Week 3: Asian Horror

          Compared to Western horror,  J-Horror is a very different type of horror style. For example, Western horror focuses on jump scares and very obvious things, such as vampires, werewolves, demons and ghosts. Whereas a lot of Japanese horror is based on their own set of stories and values. Japanese horror also seems to revolve around ghosts or yokai (Japanese supernatural beings).

           I went to Japan three years ago on a study abroad program (also visited again 2 months ago), and I stayed with the same host family both times. My family had two relatively young brothers in it, and I remember my host mom always told them not to wander at night or yokais will snatch them away. This is very similar to American, or really any other culture, in which parents will use scary beings to keep their children safe. Kind of ironic in my opinion.

          This week I watched a film called Uzumaki, which means "spiral" or "vortex in Japanese. Based on a Japanese manga series (which I also read), the spirals control the lives of people of a small town, and terrorize the citizens. For example, in the beginning of the movie, a man is obsessed with drawing spirals, and calls it the most amazing form of art. As his obsession grows out of control, he forces himself in a washing machine and "becomes", a spiral. These type of things become more and more serious and grotesque. For example, a woman burns her fingertips to get rid of the spirals on them. But, she forgot about her cochlea, which a millipede decided to live in. Obviously, she goes insane. Contrary to American horror, this film doesn't have closure. In the end, theres only one person left in the town, and it doesn't say whether he lives or dies. American horror usually has a clean ending, whether everyone dies or no one dies, or just some people die. But usually a problem is resolved. In this film, and in a lot of Japanese horror theres a very open ending, with a lot of things going on around the main character, but the main character being relatively unaffected by it.

Week 2: Vampire: Love and Pain

This week I read the first 6 books of Darren Shan's "Cirque du Freak" series. The series revolves around vampire lore, in which the main character (Darren Shan) becomes a half-vampire halfway through the first book.

The author could draw from many customs of vampires when writing, and he did, as well as expanding even more upon them, and even dismissing some. For example, he totally dismissed the rule "Only a stake through the heart can kill a vampire." He made it so any injury can kill a vampire! A rule he placed was "a vampire never kills when he feeds, and is against vampire law, but when the need arises, if a vampire drinks all of a human's blood, they also keep the human's soul." This rule gets used in the ending of the second book, in which the main character fully drains all of his dying friend's remaining blood to preserve his soul.

The author also played on human and vampire conflict, especially in the main character. Being a half-vampire, and very recently so, within the first 6 books, the main character struggles between his humanity and his vampire side. In the second book, he refuses to drink any blood, which is crucial for vampire health. This weakens him until he finally gives in to his dark hunger and preserves the soul of his dying friend.

Shan also played on human and vampire relationships. In the books, vampires age one-tenth at the rate of humans. They also have super-strength, super-speed and superior senses. They even have saliva that can heal wounds faster. On the downside, they can't mate and they are vulnerable to sunlight. Because they age slower, they can't form proper human relationships. Because of their super strength they can accidentally hurt humans. Even as a half-vampire, the main character accidentally breaks a human boy's ankle while playing a seemingly harmless game of hockey. Vampires seem to go to drastic measures to not get attached to humans. The main character had to fake his own death to break away from his family.

The author also creates a culture surrounding the vampires. As well as normal vampires, there are Vampire Generals and Vampire Princes. Vampire Princes command all vampires, and there's only 3 or 4 at a time. They are also above the law. Vampire Generals command normal vampires, but answer to the Princes. Evil vampires are called "vampaneze", and they oppose vampire traditions such as not killing when they feed. They were originally vampires who broke away from the clan. Because they kill everytime they feed, they're purple skinned.

Week 1: Frankenstein/Goth

The gothic look/concept has been present in popular culture for many years, especially in the form of 'counterculture', which is defined as "a way of life opposed to the prevailing social norm". I'm certain it was thought of as weird and scary even back when it first came to be. Even now, there seems to be a negative connotation on the word.

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of goth is fashion. The "gothic look" has been around for the last 15 years or so, and has been relatively popular in the last 6 years. Whenever I see someone sporting the "gothic look", I usually see black clothes, black lipstick, heavy eyeliner/eyeshadow, big black boots, and some sort of dark jewelry. Sometimes these would be paired with something red. A lot of the time the jewelry is in the form of skulls, wings, or crosses. People will also wear the apparel of gothic bands, ripped jeans, black nail polish, black necklaces and wrist braces. If the individual really wants to commit to the culture then they would get tattoos that are usually big and show-offy. One person I saw on "America's Got Talent", even had eye contacts to show off his look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_3jsyDW76E   

In any case, it became extremely popular, and I don't think anyone wouldn't know about the goth look.

Also, I've noticed many younger kids in middle school wearing goth clothes and sporting counterculture wear, but I feel like we think its okay when we're younger, but we become much more self aware when we become older. Even though I didn't wear gothic clothing then, I still ask myself why I wore the horrible clothing I did.

All in all, gothic fashion is very prominent, very popular, and is amazingly still barely socially acceptable.