J Horror
The nature of J horror and its origins is widely different than those of western horrors. To break it down, in most asian horror stories or films there is not the same blatant good vs evil theme as in westerns. We are used to a formal distinction, possibly in the form of a monster (or evil person) and the "hero" or protagonist as the good element. We are used to an evil that you can directly "see" or identify physically, such as a killer monster, killer human, or evil entity. These ideas are easy to take in and understand, without usually having to reach far below the surface (even though in some cases there is an underlying message).
However, within the sub genre of asian horror, there is a distinct difference in the "evils" opposed to western's. J horror stories seem to have a higher meaning than just a blood thirsty creature, or psychotic human. They deal with the order of the universe, or the nature of the spirit world, rather than the demonized version often found in western gothic. For example, the in class film we viewed called, The Woman of the Snow, could be taken in many literal ways. Such as the man spoke the Woman's secret which is why she left and almost killed him, or the man felt guilty of the death of his co-wood worker. Although these could be somewhat valid on the surface, the true "moral" or meaning to the story was to keep the balance of nature. The forrest entity could not live as human amongst humans for long because the forrest needed the spirit guardian to keep everything aligned.
Another example would be from the list of short stories by Kaiwan, The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi, which is an interesting story to comprehend. As the blind Hoichi makes a name for himself among the dead lord in the cemetery as an excellent biwa player but is needing an escape from the undead samurai. As the priest and his acolyte scribed ancient texts onto Hoichi on all of his body, excluding his ears. Thus leading the angry spirit to tear off Hoichi's ears in a rage, but for Hoichi to be able to escape them finally. But, the overall lesson to this asian folklore would be to be wary or the spirit world and to not mess with any force you are unsure of. Especially when Hoichi's tale he tells is of the Heike and Genji battle story, which in fact praises the dead.
However, within the sub genre of asian horror, there is a distinct difference in the "evils" opposed to western's. J horror stories seem to have a higher meaning than just a blood thirsty creature, or psychotic human. They deal with the order of the universe, or the nature of the spirit world, rather than the demonized version often found in western gothic. For example, the in class film we viewed called, The Woman of the Snow, could be taken in many literal ways. Such as the man spoke the Woman's secret which is why she left and almost killed him, or the man felt guilty of the death of his co-wood worker. Although these could be somewhat valid on the surface, the true "moral" or meaning to the story was to keep the balance of nature. The forrest entity could not live as human amongst humans for long because the forrest needed the spirit guardian to keep everything aligned.
Another example would be from the list of short stories by Kaiwan, The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi, which is an interesting story to comprehend. As the blind Hoichi makes a name for himself among the dead lord in the cemetery as an excellent biwa player but is needing an escape from the undead samurai. As the priest and his acolyte scribed ancient texts onto Hoichi on all of his body, excluding his ears. Thus leading the angry spirit to tear off Hoichi's ears in a rage, but for Hoichi to be able to escape them finally. But, the overall lesson to this asian folklore would be to be wary or the spirit world and to not mess with any force you are unsure of. Especially when Hoichi's tale he tells is of the Heike and Genji battle story, which in fact praises the dead.
I agree, it's very interesting that J-Horror seems to involve a higher power rather than just an individual or single source of evil. Even then, J-Horror doesn't seem to involved itself strictly with "good vs. evil", rather it seems to be "nature vs/ man" as you said.
ReplyDelete