The Return of Godzilla (1984) Saturday Monster Movies

Thirty years after the first Godzilla appearance in film, It was time to fix the franchise. Godzilla had drifted far, far away from his horrific, threat as the result of nuclear proliferation. He had become an increasingly silly and almost cuddle hero. Films like 1976’s King Kong and other successful horror films of the seventies showed that a more gritty, realistic, adult oriented monster film was feasible. So, the creators decided to reboot the franchise with a sequel to the 1954 film, with a threatening, bad, Godzilla.

Every once in a while, any story, ideology, or institution needs to look back to its roots and reform itself of the mission drift that it inevitably experiences. The story and ideas need to be updated to current contexts while, at the same time, recovering the core of what it was always supposed to be about.

In a religious context, this harkens one to the Reformation 500+ years ago. The universal Christian church in Luther’s day had drifted far away from the founding ideas and writings. It was all about the institution of the Church and not the Gospel of Jesus. Today, half a millennium later, we need to constantly look back at our roots while considering the changing contexts and make sure that the story and the idea that we communicate is both true to the Gospel message while effectively communicating that message in a way that is understandable.