Asian Popular Cultural Product: Horror Movies - Literature review Example

Asian Popular Cultural Product: Horror Movies Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Course Code and Name University Date of Submission Asian Popular Cultural Product: Horror Movies Introduction Asia has made substantial contributions to the sphere of popular culture both within and outside Asia. Recent years have witnessed a burgeoning in the nature of cultural exchanges between Asian countries and others through adaptations of popular, cultural media products for consumption overseas (Hansen 2006, p. 31). Products such as horror movies have been transferred to different nations around the world through formats such as film, drama, television and computer games. This paper will examine the characteristics and cultural specificity of Asian horror movies. In addition, the local and global significance and how and why horror movies change when they are transplanted in different cultures will also be explored. Given the history of hostility between Asian and western powers in the past, the relevance of the implications of cultural acceptance and empathy cannot be overstated. The fundamental power within Asian horror movie adaptations to enhance cultural understanding has caught the attention of national and international scholars as they attempt to understand the influences of popular Asian cultural products. Horror films present an interesting perspective owing to issues related to national specificity as they relate to international legibility. This is attributed to the strong tradition of writing horror with the aim of a universal approach. The function of most horror movie creators is to ensure a sublime function that is meant to appeal to different audiences. The universal aim of horror is to scare those who watch it (Hansen 2006, p. 31). However, the resources and tools used in order to achieve this differ significantly in varying cultural contexts. The elements used in the creation of horror movies are drawn from various cultural artifacts including mythology and literature, which are specific to national boundaries. Regardless of these differences, Asian horror films are not inscrutable to audiences outside Asian boundaries as has been proven by the popularity of horror films in the western world such as The Ring. This speaks to the fact the horror film genre has a unique quality that gives it the ability to craft a particular version of what is popular such that it is capable of producing recognition within a wide range of audiences from varying national groupings, classes and localities (Lim 2007, p. 119). This influence could be because there is an appreciation of the comprehension of these texts. The appreciation comes from the specific characteristics that these films have when they are adapted to western audiences. Asian horror films have gained great popularity so much so that they are inspiring adaptations in other cultures and contexts. Hollywood and other film distribution and production companies have caught up in the new wave of Japanese horror at a time when the emergent cinematic phenomenon has become a most powerful inspiration for many makers of horror films. Consequently, the films have achieved a cult status all over the world. The Asian horror cinema has a unique constitution that makes it a paradigmatic forum for showcasing and interrogating contradictions in cultural production within the context of structural inequity. These inequities characterize the nature of international division of labor that takes place under global capitalism. Characteristics The term Asian horror has the implication that the genre is characterized by traits that are not only specific to the genre, but also to the Asian culture. These characteristics will manifest in the horror films and their remakes. The characteristics include Confucian ethics that are based on loyalty between subjects and rulers, as well as filial obligations. There is also a sense of strong loyalty between friends and family members (Chaudhuri 2005, p. 93). When this trust is broken, the consequences are often dire such as when a vengeful ghost goes on a mission of payback. In addition, there are aspects of belief in the supernatural, Buddhism, classical painting, and classical theater that is constituent of being subordinate to figures (Chaudhuri 2005, p. 93). The horror films are also subjected to regionalist framing, which encourages the global world to downplay the differences that exist among different nations and their horror productions. This allows the global audience to view the movies as a similar phenomenon, therefore allowing a greater level of acceptance (Lim 2006, p. 117). Following the release of Ring by Hideo Nakata and Audition by Takashi Miike to western film markets, Japanese horror films have taken global audiences by storm. These films share particular characteristics. These films share stylistic inventions, sublime terrors, fantastic narratives, conundrums and disturbing imagery. The genre of the films is often related to ghost story film (kaidan eiga) with a yurei icon (an unquiet spirit that is popularly female) that is mostly constituted of disturbing and unsettling actions undertaken by the vengeful yurei (onryou) (Pandey 2005, p. 195-234). The nature of how these devices are used in the horror film production have catapulted Japanese horror films back into the limelight after their disappearance from the global arena in the 1960s. The tradition and manifestation of the Yurei in Japanese horrors is characteristic of an innocent female victim who is unjustly murdered. The tradition has roots back into between the 1600s to the 1800s in theaters and prints, in woodblock. The typical appearance of Yurei is having long and black unbound hair and wearing a white