My all-time favorite pieces of activism art are Godzilla (1954) and Shin Godzilla (2018).
Godzilla (1954) was created in response to the Castle Bravo testing in Bikini Atoll, the fallout affecting the crew of a fishing boat that was nearby. The Castle Bravo incident was the breaking point for director Ishiro Honda, who had witnessed the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki years previously. The film was created to inform the public on the dangers of nuclear weapons/nuclear weapons testing. This was a big risk to take as the United States and the Soviet Union were beginning the Nuclear Arms Race. The film was a massive success that spread across the world over the decades following, resulting in several movies being created.
Now for the next piece that I connect to personally:
Shin Godzilla, or Godzilla Resurgence, was a film created by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi in response to the earthquake and tsunami that caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster and the governments piss poor response to it. The government issues evacuation orders extremely late in favor of long diplomatic conversations that ate up what precious time they had until the tsunami hit. People tried desperately to escape, but were met with resistance in tunnels and roads. Even after the tsunami hit, the government was slow to inform the people of the fallout and when it was safe to return. This sadly lead to about two thousand deaths.
Granted, Godzilla is not a personal member of my community nor do I know anybody involved with the creation, but I am a huge advocate for nuclear energy. This film only enforces my need to advocate for nuclear energy. The film illustrates what happens when we allow poor government responses to dictate how many people survive. It also illustrates how simple outcasts of society, when coming together, can stop even the worst of disasters. In the movie, dozens of "general pain in the butts of the bureaucracy" come together to figure out a way to temporarily freeze Godzilla while they figure out how to deal with the fallout and how to dispose of Godzilla.
As an edgy dude that loves anything monstrous but also as someone that wants the best for the working people, the Godzilla means a lot to me and I hope that people see past the surface level cool monster movie theme.
Godzilla is an anti war icon. Some may not consider him to be activism, but I think he is one of the OG activism icons.
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