Godzilla Vs The Bubble: Consumption, Conceit, and Compulsion in Late-Capitalist Japan

Godzilla Vs The Bubble: Consumption, Conceit, and Compulsion in Late-Capitalist Japan
A Lecture by William M. Tsutsui
Chancellor and Professor of History
Ottawa University

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.

5:30 PM | May 6, 2025
Smith Memorial Student Union
Room 296/8
Free and Open to the Public
Please use the entrance on SW Broadway

For more information on CJS and our upcoming events, please visit: https://www.pdx.edu/japanese-studies/