gown, which in a way reflected how corpses were prepared for burial in the past. The Yurei remain connected to this world; hence, they cannot yet move on to the world of the dead. The most popular Yurei is Okiru who was thrown into a well after she refused the advances of a Samurai. Sadako also suffers a similar fate because of the unique mental abilities she possesses. Samara, in the ring, is also thrown into a well, and it takes her 7 days to die. She gives each of her victims 7 days before they die or share the contents of the tape she is featured in. Another feature of this is Sadako’s disfigured eye in Ringu. Although she is always depicted with long hair that covers her face, her disfigured eye is shown at the end (McRoy 2005, p. 3). This image is a direct similarity to a legend of a woman called Oiwa who is poisoned by her husband resulting in the disfigurement of one side of her head as well as mutilation of one of her eyes. The depictions of evil female figures resemble particular figures in myths and urban legends (Pandey 2005, p. 195-234). The image of Sadako is nowhere near the pure evil that oozes out of Samara, but the focus on the eye at the end speaks volumes about the emphasis placed on the power of the eye in Japanese folklore. This characteristic is seen in the movie the eye, as well. On the other hand, the similarities between the character of Samara and that of Regan from The exorcist speak to the issue of possession more than that of vengeance. Hence, the nature of the horrors speaks to cultural signifiers that are used in the creation of images so that they evoke emotions within a multicultural context of audiences. This inter-textual manifestation provides a context where the characters are effective. Esthetics and themes in Japanese horror are nation specific and highly contextual such that they take the radically occurring political and economic fluctuations as well as the ever emerging politics of identity that is informed by changing gender roles and reconsideration about needing the extended family as a social institution. Changing times result in the re-conceptualization of the notion of national and cultural boundaries (McRoy 2008, p. 5). These changes can be seen in the shift from past presentations of family notions to modern ones such as in Ringu and Dark water that depict single mothers as heroes. Modern Japanese horror films highlight new ideological trends that diminish the impact of neo-conservative ideologies that threaten to notions such as equal rights for women and men. The revisions in the nature of ghosts seeking vengeance as well as their motives provide a valuable insight into the political, gendered, economic and historical logics, which reveal current tensions imaginings of traditional Japanese past and the postmodern and highly technological Japan. Japanese horror consists of aspects that are both universal and particular. Cultural specificity Cultural specificity is present in horror movies even though they may not be as obvious to an individual who is unaware of the significance of the culture in Asian countries. Western horror is riddled with male antagonists while Asian horror has an even higher prevalence of female antagonists. Females are presented as equally or more powerful and deadly than male friends (Hankte 2005, p. 54). These beliefs stem from the monstrous women dokufo (poison ladies) and akuba (akuba). The use of a female body as a personification of filth, disgust and evil comes from early scriptural teachings of Buddhist religion (Pandey 2005, p. 197). This manifests in the horror movies through characters such as the ghost in Dark Water, The grudge and Samara in The Ring. The lowly status of females in old Japan and part of the modern Japan era also reinforces such beliefs. The effectiveness of using a female figure as a representation of evil has a different significance in the western world (Hand 2005, p. 24). There are various myths and folklore that have a female figure as a representation of evil. The themes are somewhat similar to the horror themes in Japanese movies in that the woman only becomes evil after she has been betrayed. In Greek mythology, Medea kills her children after her husband, Jason, is unfaithful. This negative imagery of women sis upheld in Asian cultures by teachings and traditions. Prior to the remake of the ring, the use of a female ghost archetype was uncommon. However, the appearance of Samara is downplayed in order to give her a look that is more masculine and unusual in order to get rid of the inherent innocence in little girls. In order to make Samara look evil, she was given masculine qualities such as having brute strength, as well as monstrous appearance. The sympathy that the audience may have felt for her as a marginalized woman is toned down so that she is also seen as a psychotic killer, such as in the case of Mike Myers, in Halloween. From this adaptation, it can be deduced that Hollywood movie producers feel that their audiences need more to be convinced that a little girl is evil hence the presentation of Samara as an unhappy, psychotic and demonic girl without humanity or innocence. Another cultural specificity in Asian horrors is seen in The eye where it refers to Taoist and Buddhist philosophies. In one of the scenes, the cyclical nature of suicide is mentioned in that the soul of the individual who has committed suicide goes over that final moment of the suicide over and over as a form of punishment or a way of atonement for all eternity (Boey 2012, p. 147). Mun goes through these experiences and visions when she is transplanted with the eye of a girl who committed suicide. In order to resolve this problem, Mun has to ensure that the unsettled soul rests by helping her settle the problems she has with her mother. This is yet another example