During the late 1950s and into the 1960s radical politics created changes throughout the world. This has affected many aspects of society, including cinema. Like the French film movement, Japanese cinema La Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave) has undergone its own changes. This latest generation of filmmakers worked to move away from the rigid film school system, where students were taught a rigorous apprenticeship. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Unlike their French colleagues, these radical filmmakers started in the studio system (like the Czechoslovakian New Wave) but went on to create independent studios where they could work with taboo subjects. However, political attention is also visible in the first films of Japanese studios after the end of the American occupation in 1952. An example would be the Kaiju film Gojira (1954). Directed by Ishiro Honda, the film is a depiction of the conflict found in post-Cold War Japan. The film is dark, bleak, and highlights a society profoundly affected by the nuclear tests in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that occurred less than a decade earlier. Gojira focused not only on natural fears (fires, typhoons and earthquakes that often reshaped the islands) but also on man-made fears, such as hydrogen bombs. Chon Noriega examines this depiction with allusions to the Daigo ship Fukuryu Maru (Lucky Dragon #5) and the phenomenological concept of “otherness” displayed by the titular character. Ultimately these examples would allow Japanese audiences to relate to Gojira not as a monster but as a victim. In the opening scene of the film, we see a group of Japanese sailors on the deck of the ship playing Go and resting after what would have been a long day. In the distance, a bright flash of light crossed the open ocean and a loud booming sound drew attention to the men. The ship is completely decimated. The townspeople were incredibly worried about the missing people and no one knew what had happened; it just wasn't natural. This parallels the storied story of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a tuna fishing boat that was contaminated by fallout during Castle Bravo testing on Bikini Atoll just months before filming. As fallout fell around them, the crew continued fishing and then eventually returned to port. Months later the crew began to show signs of radiation sickness from the hydrogen bomb. The twenty-three crew members suffered tremendously both physically and emotionally. The keloid scars of the bomb victims would be used as inspiration for Gojira's skin in the film. This wouldn't just be for aesthetic reasons, but to play up Gojira's role as a bomb victim as much as any other Japanese victim. This brings us to the concept of “otherness” or “other”. Otherness is the action of labeling a person as someone who belongs to a different or subordinate social group. It often alienates the labeled person from society and is placed on the fringes of society. It is a concept that crops up regularly in studies of genocide and atrocity, and a major motivator of the Cold War. Noriega points out that in America in the 1950s, monster movies were based on characters with impersonal names like "They" and "It." Alternative Gojira has a name as well as a backstory. This alone cements the character as part of Japanese culture and society. Names humanize different things and removing names can lead to estrangement. This humanization of.