Thursday, January 28, 2016

J-Horror and the Search for Good and Evil

This week's reading assignment offered a myriad of different stories, all of which opened the door on the same conversation: how does culture effect the concept of horror, and how does horror reflect that in turn?

                                                                                       (Takashi Shimizu, Ju On, 2000)

I chose to read two short stories by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki entitled The Bridge of Dreams and A Portrait of Shunkin. After reading a good deal into both of these stories, I realized that this type of horror is distinctly different in a lot of senses from the Western stereotype. It was, first and foremost, entirely believable. Both of these stories were set in a real place and had a story line that was entirely believable in most senses. What made them horrific was how "just a little off" they were. There was no glaring monster coming to eat your face off, there was just the culture these characters came from and their reactions to it.

In many ways both of these pieces also dealt a good deal with perfection and the standards that they are held to within their societal roles. In A Portrait of Shunkin, the perfection of beauty plays a large role, and in The Bridge of Dreams, the entire theme revolves around the "perfect family."

What was most interesting for me in class today was our discussion about conflict, and how J-Horror in particular seems to move past the common ideology of good versus evil. I realized after the talk that their is a balancing act between two systems of life or belief. For instance, if a traditional film could be considered a man vs. nature conflict, a J-Horror film could be seen as man and nature on either end of a teeter totter, constantly hitting off of each other's imbalances.

I found this week's works and discussion to be thought-provoking in the sense that I had never dealt with material like this before, and it was nice to see a different take on a genre.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Sexy Vampires




The Vampire has evolved more than most creations and mythos throughout its existence.

He has gone from this:
                                                                               (Nosferatu, 1922)
To this:
Image result for edward cullen vampire
                      (The Twilight Saga, 2008)

Studying the evolution of the vampire, as I found in class today, is a great way to cross-reference our societal norms. Regardless of the time period, monsters such as the vampire have always been a reflection of our culture with respect to love and intimacy. In our reading for this week, we discussed Anne Rice's novel Interview with the Vampire. I think the most prominent aspect of this novel with relation to the writing prompt was the overall sexual tones both in the action of sucking blood and in the interaction between Lestat and Louis. Anne Rice likens the vampire's tendencies to extract blood from their victims to a drug trip or an intimate sexual experience.

In many ways, I found this novel to be a bridge between the old and the new treatment of this gothic figure. Intimacy is at the root of this story, but what lies on the surface of it is how the intimacy is expressed. In the era of Nosferatu and the original Dracula, intimacy was physical and deep, expressed through emotion and dialogue (which is heavily conveyed in Interview with the Vampire.) In today's culture, we view intimacy a bit shallower and tend to view it as merely physical, which would explain the success of novels such as The Twilight Saga, where these "monsters" are given a much more appealing style, with an attitude and disposition that is more toned down and reserved (the shy guy in the corner.)

At the root of intimacy is tension, and that is what we saw today in class when we watched the film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night. The movie was a stunning and creative presentation of the vampire. The tension in this film was most obvious in the scene between Arash and the Vampire (who is a woman in this film.) When she pulls his head back and stares at his neck, there is tension both between the characters and in the audience. I found that the tension was a physical display of the intimacy between the two characters.

Whether they are bald with pointy ears, or blonde with a chiseled jaw, the vampire proves time and time again to be a reflection of our own culture and what we believe to be the true meaning behind intimacy.




Thursday, January 14, 2016

Gothic Frankenstein

For our first class we were given the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley to read over and study. I had never read it before and was excited to finally have an excuse to pick it up (and of course I rented the Bernie Wrightson illustrated version from the library.) Bernie Wrightson is an amazing illustrator, and he produced some truly Gothic scenes for this novel that brought a fresh take to the now famous Frankenstein's monster that is more closely associated to Shelley's original piece.


Wrightson, Frankenstein (2008) 

This was my favorite of the pieces by Bernie, a two-page spread showing a confrontation between Victor and the monster. The drama conveyed in this scene captures, to a high degree of accuracy, the level of discomfort and paranoia I felt as a reader (a level of discomfort any horror genre fan should be accustomed to.) It's tight, it's cramped, the lighting is very high-key and the viewer feels about as trapped as Frankenstein himself.

Of course, to illustrate something as grandeur as this, you need the story to be well thought out and presented by the author. Mary Shelley's style of writing captivated me. The letters in the beginning of the novel were a surprise, seeing as I had figured, through the lens of today's over-saturated media of the characters, that the story would be completely different. I decided, as I read, to think about the differences that 200 years of evolution have brought to this story. Perhaps my biggest shock of all was the pivotal "resurrection scene" that I am so familiar with, and how it was only about one paragraph in the novel. I had expected a myriad of beakers shaking and rattling against the rain storm as lightning struck the monster from the top of a high tower, but instead found that the Gothic nature of the story doesn't really hinder on that scene, but rather on the repercussions of it.

Shelley's strong suit is definitely creating a sense of off-putting, low-key paranoia. I found the Gothic aspects of this novel everywhere; from the setting (remote, unknown and altogether unpredictable) to the mysterious tampering with abstract forces (specifically death). 

Adventure Baby in: Boogey, Bonebeard and a Bathtub Boat

I had a lot of reasons for signing up to take this course, but the largest was to facilitate with my thesis. I am an illustration major here at Ringling, and for my senior project I am creating an advanced picture book for children between the ages of 7 and 12. 

The book is titled Adventure Baby in: Boogey, Bonebeard and a Bathtub Boat, and I am making it with the intent of exploring different genres and how to introduce them in a fun way to children. This, the first installment of the series, explores fantasy and horror (so you can see why I was eager to take this class.) 

I look forward to understanding these genres more and more throughout the semester to help me with my creation of the book!