I Pray for the Day

I pray for the day that the last three Japanese films are released. This is just one example of how people can use religious terminology to describe their feelings towards Godzilla, its true that when this was written there was probably no real religious intention towards the subject of Godzilla, however the use of the word to 'pray' is in the Christian sense of the word, to "commune" or "speak" to God, By praying for something it emphasises the importance of the subject. The subject matter becomes in someway divine and almost necessary to the person who is praying. If we look at Godzilla in a functionalist way there are many ways that the beast ticks many of the fundamentals that are important to a functionalist religion (http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/soc/religion/funct2.htm for more information)

Those who follow the story of Godzilla do so with a plethora of many different peoples from all walks of life, however it is the activity of sharing in something "normal" that can be seen as a functionalist religious activity. threw sharing their experiences the participant legitimise there whole belief system. It would be incorrect to state that all those who follow the Godzilla story believe that the monster exists in the physical sense, but for many, what the beast represents is far more real than any message held with in an existing religious text. A functionalists view is interdependent upon those who have similar ideas or feeling towards the subject. It is a an integrated set of values. Which in this case is that of Godzilla. As Durkheim said a functionalist religion is a 'Group Mind'. And “[Religion is a] unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden – beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them.” Durkheim was not studying the affects of a cult classic, but the religions of Aboriginal culture. There is however many simularities betweemn the two very different subjects.

readhttp://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/curric/soc/durkheim/durkw5.htm