Gojira and Wrath

    Once again this post will revolve around one of the Seven Deadly Sins discussed in my philosophy class. Gojira, directed by Ishirô Honda from 1954 isn't a film one would associate wrath to because it perhaps it's too simple a premise, but I find it interesting. As you know, given what the movie is, it’s a little ridiculous in several ways, from visual effects to campiness to acting, it’s all over the top. Some of things that I will point will certainly seem laughable, but there’s no denying that those laughable examples represent the vice of wrath.

    All throughout Rebecca DeYoung’s chapter on anger in her book, Glittering Vices she explains time and time again that anger is perfectly okay and normal to have. She uses God as an example to prove that anger has a place in this world, but she also says that only the right kind of anger has a place in this world. To further elaborate on such, DeYoung says if one has anger pertaining to a lack of justice, say your friend gets killed, then that is okay. What’s not okay are things such as freaking out over somebody spilling a drink on something, or going out and killing someone because you lost money on the horse race. In the film Gojira the creature, named Godzilla by Americans, displays loads of these unjustified anger outbursts. The first one is when Godzilla wakes up, the reason for the entire film. In the original he wakes up from the bottom of the ocean because too much nuclear activity has disturbed his slumber, and instead of solving things in a civil manner by sitting down and discussing things, he instead destroys all of Tokyo with no mercy. Granted Godzilla is not a civil human being, but still he’s being a gigantic baby. Now, even though the people of Tokyo caused the radioactivity levels to soar, they have every right to get mad at Godzilla because they did not know he was there trying to nap. A second example, although not as big as my previous one, can certainly be categorized as wrath. As Godzilla destroys Tokyo, tons of things are happening around him such as evacuations, and as a train full of people is trying to leave Godzilla steps in front of them, hurting Godzilla’s foot and causing him to rage some more. Godzilla just doesn’t get how rage is supposed to work, just not one bit.

    Yes, these seem ridiculous to be pointing out, but they most certainly are true and are perfect displays of wrath.