Godzilla meets Fukushima: Science fiction and vernacular sense making regarding nuclear disasters in Japan, US and UK
A seminar from Dr Alan Valdez of the Open University
The discussion surrounding the recent nuclear disaster in the Fukushima Daichi plant brought into relief diverging attitudes held by the public and policymakers of several countries regarding nuclear energy and the threat of nuclear disaster. While the deployment of nuclear energy is, in some measure, driven by economic and technical considerations, it may be argued that the main force in the shaping of nuclear policy can be found in the interplay of public acceptance and oppositions, shaped itself by ambiguous public perceptions of nuclear energy and its surrounding apparatus.
On one hand, atomic energy extends a promise of abundant carbon-free energy, while the other hides the twin menace of atomic weapons and catastrophic reactor failures. This paper explores the multiple dimensions of nuclear anxiety, searching for their roots in a cultural past made visible in nuclear fictions. Atomic monsters were taken as metaphors of processes and socio-technical complexes too complicated and too difficult to visualize otherwise.
A thematic analysis was performed on three "Kaiju" or "Giant Atomic Monster" films produced in the aftermath of WWII, and three more realistic productions of the Cold War era. This corpus allowed for a comparison of perceived dimensions of technological disasters in the public imaginary of Japan, UK and US. Findings were consistent with literature on technological disasters, with emerging themes relating to the intermediating role played by the competence and trustworthiness of authorities, the role of social cohesion and resiliency in disaster mitigation and, most prominently, regarding the role of scientists as sense-makers, regulators and advisors. Although all the films shared a concern with those dimensions, filmmakers' perception of their respective societies led to differing expectations regarding their capability to handle a nuclear disaster.
Seminar hosted by Professor Brigitte Nerlich for the Science, Technology and Society Priority Group and the Natural Hazards and Disaster Mitigation Working Group, University of Nottingham