GODZILLA, DURKHEIM, AND THE WORLD-SYSTEM

Abstract

Hegemonic transition has not been civilizational transition, as the rise and fall of Spain, Holland, and Britain has occurred within the cultural bounds of Western Civilization. In the late 20th century, though, the real possibility of an Asian hegemon —Japan—succeeding one from the West—the United State—has arisen. For the first time, hegemonic transition will be a civilizational transition. With the rise of Asian economies comes the rise of Asian cultural archetypes in world consciousness. This is illustrated by showing how Japanese exported mass entertainment is encoded with Durkheimian archetypes of Asian systems of political power, in the form of mythical creatures like Godzilla and the giant robots Transformers. The Durkheimian foundations of monsters in the mythical discourse of Eastern and Western civilization is also discussed.