of cultural specificity where Asian superstitions hold the conviction that if an individual has any unresolved matter at the time of their death, the yearning for a solution will be enough to sustain the soul, and this prevents it from undergoing reincarnation up to the time when the issue is resolved. There are also scenes in the film where people burn paper made objects and joss sticks, which are superstitions in Asian communities. Other individuals may not see the significance of this but in Asian cultures, paper crafted objects such as airplanes, houses and money were burned as a form of offering to the dead. Although the practice does not seem horrific, they represent a backdrop of horror in the Asian society. The funeral practices depicted in the movie The eye contains Chinese cultural icons such as white lanterns, which are used widely during funerals. They are not naturally horrific, but they are marked Chinese horror. Local significance The cultural and nationalistic specificities indicate he local significance of Asian horror movies. Japan has had significantly more success because of the technological advances in the nation. This technology is moving towards other Asian nations. Horror movies have become global owing to an environment that allows content to move legitimately across borders. Because of the increased popularity of the content in the global arena, the local market has had to boost its production schedules. The extensive production of Asian horror films, as well as the influx of remakes from Hollywood, has a dual significance to the local market. On one hand, it boosts the local Asian culture by making others aware of particular aspects of culture that are present in most of these horror movies. The subject of vengeance is stressed as well as protection. The ghost in Shutter does not only seek vengeance from the one who killed her but also aims to warn the potential victim before she is killed (Boey 2012, p. 124). Through this platform, spirit photography – a predominantly Asian belief – is explored since as the culprit takes pictures, there appears to be a ghost in his pictures, which manifests through spirit photography. On the other hand, the historical specifities of Asia are downplayed in the remakes in order to enhance understanding and appeal to international audiences. As the genre of Asian horror keeps gaining popularity in the western world, the need to appeal to international audiences is competing with the need to maintain aspects of local culture. However, there is also need to ensure that the content is kept fresh in order to compete with the rest of the horror genre market. Naratological and visual redundancy has the potential of compromising how effective future local creations will be (McRoy 2008, p. 171). There is the need to seek new ways of approaching local traditions in horror creation to avoid the transformation of motifs into clichés and to ensure that the potential of horror traditions as a way of enabling aesthetic intervention and cultural critique is maintained. Old traditions in Asian horror are being replaced by the highly sophisticated and visually inventive horror movies such as Tsuruta Norio’s Premonition (2004), Tsukamoto Shinya’s Vital (2004), Ochiai Masayuki’s Infection (2004) and Shimizu Takashi’s Marebito (2004). Even though these films have been delinked from their local specificities of Asian horror, this does not mean that the local cultural issues in horror films are disappearing. The effectiveness of horror films is rooted in national identities and traditions and culture. Global significance The impact of Asian films in the global market is so successful that Hollywood has paid heed to this recognition be remaking some of the films for the global market. This market is significant because it does not just involve western audience but also other audience from third world nations. Hideo Nakata’s horror movie Ringu (1998) was among the first films that was remade in production houses in the United States. The success rate of this movie increased interest in Asian horror movies all over the world. The movie made 129 million USD in the US and 249 million USD worldwide. The remake presents a context of understanding what is nationally specific in the genre and what can be transported to global contexts. The discussion of exceptionalism that underwrites most of the Hollywood studio rhetoric as regards to Asian horror remaking cycle is caught between dual steps including placing emphasis on the cultural specificity of the Asian horror movies and including a cultural neutrality meant to guarantee its global audiences and appeal (Lim 2007, p. 117). Distributors and producers also market using the dualism by emphasizing difference and familiarity at the same time. They are described as being exceptionally deracinated, globalist and rootless while also being different from other generic products (Lim 2007, p. 117). Cultural specificity that is maintained in the remakes increases the quality of the movies at a time when western horror films are increasingly stuck in a feedback loop characterized by uninspired sequels that reiterate similar formulae. Asian horror cultural specificity has saved western horror genres from the plurality of clichés that have characterized their presentation. The clichés has lost their appeal after years of being reproduced ironic reproductions. Remakes are essential to understanding what appeals to the global audience because they highlight what needs to be changed to make the film more presentable to an international audience while also displaying the elements of cultural neutrality within the horror cinema. How and why it has changed when transplanted in other cultures The main issue to remember when dealing with transplanting Asian horrors to others cultures