Week 3: J-Horror

The existence of good and evil is a theme that is present in a lot of horror media, but it’s the way that Japanese writers and directors handle it differently from those in the US and Europe that make the theme very interesting and dynamic.

American horror has a long tradition of treating evil as a black and white issue. There is good and there is evil, good always having just reasons to defeat evil. But often in Japanese movies and novels, good and evil is treated much differently, which is one of my favorite aspects of J-Horror. I love the fact that there are grey areas concerning good and evil and that it makes you think about what really is considered evil in our society or culture.

A good example of this is the spirits in Kwaidan. These natural spirits do what is in their nature to do, whether its cause mischief for travelers or lure them into traps and consume them. They are a lot like animals in the respect that they follow their instincts that are not inherently good or evil. This is also present in modern media like the film Ju-on: The Grudge. Although the spirits that haunts the house might be considered evil because of their nature to kill people living in their home, it’s really the rage in which they died that has caused them to be bound to the house and seek revenge for their wrongful deaths.

I think the differences in cultures as a whole has led to J-horror becoming an interesting deviation of what we’ve come to know as horror.  I enjoy the idea of the cohabitation people and spirits because the supernatural becomes an almost mundane thing, allowing the narrative to be explored further where in American horror we’re so bewildered with the fact that spirits could possibly exist that it envelops the plot Also the stillness and atmosphere of J-Horror is often much more effective in setting a mood for something to scare you rather than our nature to fill silence with any kind of noise. 

Luckily more and more American and European films are being influenced by J-Horror causing them to adopt some of the popular themes present in their movies. It'll be interesting to see where this fusion of sub-genres takes horror in the future.