Flutterby™! : storytelling

storytelling

2007-08-26 15:21:24.666167+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

Leo has some interesting notes on storytelling, Kurosawa, and cultural differences between Japan and the US.

[ related topics: Sociology ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2007-08-26 18:22:29.97589+00 by: ziffle

http://chattanooga.craigslist.org/rnr/394914843.html

cultural difference in Chatttanooga attitude versus Japan? Priceless.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-08-27 13:15:22.502861+00 by: petronius [edit history]

One can see cultural differences even in straightforward genre movies. Take a look at some of the Japanese horror movies that have been remade in the states, like The Ring. The malignant spirit in such films is usually a person who was horribly killed or abused, and continues to haunt the living. This is standard setup in Western films, but the endpiece is usually that the living punish the perpetrator or redress the wrong, and the stuck spirit can continue its journey to the light, etc. All is quiet when heavenly justice is achieved.

Only Japanese don't really believe in an afterlife, so where is the celestial peace the spirit craves? Noplace. So even when the crime is punished, the spirit continues its marauding ways forever, and the human protagonist is still pursued, unless they can do as the character in The Ring does, and find a way to palm off the curse on some unsuspecting dupe.