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Character Analysis: 1.0
Date: 10/27/04
Yoshimitsu Banno's 1971 Godzilla film, Godzilla
vs. Hedorah, conveys a strong anti-pollution message, and
in order to properly express the problem Banno had to create not
only a monster who embodied the idea of pollution itself, but one
who greatly overpowered Godzilla to show the severity of the problem.
The result was Hedorah.
Born from the Dark Gas Nebula in the Orion Constellation,
Hedorah latches itself to the Ikeya Comet, which ends up traveling
past Earth as the space monster descends on the lush planet below.
Once on the surface, the creature grows an affection over Humanity's
pollutants, from the smog in the air to the waste poured into the
sea, and starts to grow both in size and power as it continues to
consume this new abundant food supply.
Banno's creation not only embodied the pollution
issue he wanted to tackle, but also represented the growing shift
away from the traditional "tooth and claw" monsters of
the 1950's and 1960's as more complex monsters begun to enter the
scene. Hedorah is a prime example of this shift, as the creature
sports a wide array of powers that it uses to easily overcome Godzilla
until the climax of the film.
The purpose of this article is to compile an extensive
view of all of the creatures perceived powers and weaknesses. Before
diving into these, though, it should be noted that continuity errors,
such as Godzilla's skeletal hand changing from the right to left
hand or Godzilla being struck with sludge in the wrong eye, aren't
factored into the discussion.
Forms:
Hedorah does not reproduce in the same fashion that normal animals
do, instead the creature divides and reforms as needed, or when
forced to. The monster's primary goal is to simply engulf as much
pollution as possible relatively quickly, as the creature's size
and available powers both increase as it consumes more.
Hedorah's first form was one adapt to a watery environment. At
the start of this stage it can be assumed that the creature was
relatively harmless, going by the tadpole like Hedorah that the
fisherman Gohei caught. The creature likely divided rather heavily
at this stage in order to accelerate the speed at which it consumes
pollutants. Eventually these smaller Hedorahs start to merge into
larger creatures who can now take out oil tankers in order to accelerate
their own growth. Hedorah's quest for more pollutants ultimately
lead the creature to land where it dons a four legged form in order
to consume the emissions from factory smoke stacks. Hedorah is still
relatively weak at this stage, which is showcased by how easily
the creature is made to retreat when faced by Godzilla. Godzilla
also manages to punch a hole through the creature, which sends a
chunk of Hedorah flying into a local club as it takes on a life
of its own.
The next day, the creature takes another leap in
evolution as it has shifted to a flying form that now has easy access
to the pollution which can be found through out Japan. The Hedorah
that was released into the night club is meanwhile consuming pollution
on its own, as it begins to devour cars that stray to close to its
path. Meanwhile, Godzilla confronts the flying Hedorah once more,
but this time proves ineffective against the Smog Monster. The two
Hedorah eventually merge to form the creature's final form. A towering,
60 meter, monster whose appearance is loosely based on Godzilla's,
as it's apparent that Hedorah has reached this next form with the
intention of finally dealing with Godzilla, permanently. At this
stage, Hedorah still maintains the power to shift back to its flying
form as needed.
Body Toxicity:
Hedorah's own body is generally perceived as a weapon, as those
who physically harm the creature will likely only injure themselves
in the process. The level of toxicity in Hedorah also increases
dramatically over time as it consumes more pollution, and this is
very clearly illustrated in the film. During each of Godzilla's
three battles with Hedorah's land, flying and final form he punches
Hedorah's body, and with varying success. Against the land form,
Godzilla thrusts both of his hands clear through Hedorah's body
with no visible ill effect to either monster. Against Hedorah's
flying form, when Godzilla punches the Smog Monster after throwing
it to the ground, an entire layer of Godzilla's skin is burned off
from his contact with the vile creature. The full extent of this
power is realized, though, in the battle at Mount Fuji against the
final form, as after punching Hedorah's eye his hand is literally
eaten away down to the bone.
Hedorah doesn't have to be attacked to make use of
this power though, as the Smog Monster was often fond of firing
off large clumps of its mass at opponents, most notably when it
takes out Godzilla's use of his right eye by firing sludge at Godzilla's
face.
