WLC 371

Culture and identity have a symbiotic relationship and are interwoven in Asian horror cinema, providing a pathway for cultural intricacies, societal gender norms, and personal and ethnic identity to be discussed, challenged, and better understood with the help of storytelling and cinematography within the context of Asian culture and beyond. Katsushika Hokusai,  Fine Wind, Clear Weather (Gaifū kaisei) , also known as  Red Fuji  (detail), from the series  Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) , published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Ejudō), Japanese, Edo period, about 1830–31 (Tenpō 1–2). Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper.     William S. and John T.   Spaulding Collection -MFA Boston Zhongshan Goes on an Excursion  painted by Yuan dynasty artist Gong Kai for  Pu Songling's 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio'  the inpiration for A Chinese Ghost Story. Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art -Freer Gallery ...

    Takashi Miike,  Audition Miike's  Audition  is a statement film in Asian horror cinema that contains traces of culture and identity, providing a pathway for intricacies, societal gender norms, and personal and ethnic identity to be discussed, challenged, and better understood through the film's  storytelling and cinematography. "Kiri, Kiri, Kiri"  as simple as it is, was the horrifying sound that the audience hears when a kind and timid Asami tortures her so called lover, causing a parallel between what the audience believed a character to be and what they actually turned out to be. Audition  relied on "shocking imagery and graphic violence, can be aesthetically and ideologically linked in their being produced outside of the closed, vertically integrated Japanese studio system” ( Choi 200). As Japanese films delved from being produced by big cinema companies, the creative freedom of the producers allowed the directors to hone in on important...

  Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cure Kurosawa's Cure  is a staple of Asian horror cinema that contains traces of culture and identity, providing a pathway for intricacies, societal gender norms, and personal and ethnic identity to be discussed, challenged, and better understood through the film's  storytelling and cinematography. "Tell me about yourself" is a seemingly harmless sentence, used to get more information about a person when not much is known about them. For a person like Mamiya, however, this sentence was more rhetorical as he knew more about the person than the person themselves just by observing the normal everyday life that they lived. This question raised more questions and reflections for the person that it was asked too, allowing Mamiya to wedge himself into their lives and more importantly, pass on the "cure". The personal identity of each individual was questioned, based on some imperfection that they had, some deep desire that they wanted, or s...

 Hideo  Nakata,  Dark Water Hideo Nakata's  Dark Water  is a simple yet intricate film in Asian horror cinema that contains traces of culture and identity, providing a pathway for intricacies, societal gender norms, and personal and ethnic identity to be discussed, challenged, and better understood through the film's  storytelling and cinematography. A mother's touch, as many know, is one of the most important and influential presences in a child's life. The film delves into the identity and sacrifices of a mother Yoshimi Matsubara, who to save her own child, chooses to sacrifice the life that she has with her own child. This is in addition to the life that she sacrifices working as a editor. For this movie,  “the portrayal, struggle and redemption of its female protagonist is contingent on her acquiescing to and embracing an idealized feminine role — the self-sacrificing mother” ( Martin ). Further, the identity of a parent and the neglect that the pa...