Japanese influence on horror

zaki jaihutan zaki.j at justice.com
Thu Nov 11 03:25:36 EST 2004


Granted, i admit that it is an overly simplified way to
just stated or limit the so called 'Pop Culture' easily
as'clarity' and easy to understand. However, i do found
that these characteristic seems to be present in so
many of the Pop Culture product (read 'movies'), it
becomes something that keeps on occuring, and the first
one that shows a starking difference compare to some
European or Asian movies.

As to the adaptation issue, i hope i did not gave an
impression that such question is irrelevant. The
question does remain, especially i think, from
technical point of view.

Zaki 

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 01:44:03 -0500 (EST), Thouny wrote:

> 
> Regarding the choice of location for the Grudge, I
> recently
> read in AERA an article that argued that since The
Ring,
> set in a contemporary American town in especially big
> houses, did no do well in rendering the same kind of
> claustrophobic atmosphere you would get from Japanese
> houses/apartments, it was decided to set  the Grudge
in
> Japan.
> Do what you want of the explanation, which still
raises
> interesting and ever-present questions and
oppositions,
> "Japan is a small country and therefore has small
> houses vs
> America", cultural essentialism (Horror as an
essential
> form of culture?!), and more interestingly the
question
> of
> adaptation-translation in relation to a posited
> original.
> And of style, which is definitely the central issue I
> think.
> Technically speaking,the Ring could have given the
same
> kind of claustrophobic atmosphere you get from Ringu.
> Why
> was it decided to do otherwise?
> 
> Also, I do not think you can so easily define
> Pop-Culture
> Hollywood style cinema by "clarity and easy to
> understand"... 
> 
> Christophe
> 
>  --- zaki jaihutan <zaki.j at justice.com> wrote: 
> > I think the influence of Japanesse psycho-horror
movie
> > to Hollywood still remains to be seen. However, it
> > should be noted that Hollywood movies are build in a
> > 'pop culture' style, which one of its characteristic
> is
> > clarity or easy to understand and fast paced. This
can
> > be seen if we compare the difference between the
Ring
> > and Ringu. As some of the Kinejapaners here have
wrote
> > in previous mail,  Ringu is somewhat more
'misterious'
> > compare to the Ring, who comes to the point of being
> > 'explicit' in everything. More to that, Ringu
requires
> > a more attentive viewing since it has a very subtle
> > detail, and of course requires more patience because
> > everything come one by one, whereas the Ring
requires
> > less of the aforesaid. That's why i think, it's
> > difficult to change the so called 'pop style' that
has
> > guaranteed a big income and vast moviegoers for
> > Hollywood. What Hollywood ussually do is take the
> > necessary element (ussually the main idea) and
present
> > it in a much simpler and easy to enjoy form. Other
> good
> > example for this is the movie 'Insomnia', the
European
> > version requires more attention and patience.
> > 
> > As for the Grudge, i my self haven't seen the
American
> > version. But i suspect that the choice of location
is
> > somehow related to the fact that Sam Raimi is
> producing
> > this. Sam Raimi is very impressed with the original
> > Ju-On, so maybe he want to present the movie with
> color
> > as close as possible to the original ones. Well,
this
> > is not a fact, and maybe someone here can help
explain
> > the real reason for this (maybe a production
reason?).
> > Anyway, i believe that the choice to shoot the
Grudge
> > in its 'homeland' is not related to significant or
> > sophisticated reason such as cultural approach, so
> yes,
> > i don't think the Grudge shows 'strong influence' of
> > the so called Japanesse psycho-horror. Any other
> > thoughts every one ?
> > 
> > P.S: Just a thought, maybe i'm being too far here,
but
> > Hollywood do came up with Shyamalan (as then
continued
> > with other films like 'the Others'), whose approach
i
> > think is very close with 'psycho horror' type, in a
> > sense that it plays more with your nerve with the
> > unexplainable instead of showing some long nailed
> > creature slaugtering people... 
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > 
> > On Wed, 10 Nov 2004 16:47:47 +0100, Giacomo Calorio
> > wrote:
> > 
> > > 
> > > Dear Kinejapaners...
> > > I'm writing a book about Japanese psycho-horror
> > movies,
> > > and I'd be glad to 
> > > listen your opinions about its influence worldwide
> in
> > > recent years. If Asian 
> > > production gave birth to many similar productions
> > after
> > > Ringu, it seems the 
> > > same cannot be said about Hollywood yet, apart
from
> > the
> > > very succesful 
> > > remakes. I'm wondering whether the cause may be
the
> > > cultural and religious 
> > > background Sadako & c. belong to, which is quite
far
> > > from western one, or if 
> > > there's any specific social reason, or if it's
just
> a
> > > matter of genre 
> > > tradition, production reasons and audience tastes.
> > > That seems connected to the fact that Shimizu's
> remake
> > > of Juon is still set in 
> > > Japan (I haven't seen the movie yet, I just read
> about
> > > that).
> > > Do you think there's been any inflence on
Hollywood
> > > horrors after Verbinsky's 
> > > movies? If so, in what?
> > > 
> > > Another question (less serious, though)... I'm
> looking
> > > for the first Ring TV 
> > > series  (kanzenban), but I couldn't find it at
all,
> > > while the second one 
> > > (saishusho) seems quite eaesily findable on ebay.
> > > 
> > > Could anyone help me?
> > > 
> > > thank you very much
> > > giacomo
> > 
> > _________________________________________________
> > FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community
> > http://www.FindLaw.com
> > Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email!
> > http://mail.Justice.com
> >  
> 
>
______________________________________________________________________ 
> Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

_________________________________________________
FindLaw - Free Case Law, Jobs, Library, Community
http://www.FindLaw.com
Get your FREE @JUSTICE.COM email!
http://mail.Justice.com


More information about the KineJapan mailing list