Godzilla returned to Japanese movie theaters after an extended hiatus in 1984, just before the start of Japan’s exuberant but illusory Bubble Economy. Analyzing the often overlooked Heisei Series of films made in the 1980s and early 1990s, this talk will explore how the Godzilla franchise reflected
(and shaped) the cultural, economic, and political trends of an intense historical moment of unbridled consumerism, swelling national pride, and reckless euphoria. Approaching Godzilla during the Bubble from materialist and materialistic perspectives offers new insights into the business of Japanese filmmaking, the evolution of Japan’s postwar identity, and the ways in which even monster movies celebrated and stimulated mass consumption in a short-lived era of excess.
Bill Tsutsui has served as Chancellor and Professor of History at Ottawa University since 2021, after more than 30 years teaching modern Japanese history and holding a variety of administrative positions at the University of Kansas, Southern Methodist University, Hendrix College, and Harvard University. Among the nine books he has written or edited are Godzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters (called a “cult classic” by the New York Times) and Japanese Popular Culture and Globalization. He continues to speak, write, and teach on the Godzilla movies, monster culture in Japan, and the environmental history of Japan and the Pacific Ocean.