Final Blog Post

Out of all of the readings we were assigned for this semester, my absolute favorite has been Kwaidan. It was the perfect combination of my favorite elements in a story: myth, history and horror. On a more personal level, these stories were an inspiration for my senior thesis animated film which pokes fun at the long-haired Japanese ghost girls. 

The most interesting element to me about the Kwadain is that although the stories are based in Japanese mythology and folklore, the man who compiled this famous set of stories was in fact not Japanese. Lafcadio Hearn was a unique man who for most of his early life wandered around internationally before finding a home in Japan. Born in Lefkada in 1850, moved to Ireland, and emigrated to America, Hearn was a very cultured and eccentric man of his time. He eventually travelled to Japan as a newspaper correspondent, married Koizumi Setsu and became a Japanese citizen.

    I wonder how much of his Western aesthetic affected the retelling of the stories in the Kwaidan. From what I gather, Japan was still shrouded in mystery to the Western world in the late 1800s. In our class discussions, we talked about how in Japanese folklore, there is no clear good vs. evil story line. From reading the Kwaidan it is clear he hadn't strayed away from that concept, but it would be fascinating to see the reviews of Kwaidan from western audiences at the time of its publishing. I

    In our day a lot of cultures are interconnected. There is much more exposure to international audiences, and thanks to the internet we can have friends from all over the world. Unless you live in a media bubble (which I hope you do not) there's a good chance you have become more exposed to other cultures. In the 1880s, they did not have this opportunity- but perhaps having a Western man publishing Japanese folklore would bridge the gab of the cultures. 

    Thinking about the cross between cultures led me to read What the Moon Brings by H.P. Lovecraft. I noticed this short story was listed under the J Horror week, but as most people would know Lovecraft was an American Author. I was curious at first why this short story was chosen for J Horror week, but after reading I think I might have an idea why.

    What the Moon Brings is a horror story without a clearly defined good vs evil theme. It revolves purely around the horror of the inevitable- death. A man was walking through an old garden on a clear night with a shining moon, when the shadows and lotuses twist into terrifying faces of the dead. These ghost-like flowers along with a haunting black condor are reminiscent of the japanese spirits that embody different aspects of nature. There are also descriptions of creatures that are reminiscent of folklore beasts. Lovecraft describes a hoofed beast crawling from the muddy water, which reminds me of the Kelpies in Celtic folklore or the water spirits known as Kappas in Japanese folklore. He also makes a reference to a pagoda in the old garden, which is an architecture that originates in Asia.

    Although Lovecraft has said this particular story was based on one of his own dreams, I would not be surprised if Japanese culture had found a way to to slip into his subconscious to inspire it.

   

The Neglected Garden

The Neglected Garden by Kathe Koja was an intense story for only 4 and a half pages! I find it to be really impressive when an author is able to communicate such a detailed and imaginative story in so few words. Anyone can fill up pages upon pages with descriptions with "fluff" words, but the writers who can keep a story simplistic and still impactful are extremely talented.

Like the previous weeks, the way this short story is written lends a lot to the overall "horror/suspense" feeling it gives. We start off with our main characters and a break up scene. The man is ending the relationship, cutting the girl off and telling her to leave. Many people can relate to this scenario, whether experiencing it themselves or through another person. This is the first thing that engages a reader because they can relate to this situation on a personal level.

Now that we have the reader engaged and into thinking this will turn out like most break ups do (arguments, phone calls, cold shoulders etc) the author gives us gruesome surprise. The man discovers the woman in his backyard, "crucified" by the rusty fence, seemingly inflicted on herself. I would hope no one could relate to this experience! As I was reading The Neglected Garden, I was keeping in mind the kind of genre this short story would be classified under. From the beginning, it was hard to ground it into any genre- perhaps non fiction? Immediately, the little diagram in my head pinned "horror" as I arrived at this gruesome scene.

