Week 05 Witches

I read Black Maria for this week. There are several prominent female characters even though not all of them poses powers they all paint a different picture of women with power. First, there is Mig. As the young protagonist represents possibility. She can handle magic but is not overcome with the with a desire to use it. She consistently voices her wish for equality and has no baggage of the past. The other women and men are constantly fighting with the traditions of the past and struggling to either hold on to them or let go.

There is also her mother, who has no powers. She is known for being morally strong. She always desired to do the right thing. Her good intentions were manipulated and she was probably the most oppressed character. It was an interesting twist that she was being oppressed by another woman to uphold cultural standards of woman.

Then lastly there is Black Maria herself. She had lots of power with magic and she used it to gain power socially. She knit lies and guilt to get everyone under her thumb. Even tho this woman in power isn’t seen as a good person, she doesn’t show power by flying around on a broom or eating people. Instead, she represents a woman of power who manipulated the existing cultural models. The author used traditionally female things that are normally seen as weak or submissive and used it to show how even that could be forced into a bit of power. She had everyone take care of her, and acted helpless to maintain control. She also used gossip, a traditionally frivolous and “womanly” thing and used it to great advantage. The other women, Mig and her mom, have to fight those traditions to be free of Black Maria’s power.

Because it was set in the 90’s, a lot of the traditionally female things like wearing skirts or baking seemed outdated then and ridiculously so now. It was fun to have a story that showed how women fighting other women for their freedom. It is like an external exploration of the conflict of the past and future cultures that many women have to explore for themselves.

Week 03 J Horror

For my study into J-Horror I read the Wild Sheep Chase. This was a fun and interesting read that I would definitely recommend. It also afforded a unique look into eastern horror fiction. Most of the occurrences in the story weren’t scary as much as unsettling. All the characters who had the sheep inside of them were not possessed in a scary way. The scariest part to me was probably the aftermath once the sheep left them like the sheep Professor’s degrading state. Although this was more “horrific” it also seemed more rooted in reality, like someone suffering from withdrawal. In this book, the main force of the supernatural was the sheep. Even the characters in the book admit that they don’t know it’s agenda. It feels malicious in some ways because it seeks power and has the ability to manipulate whatever it pleases. But when we consider what it’s done, there isn’t much that can be declared as evil intention. It is just that absolute power is scary. That perhaps is why the sheep needed to be destroyed at the end more than for any hard evil deeds.

This contrasts with western horror which tends to be rooted in evil. Witches, vampires and most fantasy creatures have a link to evil or good. This is probably a reflection of the West's religious heritage. Especially as the Christian culture vilified native mythology. In Japan and the rest of the East, their religious roots in Buddhism and Confucianism might be why the supernatural is an extension of nature and therefore, like nature, neither good nor bad. It is simply a force.

Although is eastern horror the supernatural is not distinctly good or evil, it rarely fares well for whoever messes with them. In the Kwaidan, the characters aren’t usually rewarded for interacting with the supernatural even if they were doing something good or noble. The particular story I read told of a blind musician who accidentally played for a host of ghosts every night. When his caretaker the monk found out he “saved” him by writing all over his body. The monk missed the ears, so when the ghosts came they took them. The poor musician had no way of knowing to do any better, so it seems odd that he was punished. This perhaps links back to Wild Sheep Chase, in that the forces aren’t necessarily bad but interacting with so much power takes more than it gives.