SavedAdd your journal

Journals / Artvin Çoruh Üniversitesi Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi / 2026 / Cilt: 12 Sayı: 1

Emergent Hobbesian Political Theory in Popular Japanese and Korean Graphic Narratives

Popüler Japon ve Kore Çizgi Anlatılarında Beliren Hobbesçu Siyaset Teorisi

Caner Çiçekdağı(ARTVİN ÇORUH ÜNİVERSİTESİ, FEN-EDEBİYAT FAKÜLTESİ, FELSEFE BÖLÜMÜ, FELSEFE PR.)0000-0001-6138-363X
Pages
—
Publication Date
2026-08-26
🏛️Bibliographic metadata and full text access for this article are provided via DergiPark.
DergiPark Record ↗
✨

AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

Accordingly, Attack on Titan approaches the institutional Leviathan, whereas Solo Leveling moves toward individualized sovereignty.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:This study examines how Hobbesian security thought is reinterpreted in Attack on Titan and Solo Leveling, two contemporary Japanese and Korean graphic narratives.
📊
Key Findings & Data:Both works focus on communities living under persistent threat but construct the problem of security through different spatial arrangements and relations of power.
💡
Conclusion & Impact:Accordingly, Attack on Titan approaches the institutional Leviathan, whereas Solo Leveling moves toward individualized sovereignty.
🔬Design:Araştırma Makalesi
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Hobbes · güvenlik · egemenlik

Abstract

This study examines how Hobbesian security thought is reinterpreted in Attack on Titan and Solo Leveling, two contemporary Japanese and Korean graphic narratives. Both works focus on communities living under persistent threat but construct the problem of security through different spatial arrangements and relations of power. In Attack on Titan, life behind walls in response to the titan threat is examined together with restricted knowledge of the outside world, dependence on political authority, and social enclosure. In Solo Leveling, security against gates and dungeons that disrupt the modern city relies less on the state and guilds than on Sung Jin-Woo’s growing personal power. Using intertextual philosophical reading, world-building analysis, and metaphorical close reading, the study analyzes wall, gate, shelter, dungeon, monster, giant, and leveling as images through which the relations among security, obedience, freedom, and legitimacy are organized. The comparison further indicates that security can restrict access to knowledge, freedom of movement, and political participation, while institutional failure shifts legitimacy toward effective protective capacity. Accordingly, Attack on Titan approaches the institutional Leviathan, whereas Solo Leveling moves toward individualized sovereignty.

Özet

Bu çalışma, Attack on Titan ve Solo Leveling’de Hobbesçu güvenlik düşüncesinin çağdaş Japon ve Kore çizgi anlatılarında nasıl yeniden yorumlandığını incelemektedir. Her iki anlatı sürekli tehdit altında yaşayan toplumlara odaklanmakta, ancak güvenlik sorununu farklı mekân ve güç ilişkileri içinde kurmaktadır. Attack on Titan’da titan tehdidine karşı duvarların ardında sürdürülen yaşam, dış dünya bilgisinin sınırlandırılması, siyasal otoriteye bağımlılık ve toplumsal kapanmayla birlikte ele alınmaktadır. Solo Leveling’de ise modern kent düzenini kesintiye uğratan kapılar ve zindanlar karşısındaki güvenlik, devlet ve loncalardan çok Sung Jin-Woo’nun giderek artan kişisel gücüne dayanmaktadır. Metinler arası felsefi okuma, dünya kurma incelemesi ve metaforik yakın okuma yöntemlerinin birlikte kullanıldığı çalışmada duvar, kapı, sığınak, zindan, canavar, dev ve güçlenme imgeleri; güvenlik, itaat, özgürlük ve meşruiyet ilişkileri bakımından çözümlenmektedir. Karşılaştırma, güvenliğin koruma sağlarken bilgiye erişimi, hareket alanını ve siyasal katılımı sınırlandırabildiğini; kurumların yetersiz kaldığı koşullarda meşruiyetin fiilî koruma kapasitesine bağlandığını ortaya koymaktadır. Bu doğrultuda Attack on Titan kurumsal Leviathan’a, Solo Leveling ise bireyselleşmiş egemenlik anlayışına yaklaşmaktadır.

