Godzilla crosses from kitsch to high art at Japanese museum

KAWASAKI, Japan -- Don't be fooled by the zippered-up lizard suit, plastic-model skylines and stock footage of crowds fleeing in terror when Godzilla smashes into town.

Japan's favorite nuclear-powered monster has finally crossed the threshold from campy kitsch to high art -- at least according to a Japanese museum drawing thousands with its Godzilla-as-art exhibit.

"There are people who look at Godzilla and laugh. But really this is a part of Japanese culture and history," said Hiroshi Ohsugi, curator at the Taro Okamoto Museum of Art in the Tokyo suburb of Kawasaki, one city not destroyed in 25 films of Godzilla rampages.

"Since Godzilla," on view through July 28, is the world's first art show looking at Godzilla as a cultural phenomenon, not just a pop icon of lowbrow thrills, Ohsugi said.

Packed with rubbery green Godzilla suits used in several movies, as well as model buildings, props, still photos and film clips, the exhibit chronicles Godzilla as a looking glass on Japanese society over the last half century.

Nuclear bombs, rapid economic growth, space travel, the Cold War, pollution and the dangers of biotechnology are just some of the issues touched upon.

The opening hall takes visitors back to 1954, when the original grainy black-and-white "Godzilla" hit the screens.

Back then, the monster's origins in a hydrogen-bomb test evoked special terror for a nation still traumatized by the atomic attacks in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Impact was heightened that year by a U.S. nuclear test in the Pacific that showered a nearby Japanese fishing boat with radioactive ash.

The early films were likewise angry and dark, allegories of a war-battered nation still rebuilding -- "King Kong vs. Godzilla" was a political shot at Japan's postwar U.S. occupiers. But that message faded as economic revival blotted out memories of defeat.

The exhibit evokes mixed reactions, with one Godzilla fan who strolled the aisles calling it "a little embarrassing." But even those who grew up with the fire-breathing monster walked away with a new perspective.