In his final form, Hedorah was also able to discharge
large quantities of sludge from the base of his body as well. The
exact purpose of this appeared to be fairly limited, though, as
Godzilla didn't look to be adversely affected by the sludge, except
for the fact that it made it more difficult for him to leave the
hole that Hedorah was filling. The sheer amount of sludge that Hedorah
discharged in this manner is worth noting though, as he was able
to release a tremendous amount of the substance into the pit.
Sulfuric Acid Mist:
Released in Hedorah's flying form as it traveled across the sky,
the creature's sulfuric acid mist was a powerful byproduct of how
the creature flew. The mist was powerful enough to cause Godzilla
to collapse when he made direct contact with it, but was especially
lethal for humans as the mist quickly burned through skin and organs
to leave only a pile of bones and scant remnants of sludge behind.
Crimson Energy Beam:
Hedorah's Crimson Energy Beam is often overlooked in terms of
power. Fired from the top of Hedorah's eye by the creature's flying
and final form, the Crimson Energy Beam proved to be a potent weapon
against Godzilla. The first time the Smog Monster strikes Godzilla
with the ray, while in its flying form, it effectively knocks the
creature out of Hedorah's intended path. The second time it uses
the ray to directly attack Godzilla, it's blocked by Godzilla's
hand, a tactic which proves ineffective. Following the attack, Godzilla
rapidly flails his hand in the air, one can assume because the ray
has some sort of lasting burning effect (it's certainly something
Godzilla never did when he was struck with a beam from any other
monster in the Showa series), before quickly caressing the stricken
hand with the other hand, as if he were trying to rub something
off.
The ray doesn't have to hit to be effective though;
in fact, Hedorah would often miss on purpose, firing the ray at
the ground right in front of his intended target. Upon making contact
with the ground, the beam then appeared to release a toxic smoke
that was similar to that of Hedorah's sulfuric mist, and caused
Godzilla to collapse every time he was engulfed by the smoke.
Resistance:
It would be safe to conclude that Hedorah is, by no means, easy
to destroy. The creature proved to be particularly resilient against
Godzilla, whose Atomic Ray was ineffective, only causing a momentary
discharge of sparks. It's likely that radiation, in general, has
no ill effect against the creature. The film's own characters, mostly
the group of teenagers at the base of Mount Fuji, pose the assumption
that fire might be effective against the Smog Monster, but this
is never seen in the film itself. The match size torches flung at
Hedorah certainly do no damage, but how close was the creature to
the exploding oil refineries? The creature is never seen during
the incident, but is obviously the cause of this and if it was in
fact exposed to these large explosions it would prove that fire
wasn't effective against it either.
Weakness:
Hedorah's weakness is well emphasized in the film: the creature
will die if dried out. This is finally achieved in the film by two
giant electrodes that are able to discharge 3 million volts between
the two. However it takes 41 seconds (11 seconds, followed by another
burst lasting 30 seconds) of being fried with 3 million volts of
electricity to simply dry out Hedorah's outer layer. Godzilla removes
the eyes and dries these as well, and still a new Hedorah is formed
from the remains of the final form. It takes Godzilla tearing Hedorah
apart, piece by piece, and frying each individual chunk in order
to ensure that the creature never returns again. So just because
it's a weakness does not mean that it's a easy means of defeating
the creature by any regards.
In earlier forms, Hedorah appeared to be much easier
to dry out though. His water form dried out simply by being deprived
water, as the tadpole sample that was given to doctor Toru Yano
quickly dried and cracked into a black powder like substance (although
these pieces could be brought back to life if exposed to water and
pollution). Hedorah's first land form also seems to have trouble
retaining sludge, as parts of its body ooze out after it leaps at
Godzilla only to smack into the hard ground instead. This sludge
that oozed out was dried simply by exposure to the sun the next
day.
It should also be mentioned that Hedorah has some
trouble regenerating eyes, as Hedorah's final form loses the use
of its left eye for the remainder of the battle after Godzilla punches
it out. However, once the creature's outer layer is cooked by the
electrodes, and a smaller Hedorah escapes for the fried husk, two
eyes are present again. So this doesn't mean they can't be re-grown
by the creature, but they are a more vital part of the creature's
body when contrasted with the rest of the creature's exterior.
Final Thoughts:
In closing, Hedorah is reasonably assumed to be Godzilla's deadliest
adversary from the Showa series, and one of the most powerful creatures
to ever grace a Toho film, as Banno effectively paints pollution
as a nearly unbeatable foe in the film, at least for Godzilla on
his own.
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