is to increase the chances of their appeal and acceptance. In the case of the film Ringu that was transplanted as The ring and The ring two in western production companies, the actual topography of the Japanese culture is not reproduced rather, the emphasis is placed on other elements meant to make the movie more appealing. The geographic element of Ringu is carried on to the ring as a device for narrative development. However, the causality of the characters within the narrative is strengthened so as to allow the audience to identify with the various characters and their predicament (Marciano 2009, p. 18). The ring appeals to the audience through character identification rather than through the shared knowledge of national topography that is stressed in Ringu. This is a common technique in Hollywood specific narratives where topography specific to nations is replaced by another style, which highlights narrative and character development. While Hollywood movies capitalize on developing complex plots that force the audience to concentrate on the film, Japanese horrors, on the other hand, chose to sabotage, frustrate and undermine this same structure while placing a focus on knowledge (Kinoshita 2009, p. 112). Particular national identities form the Japanese horror movies have to be maintained in transplanting the movies within different cultures including national identities. The national identity of victimhood of Japan is manifested by images of blameless and self sacrificing female maternal figures who always emerge as the heroes. The plot that needs to be maintained in the transplant is that the maternal figure has to feel the need to sacrifice herself for the safety of her child. In addition, the element of being a single mother has to be maintained. There are more single mothers in the western world than there are in the Japanese culture. In addition, empowerment of women is being proliferated and accelerated in the world raising the necessity of women seeing the strength that a woman has on her own without needing help from a man or any other source apart from the love she feels for her child. Some of the films undergo transformation rather than adaptations such as The grudge whose theme was adapted from that of the Japanese version Ju-On. Themes have emerged as the easiest elements from Japanese horror to adapt across genres, various media and framing contexts. This can be seen in how Asian horror movies and their adaptations capitalize on the issue of revenge which is a theme that is acknowledged in national and international contexts. However, even though the theme is common across different contexts, its connotative meaning to the audience is not similar (Frow & Morris 2000, p. 318). This is because other issues such as traditions, archetypes, cultural artifacts and beliefs that support the themes are not. As Hollywood adapts Asian horror for an international audience, the adaptation changes not only the characters and their nationalities, but also diminishing the level of emphasis placed n historical, regional and national specifities. The grudge maintained the nationality of some of the characters such as the ghost while the ring altered the nationality of all of them. Another element that remains present as these movies are transplanted to other cultures is the fact that ‘evil’ or doing bad always has a source or a cause, and it is unlikely that a person would do things just because they can. This is unlike some western themes that focus on sociopathic characters who always get away with the crime in the end. The themes in Japanese horrors involve getting rid of the evil by doing particular things. Sometimes, there is more than one option available. In The ring, one could get rid of Samara through making a duplicate of the tape, drowning the afflicted individual or drowning Samara herself. The global need for horror will always exist and the Asian horror genre is integral to fulfilling this need. List of References Boey, D 2012, The national specificity of Horror Sources in Asian Horror Cinema, Dissertation, Creative Industry Faculty. Available at http://eprints.qut.edu.au/50769/1/Danny_Boey_Thesis.pdf Chaudhuri, S 2005, Contemporary world cinema: Europe/ Middle East/ East/ Asia/ South Asia, Edinburg University Press, Edinburg. Frow, J & Morris, M 2000, cultural studies, In Handbook of Qualitative Research, Denzin NK & Lincoln, YS 2nd ed, pp. 314-146, Sage, London. Hansen, K 2006, Japanese Horror:The Last Hold-Out in the Globalization of Japanese Pop Culture, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA. Hand, RJ 2005, Aesthetics of cruelty: Traditional Japanese theatre and the Horror film, In Japanese Horror Cinema, Jay McRoy ed, 18-28, Edinburg University Press, UK. Hantke, S 2004, Introduction, In Horror Film: Creating and Marketing fear Steffen Hantke ed, viii-xiii, Mississippi Press, Mississippi. Kinoshita, C 2009, The Mummy complex: Kurosawa kiyoshi’s loft and J-Horror, Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema, Choi, J & Wada-Marciano, ed, pp. 103-122, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong. Lim, BS 2001, “Spectral Times: The Ghost Film as Historical Allegory,” Positions: East Asia Culture Critique, vol. 9, no. 2, p/ 288 Lim, BS 2007, “Generic Ghosts: Remaking the New Asian Horror Film,” in Hong Kong Film, Hollywood and the New Global Cinema, Gina Marchettit and Tan See Ka med, pp. 109-125, Routledge, London. McRoy, J 2005, Japanese Horror Cinema, Edinburg University Press, UK. McRoy, J 2008, Nightmare Japan: Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema, Rodopi, Amsterdam, New York. Pandey, R 2005, Desire and disgust: Medications on the Impure Body in Medieval Japanese Narratives, Monumenta Nipponica, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 195-234. Read More

