Japanese horror is a whole different animal than American horror and it's a far departure from what I've already touched on in this blog. The authors and directors who create Japanese horror use Japan's history, tradition, and culture to make incredibly effective horror.
This week, I read a book on classical Japanese ghost stories called Kwaidan. In this book, all of the collected stories are otherworldly and very dreamy. Conversely, American horror is shaped around the classic gothic archetype found in Frankenstein and Dracula. In Kwaidan, however, most of the stories I read, the antagonist or the force at work visits the protagonist in their dreams. Everything seems to happen in a dreamscape. And all of the stories operate like a dream. They are all mystical with no explanation as to why they are happening. However, there is always an inevitable reaction to why these things are happening. In the story Oshidori, a hunter kills a duck in a pond. Another duck, a young spirit comes to him in a dream mourning the death of her murdered husband. In the morning, the hunter visits this duck at the pond and because of his previous actions the duck horrifically destroys herself in front of the hunter to make him reflect on what he has done. This story offers no explanation as to what was happening. Oshidori makes no excuses, but if it had been written in America, it would have tried to rationalize all of the supernatural elements and over explain what was happen as to not confuse the audience.
Finally, Japanese horror doesn't seem to operate on good vs. evil. In the Yuki-Onna story, a snow woman comes across two stranded woodsmen and kills the older one. The younger woodsman wakes up to discover what she is doing and she threatens that if he ever tells what he has seen, she will kill him also. He goes about his life and marries a wonderful women and they have many children together. Everyone seems to adore the wife, but when he shares his terrifying experience with his her it is revealed that she was truly the snow woman all along. In American culture, this woman would have been treated as an evil and manipulative creature. But, in this story the creature's motives are a little ambiguous. The two truly seem to care about each other, but when the husband doesn't keep his secret, she must reveal what she is. Japanese horror does not break the world down into two simple sectors, but instead leaves the actions of the characters up to interpretation. In the end, these characteristics are what make Japanese horror so terrifying.
This week, I read a book on classical Japanese ghost stories called Kwaidan. In this book, all of the collected stories are otherworldly and very dreamy. Conversely, American horror is shaped around the classic gothic archetype found in Frankenstein and Dracula. In Kwaidan, however, most of the stories I read, the antagonist or the force at work visits the protagonist in their dreams. Everything seems to happen in a dreamscape. And all of the stories operate like a dream. They are all mystical with no explanation as to why they are happening. However, there is always an inevitable reaction to why these things are happening. In the story Oshidori, a hunter kills a duck in a pond. Another duck, a young spirit comes to him in a dream mourning the death of her murdered husband. In the morning, the hunter visits this duck at the pond and because of his previous actions the duck horrifically destroys herself in front of the hunter to make him reflect on what he has done. This story offers no explanation as to what was happening. Oshidori makes no excuses, but if it had been written in America, it would have tried to rationalize all of the supernatural elements and over explain what was happen as to not confuse the audience.
Finally, Japanese horror doesn't seem to operate on good vs. evil. In the Yuki-Onna story, a snow woman comes across two stranded woodsmen and kills the older one. The younger woodsman wakes up to discover what she is doing and she threatens that if he ever tells what he has seen, she will kill him also. He goes about his life and marries a wonderful women and they have many children together. Everyone seems to adore the wife, but when he shares his terrifying experience with his her it is revealed that she was truly the snow woman all along. In American culture, this woman would have been treated as an evil and manipulative creature. But, in this story the creature's motives are a little ambiguous. The two truly seem to care about each other, but when the husband doesn't keep his secret, she must reveal what she is. Japanese horror does not break the world down into two simple sectors, but instead leaves the actions of the characters up to interpretation. In the end, these characteristics are what make Japanese horror so terrifying.
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