🔖

Cite This Article

Çiçekdağı, C. (2026). Emergent Hobbesian Political Theory in Popular Japanese and Korean Graphic Narratives. Artvin Çoruh Üniversitesi Uluslararası Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, Cilt: 12 Sayı: 1. https://doi.org/10.22466/acusbd.1980410

📄 Full Text PDF Viewer

📄

PDF görüntüleyici hazırlanıyor...

References (40)

  1. Benedetta, R. (2024). Deciphering the world with One Piece: The power of manga in the study of international politics [Unpublished master dissertation]. Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.
  2. Blau, A. (2019). Methodologies of interpreting Hobbes: Historical and philosophical. In S. A. Lloyd (Ed.), Interpreting Hobbes’s political philosophy (10–28). Cambridge University Press.
  3. Cohen, J. J. (2021). Monster culture (seven theses). In A. S. Mittman & M. Hensel (Ed.), Classic readings on monster theory (44–54). Cambridge University Press.
  4. Condry, I. (2009). Anime creativity: Characters and premises in the quest for Cool Japan. Theory, Culture & Society, 26(2–3), 139–163. https://dspace.mit.edu/entities/publication/3a8c1bbc-6b0e-400b-90e6-a36300dcfe29
  5. Condry, I. (2013). The soul of anime: Collaborative creativity and Japan’s media success story. Duke University Press.
  6. Dzakir, N. A. & Persada, S. I. P. (2023). Visualization analysis of Sung Jin-Woo’s character in Solo Leveling comics. Proceeding of International Conference on Business, Economics, Social Sciences, and Humanities, 6, 925–936. https://proceedings.unikom.ac.id/index.php/icobest/article/view/453
  7. Emeklier, B. (2011). Thomas Hobbes ve John Locke’un güvenlik anlayışlarının karşılaştırmalı bir analizi. Güvenlik Stratejileri Dergisi, 7(13), 99–124. https://izlik.org/JA25FJ33TE
  8. Fabre, C. (2018). Toplumsal sözleşme (M. F. Deniz, Çev.). Felsefe Arkivi, 48, 123–135. https://izlik.org/JA59XX86FR
  9. Foucault, M. (1992). Hapishanenin doğuşu (M. A. Kılıçbay, Çev.). İmge Kitabevi Yayınları.
  10. Frost, S. (2019). Hobbes, life, and the politics of self-preservation: The role of materialism in Hobbes’s political philosophy. In S. A. Lloyd (Ed.), Interpreting Hobbes’s political philosophy (70–92). Cambridge University Press.
  11. Gedikli, M. E. ve Gedikli, B. (2021). Hobbes ve Rousseau’da insan, doğa durumu ve devlet ilişkisi. Kırıkkale Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 11(2), 629–648. https://izlik.org/JA55UN92TT
  12. Groensteen, T. (2013). Comics and narration (A. Miller, Çev.). University Press of Mississippi.
  13. Güler Sevli, S. (2022). Platon’dan Hristiyanlık felsefesine, Machiavelli’den Hobbes’a: İnsan doğası üzerinden iktidarı meşrulaştırmak. Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 43, 130–159. https://izlik.org/JA68UN56JY
  14. Gülgeç, Y. B. (2015). Thomas Hobbes’un sosyal sözleşme teorisinin Nietzsche’nin siyaset felsefesi doğrultusunda karşılaştırılarak değerlendirilmesi. Ankara Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi, 64(3), 687–738. https://doi.org/10.1501/Hukfak_0000001790
  15. Hobbes, T. (1651/2017). Three-text edition of Thomas Hobbes’s political theory: The Elements of Law, De Cive and Leviathan. D. Baumgold (Ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  16. Hwang, S. T. (2024). How monetization shapes webtoon narratives: A comparative analysis of Solo Leveling and Tower of God. International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication, 16(4), 216–225. https://www.dbpia.co.kr/journal/articleDetail?nodeId=NODE12203322
  17. Karaduman, İ. C. (2020). Thomas Hobbes ve Leviathan’ı üzerine bir inceleme: yönetim bilimi’ni içeriye almak. Uluslararası Yönetim Akademisi Dergisi, 3(1), 114–137. https://doi.org/10.33712/mana.687980