Then things began to change. While the man was horrified by the woman tied up in his backyard, he wasn't exactly going through the steps I would take in the situation. I'd call the police and get an ambulance over immediately- but our character hesitates on the phone with police and hangs up. He consults his friends, but eventually shuts himself into his house, avoiding neighbor and friends all together. He mocks the woman and shouts at her, but then all together tries to ignore her.

That's when the woman starts to become a part of his garden, grass grows and flowers sprout from her body- yet she is still "alive." This is a terrifying image. As the woman's body degrades and decomposes into nature, we see our man's mentality doing the same.

Personally, I didn't really see this story as "science fiction" because I interpreted the woman in the backyard as being a manifestation of his guilt. I feel like the woman haunting him from his garden and his constant struggle to ignore/destroy her image is how his subconcious is trying to handle the break up. I never been in an experience where I had to break up with someone, but I did have a god awful fight with a friend that led to absolutely no communication for years. Mentally, I would say my mind was probably with this guys. Your image of them never quite leaves your mind, its haunting- especially if your last encounter was emotionally devastating (the man having to force her to leave). The mental anguish the man had to go through was overbearing, and towards the end it seems as if he lost the fight. He was consumed by the guilt of his actions.

Though as I said, that's my interpretation. Perhaps the woman really did just become a part of the earth, destined to destroy the guy- it is a story, anything can happen.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Like with Bloodchild, I really enjoyed the writing style of The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. The short story is written as if you are sitting down and listening to an old folk story about some mysterious place called Omelas. What makes it feel genuine and conversational is the the tone of speech and the rhetorical questions the author brings up. For example, the piece begins with a description of this glamourus festival, from the music to the meadows, to the decorated horses until it leads to the question "How is one to tell about joy? How describe the citizens of Omelas?"

Then we go on to learn about the Omelas. Bit by bit, the image of a glorious society, where everything is joyous and beautiful, begins to crumble. While the citizens appeared happy- they were not. Eventually, we discover the poor, starving sacrifice hidden away from the public's eyes. Out of sight, out of mind. A child starves for the happiness of the Omelas!

 It was a turn I was half expecting. The beginning reveals such a beautiful, wonderful, perfect society. But we all know nothing can be perfect, who would write a story about a perfect place? The story would be over in a few seconds. So I was definitely waiting for things to get worse, but I was not expecting this little child. Although the author earlier stated these people, "were not barbarians" I would consider torturing a young child the most barbaric thing to do!

As I mentioned in our class discussion, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas reminded me of The Giver. I had to reread it for my Children's Lit class last semester, so the story was still fresh on my mind. It too had a Utopian society with a dark secret. Both stories have ambiguous descriptions to "leaving" the society, where it appears that a person most likely would have to die in order to escape the utopias. I looked up the two stories, and apparently there have been a lot of essays and comparisons written about The Giver and the inspiration it draws from Omelas.

The Biggest difference for me however is that I greatly enjoyed The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, and I really despise The Giver.

Bloodchild

This was definitely one of the most bizarre stories I have ever read. The way Octavia Butler's Bloodchild had been written contributed to the uneasy feeling while I read it (though perhaps this was intentional.) Bit by bit, we are introduced to a strange world where humans are eating eggs as if they are drugs. T'Gatoi is mentioned, but not immediately described. At first, my mental picture of her was some sort of human like species of Alien- nothing as terrifying revealed later on. Starting with vague snippets of her appearance- long velvet underside, limbs (at first there is no number revealed, but soon we discover she has as least 7) and so on. The reader begins to realize this world is very far off from our own, and that these seemingly drug like, life prolonging eggs have a much more sinister side to them.

I really loved this sort of "climbing" reveal in writing. If the author had gone off and set up the climate of the world and overall relationship of the humans and these creatures, our main character's story would not be so impactful! So even though the story became more twisted and horrible for the characters (and almost painful to imagine), the writing style was really fun.

That being said I was also really surprised by the ending of Bloodchild. So many "sci-fi" genre movies and shows revolve around the humans having to stand up and conquer the aliens. Same old story with a few twists and different characters. So I was really thrown off when the girl accepted to be this kind of "vessel" for T'Gatoi's eggs. It's a very strange story...it's a horrific tale of humanity's survival, but also the struggle for coexist-ion.

