument from the perspective of “others.” In the discourse of Godzilla in the 1990s, Saburo Kawamoto represented most of the public opinion at the time, which was based on the perpetrator’s view of history including that of victims of the Japanese. Norio Akasaka offered his opinion on the contradictions of post-war Japan in the Ten'nōsei. Kenji Sato's argument could be considered as a response to the voice of “others.” Unlike these claims, Norihiro Kato's claim settled the meaning of Godzilla in the form of the national identity of Japan. Kato says Shin Godzilla challenges contemporary taboos in “Dentsu(電通)” culture, which means the limitations of popular culture in capitalism. This paper argued that such an idea was flattery to the current prevailing nationalism. Based on the review of Kato's discussions, we can say it shows the process of narrow convergence of interpretations from Godzilla’s being a multi-layered cultural symbol to national identity of Japan; in the desire of forming national identity, the recognition of others is deleted, and only remains as a cognitive autistic structure between America and Japan.

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