Asian Horror
Do the assumptions of the work—the nature or even the existence of good and evil for instance—reflect a different cultural orientation than that expressed in "western" horror or the gothic? In what specific ways do the assumptions seem to differ?
In western horror media, it seems that the viewer or reader is meant to believe that there are evil forces present that are attacking "Good" people. More often than not the distinction is made clear rather quickly and with very exaggerated effect. For instance, a "Jock" archetypal character that bullies the other students might fall to his death suddenly or receive a massive injury while playing his sport of choice. Asian horror media seems to take a much slower and more specific approach to how the story is explicated to the viewer or reader. The American or western approach seems to favor the use of shock suspense or suspense with little reasoning besides the need to fit the current scene. While it can be effective at diverting attention from the rest of the plot for select moments it is more used as a crutch to make people forget about all the bullshit story they just heard. In Asian horror, the suspense is more overarching and encompassing. The overarching suspense is justified over time, and the story is rather important to the reasoning for the horror element. The Asian horror genre seems to be more about animalistic human tendencies. These seem to be the main factors that are incorporated into horror elements. The Asian stories are more based in passed down spoken myth, rather than the modernized American superstitious tropes. The Asian culture seems to show through more, the creatures are more specific, there are more rules to the horror elements, the horror elements seem to serve more of a purpose in Asian stories. Asian horror seems to want to act as a force of nature, completing a naturalistic cycle. That is what scares us, naturalistic tendencies being shown as unnatural manifestations.
In western horror media, it seems that the viewer or reader is meant to believe that there are evil forces present that are attacking "Good" people. More often than not the distinction is made clear rather quickly and with very exaggerated effect. For instance, a "Jock" archetypal character that bullies the other students might fall to his death suddenly or receive a massive injury while playing his sport of choice. Asian horror media seems to take a much slower and more specific approach to how the story is explicated to the viewer or reader. The American or western approach seems to favor the use of shock suspense or suspense with little reasoning besides the need to fit the current scene. While it can be effective at diverting attention from the rest of the plot for select moments it is more used as a crutch to make people forget about all the bullshit story they just heard. In Asian horror, the suspense is more overarching and encompassing. The overarching suspense is justified over time, and the story is rather important to the reasoning for the horror element. The Asian horror genre seems to be more about animalistic human tendencies. These seem to be the main factors that are incorporated into horror elements. The Asian stories are more based in passed down spoken myth, rather than the modernized American superstitious tropes. The Asian culture seems to show through more, the creatures are more specific, there are more rules to the horror elements, the horror elements seem to serve more of a purpose in Asian stories. Asian horror seems to want to act as a force of nature, completing a naturalistic cycle. That is what scares us, naturalistic tendencies being shown as unnatural manifestations.
Comments
Post a Comment