Characteristics The term Asian horror has the implication that the genre is characterized by traits that are not only specific to the genre, but also to the Asian culture. These characteristics will manifest in the horror films and their remakes. The characteristics include Confucian ethics that are based on loyalty between subjects and rulers, as well as filial obligations. There is also a sense of strong loyalty between friends and family members (Chaudhuri 2005, p. 93). When this trust is broken, the consequences are often dire such as when a vengeful ghost goes on a mission of payback.

In addition, there are aspects of belief in the supernatural, Buddhism, classical painting, and classical theater that is constituent of being subordinate to figures (Chaudhuri 2005, p. 93). The horror films are also subjected to regionalist framing, which encourages the global world to downplay the differences that exist among different nations and their horror productions. This allows the global audience to view the movies as a similar phenomenon, therefore allowing a greater level of acceptance (Lim 2006, p. 117). Following the release of Ring by Hideo Nakata and Audition by Takashi Miike to western film markets, Japanese horror films have taken global audiences by storm.

These films share particular characteristics. These films share stylistic inventions, sublime terrors, fantastic narratives, conundrums and disturbing imagery. The genre of the films is often related to ghost story film (kaidan eiga) with a yurei icon (an unquiet spirit that is popularly female) that is mostly constituted of disturbing and unsettling actions undertaken by the vengeful yurei (onryou) (Pandey 2005, p. 195-234). The nature of how these devices are used in the horror film production have catapulted Japanese horror films back into the limelight after their disappearance from the global arena in the 1960s.

The tradition and manifestation of the Yurei in Japanese horrors is characteristic of an innocent female victim who is unjustly murdered. The tradition has roots back into between the 1600s to the 1800s in theaters and prints, in woodblock. The typical appearance of Yurei is having long and black unbound hair and wearing a white gown, which in a way reflected how corpses were prepared for burial in the past. The Yurei remain connected to this world; hence, they cannot yet move on to the world of the dead.

The most popular Yurei is Okiru who was thrown into a well after she refused the advances of a Samurai. Sadako also suffers a similar fate because of the unique mental abilities she possesses. Samara, in the ring, is also thrown into a well, and it takes her 7 days to die. She gives each of her victims 7 days before they die or share the contents of the tape she is featured in. Another feature of this is Sadako’s disfigured eye in Ringu. Although she is always depicted with long hair that covers her face, her disfigured eye is shown at the end (McRoy 2005, p. 3). This image is a direct similarity to a legend of a woman called Oiwa who is poisoned by her husband resulting in the disfigurement of one side of her head as well as mutilation of one of her eyes.

The depictions of evil female figures resemble particular figures in myths and urban legends (Pandey 2005, p. 195-234). The image of Sadako is nowhere near the pure evil that oozes out of Samara, but the focus on the eye at the end speaks volumes about the emphasis placed on the power of the eye in Japanese folklore. This characteristic is seen in the movie the eye, as well. On the other hand, the similarities between the character of Samara and that of Regan from The exorcist speak to the issue of possession more than that of vengeance.

Hence, the nature of the horrors speaks to cultural signifiers that are used in the creation of images so that they evoke emotions within a multicultural context of audiences. This inter-textual manifestation provides a context where the characters are effective. Esthetics and themes in Japanese horror are nation specific and highly contextual such that they take the radically occurring political and economic fluctuations as well as the ever emerging politics of identity that is informed by changing gender roles and reconsideration about needing the extended family as a social institution.

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