AW: J- Horror and its american remakes

[Jim Harper]

Snowblood Apple is indeed a very useful site. I'm also a member of the forum they run, a very good place for lively discussion of Asian genre cinema. It's well worth a visit.

  The nature of Japanese movie ghosts is largely the same as western ones- films like the aforementioned The Changeling could be moved to Japan with relatively few changes. The theme of a vengeful spirit who wants to resolve questions about their demise and punish those responsible is common to world horror cinema. However, it's usually the reactions of the living in Japanese horror films that are different. As you say, in American films it's seen as unusual for the heroine to interact with the spirits, but many characters in Japanese horor have psychic powers or the ability to understand/communicate with the dead. The major difference between Kurosawa's Seance and Forbes' Seance On A Wet Afternoon is that the medium's abilities are real, which is significant, I believe.
   
  Jim Harper.
  
stefanie simon <stefanie.simon at gmx.at> wrote:
  Thanks for your literature- advices Michael, I've already ordered them by
myself. The Internet- site is also very useful, they even have a comparison
of the original ring and the remake on a visual basis!

The comment of Jim Harper made me think:
Nowadays, cultures and their traditions mix together and there are often
topics that exist in both societies. The ghost is one of them, although
there are different believes to it. Japan is more involved with ghosts than
America, they do believe, that their ancestors watch over them and as a
result they revere to them. In their tradition it is said, that people, who
die in strong emotions for example of hatred or love, they come back to take
revenge to the living. 
And that's what all three Japanese films are about, the "revengeful spirit".
When I think of quite new American horror films like "Gothica", they also
deal with ghosts, but there exists a "seer", whose abilities are not
believed from the people around her. Even more the ghost is a friendly one
and wants the actress to take revenge for her instead (finding out the truth
about her death).

Coming to an end of my explanations, I think that even if the transcultural
exchange is an obvious one, I do believe that there are nevertheless
different points of views according to special topics. What I'm interested
in are not the similarities, such as the visual comparison worked out at the
Snowblood- Website, I'm searching for the differences and the explanations
for them.

Don't you think, that their might be even more such topics where differences
can be found? 

Best regards,
Stefanie.






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http://jimharper.blogspot.com
 		
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