Cyberpunk

Cyberpunk is an interesting mixture of high technology with a punk lifestyle. Grungy science! I have never really been "hooked" on the genre as a whole, but I do enjoy some specific media that has been created out of the genre. The Matrix for example (while based upon earlier works like Neuromancer) is one of my favorite movies.

After reading a bit more about cyberpunk, I began to realize that one of my favorite television series is definitely based in this genre. Batman Beyond was a television series that took place in "Neo-Gotham," a futuristic, advanced version of Gotham city. Gotham was as dangerous as ever, but with crazy technological advances and a new underground of hackers. The world was grungy and insane, with the advances in technology allowing people to customize their appearance from purple eyes to being injected with animal DNA. Bruce Wayne is an old man, but now the young Terry McGinnis is proving to be an amazing batman in his own way. It was definitely one of the more darker animated series of Batman.

It's interesting to see how cyberpunk has found its way into all sorts of media, from books to movies, comics and television series. It even has found its way into different brands, like Batman. In this case, a cyberpunk genre was a successful twist on the Batman Beyond series, as it still remains one of my favorites!

Narratives from the Multiverse

    For the readings this week I chose to read the short stories "Repent, Harlequin!" Said the TickTockMan and Come to Venus Melancholy. They were definitely what I consider to be a "sci-fi" story, based on the subject matter and setting of the story.

    Each story was set in the far off future. "Repent, Harlequin!" was set sometime past the year of 2389. Come to Venus Melancholy did not mention a specific date, but it is in a time where humans have the ability to travel and live on Venus, and create cyborgs out of people. In each case, humans have advanced in knowledge of technology in the future, but each civilization has their downfalls.

     In the Harlequin story, civilization had developed so rapidly and depended so much on the idea of "time" and schedules, that humanity began to be ruled by time itself. Everything that a person did in their lives, whether it be job interviews or simply meeting a friend, began to rely on exact timing. Being late was considered to be very dangerous to civilization- you threatened to delay the schedule. In this world, the TickTokMan was created to rule "time." Not everyone believed in this world of schedules and punishable lateness, and that's where the Harlequin stepped in.

     In Come to Venus Melancholy, civilization has branched out into other planets- specifically Venus. Cyborgs are a thing of the present (though not exactly how I pictured cyborgs, the ones in this world are combined more with houses rather than walking humanoids.) From what the cyborg tells us, we can gather that humanity was lost to another war, despite all the technological advancements. Also, the cyborg (supposedly the peak of technology) has plenty of defects. Cyborgs are known to go completely insane!

     Both authors seem to warn readers about the technology of the future. While it appears that humanity may advance and do all sorts of wonderful things like live on new planets or become an organized society, these very things can cause humanity's destruction.

The Anansi Boys

I knew absolutely nothing about The Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman before I started reading the book. The only thing I could assume at first glance was that the book had something to do with the infamous Anansi- the trickster spider that many people have read about in folk tales as children. I used to read the Anansi stories when I was little in elementary school. Spiders really freak me out, but I always make an exception for Anansi.

I have only been able to read up until the middle of Chapter four, but I've got to say I'm loving this book. I love when authors use a combo of modern themes and supernatural, old world myths and ideas. Fat Charlie, the unfortunate, flawed character, is thrown into a world of gods and folklore. The beginning started off really "ordinary." Just an unfortunate character with an eccentric father. The funeral scene was a great, I was feeling horribly embarrassed for Fat Charlie. I was really surprised to see the first conversation with Mrs. Higgler take a turn towards the bizarre. I would've reacted the same way when some lady started throwing out ideas of Gods and a mysterious brother you've never met!

I'm interested to see what kind of direction the "magic" in this book will take. So far, there's been hints to Anansi being able to heal sick and be incredibly lucky, and the communication between people and spiders. It seems like it'll be more of a nature kind of magic- more old world and less magic tricks and waving wands.

Finishing the Night Circus will have to wait, because I am really enjoying the Anansi Boys!