Film and Public Lecture: "Godzilla" in Japan and the World

A screening of the original 1954 Japanese-language film "Godzilla" (with subtitles) together with a presentation by the Japanese historian Gregory Pflugfelder of Columbia University. Professor Pflugfelder will discuss the film as one of the earliest postwar cultural exports from Japan whose meaning underwent radical transformations as it circulated beyond Japan's borders. The serious anti-nuclear, pro-peace message of the Japanese Godzilla was downplayed in the American versions, which deleted substantial portions of the original and became increasingly kitschy with each successive sequel. Dr. Pflugfelder is currently writing a book about Godzilla in global circulation and will discuss the way the film was publicized and received in the U.S., the Soviet Union and other places during the Cold War.

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