The Influence of Tradition in Japanese Cinema

The beliefs of Japanese people are East originated. Shintoism and Buddhism give lots of importance to the spirits and supernatural forces which are also cultivated in the Japanese mythology. Some of the Japanese directors have been able to combine a western visual art form (cinema) with their traditional beliefs different from the western examples of the same subject matter.

In contemporary cinema this particular subject matter (ghosts/demons) mostly taken into the consideration as an element of the horror, but in Japanese cinema they are the elements of the drama ( particularly the spirit itself ) as well as a horrifying object. That is to say according to their beliefs, spirits are the ones who are suffering either because lack of the prayers that let them pass to ‘the Land of the Dead, or because of the evil feelings/behaviors while they were in ