Week 3: J-Horror: Asian Supernatural Narratives
This week I read all of the Chinese ghost stories in Lafcadio Hearn’s book Chinese Ghost Stories: curious tales of the supernatural.
These have been the first ghost stories I have ever read, let alone them being Chinese ghost stories. Therefore, I did not know what to expect at all prior to reading. There appeared to be a strong sense of family values (elders being the most important and always listening to your parents) that were present in many of the stories. This didn’t surprise me I knew that in Chinese culture they hold the older generations to a very high regard. What I did expect that I didn’t see (or read) in these stories were any “scary” moments. I assume my expectation for scary parts comes from the typical jump scare culture that we have in American horror film.
The Chinese ghost stories in the book did have a common theme of good and evil but not the same kind of evil that we are used to seeing in American horror. American horror makes the “evil” character always very dark, bloody, dirty with visual effects and it’s very clear to see which person is evil strictly based on appearance alone. While compared to Chinese stories where they have to learn a lesson sometimes prior to finding how or why that person was evil. In one of the stories in the book, you knew as the reader that the woman the man encountered on his walk was going to be trouble based on the warning his parents gave him at the start of the story while the main character doesn’t find out until the end. The man had even fallen in love with the woman he met because of her beauty and was never physically hurt by her which is unlike what is typically seen in American films.
I also felt that the Chinese stories take place over a longer period of time and the lesson that is to be learned isn’t apparent for a while. In America, with the need for a fast-paced lifestyle, the ending or resolution to the story comes much quicker.
While I did enjoy some of the Chinese ghost stories in the book, I do still enjoy the typical western or American gothic and horror style much more. This is probably because when I watch a scary movie I don’t want to look for underlying hidden messages about ethics and values – I just want to be scared.
These have been the first ghost stories I have ever read, let alone them being Chinese ghost stories. Therefore, I did not know what to expect at all prior to reading. There appeared to be a strong sense of family values (elders being the most important and always listening to your parents) that were present in many of the stories. This didn’t surprise me I knew that in Chinese culture they hold the older generations to a very high regard. What I did expect that I didn’t see (or read) in these stories were any “scary” moments. I assume my expectation for scary parts comes from the typical jump scare culture that we have in American horror film.
The Chinese ghost stories in the book did have a common theme of good and evil but not the same kind of evil that we are used to seeing in American horror. American horror makes the “evil” character always very dark, bloody, dirty with visual effects and it’s very clear to see which person is evil strictly based on appearance alone. While compared to Chinese stories where they have to learn a lesson sometimes prior to finding how or why that person was evil. In one of the stories in the book, you knew as the reader that the woman the man encountered on his walk was going to be trouble based on the warning his parents gave him at the start of the story while the main character doesn’t find out until the end. The man had even fallen in love with the woman he met because of her beauty and was never physically hurt by her which is unlike what is typically seen in American films.
I also felt that the Chinese stories take place over a longer period of time and the lesson that is to be learned isn’t apparent for a while. In America, with the need for a fast-paced lifestyle, the ending or resolution to the story comes much quicker.
While I did enjoy some of the Chinese ghost stories in the book, I do still enjoy the typical western or American gothic and horror style much more. This is probably because when I watch a scary movie I don’t want to look for underlying hidden messages about ethics and values – I just want to be scared.
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