"Fat Man and Little Boy" Vs. Fat Giant Lizard
The films "Fat Man and Little Boy" and "Gojira" oddly seem to be two sides of the same coin, with one presenting a different answer to the same moral question. They both pose a similiar question, should weapons of mass destruction be destroyed to protect us? Or should they be created to protect us? I know it seems like a contradictory question but just read through this and you'll understand.
In "Fat Man and Little Boy", the main plot is focused on the scientists of the Manhattan project trying to figure out whether what they're doing is morally right or wrong. Once all the initial excitement and hysteria around the project fades, it quickly becomes apparent that this weapon of mass destruction is not truly necessary once the allies find out that the Germans are nowhere near developing this bomb. There is a lot of argument about whether or not this weapon of mass destruction is truly necessary with the final rule and say going to the U.S. military.
Like you probably can guess, the commander of the project does not want all the money in this endeavor to be wasted and he wants to keep his reputation intact. If a bunch of weak scientists flakes out on him what does that say about his ability to command? As a result, the scientists are practically forced into keeping the project alive.
So, although a good bit of the scientists, including the main leader of them in the film, Oppenheimer, did not want to continue the project. They ultimately did out of fear that they would lose the war and out of pressure from their superiors. Meaning they said that WMD's should be created in order to protect us.
However, Gojira answers this question in the opposite manner in two ways. First, in the act of Godzillas existence. Godzilla was created basically because of harmful nuclear testing. As a result, a lot of the speech in the movie was against the creation of nukes and the testing of them. Along with this, in the final bits of the movie, one of the characters has a weapon he creates to destroy the giant lizard called the "Oxygen Destroyer".
Now, whatever this thing does is completely unrealistic as it seems to strip the flesh clean off of anything in water?? I honestly don't know but I do know that the science is total bogus but that's not the point. The point is that the scientist who created the device decides to destroy it and all of his notes and even himself in the process of destroying lizardo giganto. Meaning that Gojira's metaphorical answer to the question was that we should destroy weapons of mass destruction to protect all of us because, after all, they are weapons of mass destruction.
Gojira completely opposes everything that the Manhatten project did. And by the end of the film, you may be thinking that America is the worst of all possible countries around because they caused such a great deal of pain. However, when you look at it from America's perspective, their reasoning (although not the greatest) is sound. They did it mainly out of fear and out of pressure. And people make bad decisions when under fear and pressure. Which is why the use of the Nuclear bomb on the Japanese is seen as one of the biggest regrets that the United States has.
In my opinion, neither has it right. The creation of these is necessary but only in the pursuit of furthering science and engineering. I know that sounds like a crackpot philosophers idea but its what I believe. And, in a perfect world where human nature didn't suck we would have that but sadly we don't. And besides, without nukes what would've stopped the asteroid from hitting the earth in "Armageddon" right...?
The films "Fat Man and Little Boy" and "Gojira" oddly seem to be two sides of the same coin, with one presenting a different answer to the same moral question. They both pose a similiar question, should weapons of mass destruction be destroyed to protect us? Or should they be created to protect us? I know it seems like a contradictory question but just read through this and you'll understand.
In "Fat Man and Little Boy", the main plot is focused on the scientists of the Manhattan project trying to figure out whether what they're doing is morally right or wrong. Once all the initial excitement and hysteria around the project fades, it quickly becomes apparent that this weapon of mass destruction is not truly necessary once the allies find out that the Germans are nowhere near developing this bomb. There is a lot of argument about whether or not this weapon of mass destruction is truly necessary with the final rule and say going to the U.S. military.
Like you probably can guess, the commander of the project does not want all the money in this endeavor to be wasted and he wants to keep his reputation intact. If a bunch of weak scientists flakes out on him what does that say about his ability to command? As a result, the scientists are practically forced into keeping the project alive.
So, although a good bit of the scientists, including the main leader of them in the film, Oppenheimer, did not want to continue the project. They ultimately did out of fear that they would lose the war and out of pressure from their superiors. Meaning they said that WMD's should be created in order to protect us.
However, Gojira answers this question in the opposite manner in two ways. First, in the act of Godzillas existence. Godzilla was created basically because of harmful nuclear testing. As a result, a lot of the speech in the movie was against the creation of nukes and the testing of them. Along with this, in the final bits of the movie, one of the characters has a weapon he creates to destroy the giant lizard called the "Oxygen Destroyer".
Now, whatever this thing does is completely unrealistic as it seems to strip the flesh clean off of anything in water?? I honestly don't know but I do know that the science is total bogus but that's not the point. The point is that the scientist who created the device decides to destroy it and all of his notes and even himself in the process of destroying lizardo giganto. Meaning that Gojira's metaphorical answer to the question was that we should destroy weapons of mass destruction to protect all of us because, after all, they are weapons of mass destruction.
Gojira completely opposes everything that the Manhatten project did. And by the end of the film, you may be thinking that America is the worst of all possible countries around because they caused such a great deal of pain. However, when you look at it from America's perspective, their reasoning (although not the greatest) is sound. They did it mainly out of fear and out of pressure. And people make bad decisions when under fear and pressure. Which is why the use of the Nuclear bomb on the Japanese is seen as one of the biggest regrets that the United States has.
In my opinion, neither has it right. The creation of these is necessary but only in the pursuit of furthering science and engineering. I know that sounds like a crackpot philosophers idea but its what I believe. And, in a perfect world where human nature didn't suck we would have that but sadly we don't. And besides, without nukes what would've stopped the asteroid from hitting the earth in "Armageddon" right...?
OK. This is an interesting perspective and way to frame the discussion.
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