  18. Kavka, G. S. (1986). Hobbesian moral and political theory. Princeton University Press.
  19. Kılıç, Y. (2015). Hobbes, Locke ve Rousseau’da “doğa durumu” düşüncesi. Temaşa Erciyes Üniversitesi Felsefe Bölümü Dergisi, 2, 97–117. https://izlik.org/JA83TN87NE
  20. Kim, D. (2024). The birth of “Korean” manhwa and the discourse of gendered realism since the 1990s. In M. Cho & J. Song (Ed.), Mediating gender in post-authoritarian South Korea (66–92). University of Michigan Press.
  21. Lloyd, S. A. (2019). Introduction. In S. A. Lloyd (Ed.), Interpreting Hobbes’s political philosophy (1–9). Cambridge University Press.
  22. Locke, J. (1689/2012). Yönetim üzerine ikinci inceleme (F. Bakırcı, Çev.). Ebabil Yayınları.
  23. Mahmood, S. A. (2020). Political representation in animation: Attack on Titan as a sample. Ilkogretim Online - Elementary Education Online, 19(4), 5048–5065. https://www.bibliomed.org/mnsfulltext/218/218-1627583853.pdf?1782475850
  24. Martin, S. (2025). To the boy who sought freedom: The philosophy of freedom & social contract theory in Attack on Titan [Unpublished master dissertation]. The University of Scranton.
  25. Napier, S. J. (2005). Anime from Akira to Howl’s Moving Castle: Experiencing contemporary Japanese animation. Palgrave Macmillan.
  26. Odzuck, E. (2019). “Not a woman-hater,” “no rapist,” or even inventor of “the sensitive male”? Feminist interpretations of Hobbes’s political theory and their relevance for Hobbes studies. In S. A. Lloyd (Ed.), Interpreting Hobbes’s political philosophy (223–241). Cambridge University Press.
  27. Rousseau, J. J. (1762/2014). Toplum sözleşmesi (V. Günyol, Çev.). Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
  28. Ryan, M. L. (1991). Possible worlds, artificial intelligence, and narrative theory. Indiana University Press.
  29. Schodt, F. L. (2004). Dreamland Japan: Writings on modern manga. Stone Bridge Press.
  30. Sorell, T. (2026, June 26). Hobbes, Thomas (1588–1679). Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/biographical/hobbes-thomas-1588-1679/v-2
  31. Sreedhar, S. (2019). Interpreting Hobbes on civil liberties and rights of resistance. In S. A. Lloyd (Ed.), Interpreting Hobbes’s political philosophy (141–155). Cambridge University Press.
  32. Strauss, L. (1936/1996). The political philosophy of Hobbes: Its basis and its genesis (E. M. Sinclair, Çev.). Phoenix Books, The University of Chicago Press.
  33. Ursini, F. A. (2017). Themes, focalization and the flow of information: The case of Shingeki no Kyojin. The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship, 7(1), 1–19. https://www.comicsgrid.com/article/id/3544/
  34. Yamazaki, A. (2015). The body, despair, and hero worship: A comparative study of the influence of Norse mythology in Attack on Titan. Scandinavian Journal of Comic Art, 2(1), 25–49. https://sjoca.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/SJoCA-2-1-Article-Yamazaki.pdf
  35. URL-1: Attack on Titan’da Şehir Duvarları ve Dev Tehlikesi. https://www.pixa.com/create/attack-on-titan-background-generator (Erişim: 26.06.2026).
  36. URL-2: Zindan İçinde Avcı Grubu. https://www.reddit.com/r/sololeveling/comments/1hywkyc/sun_jin_woo_vs_bosses/ (Erişim: 26.06.2026).
  37. URL-3: Titanlar. https://blog.awesomedealsdeluxe.com/tcg/attack-on-titan/the-long-range-support-from-aot-origins-of-power/ (Erişim: 26.06.2026).
  38. URL-4: Jin-Woo’nun Tartışılmaz Liderliği. https://www.anime-inceleme.com/2025/04/solo-leveling-season-2-incelemesi.html (Erişim: 26.06.2026).
  39. URL-5: İnsan Yiyen Titanlar. https://screenrant.com/attack-titans-manga-why-titans-eat-humans/ (Erişim: 26.06.2026).
  40. URL-6: Jin-Woo’nun Gücü. https://www.deviantart.com/sol0reader/art/Solo-Leveling-909763248 (Erişim: 26.06.2026).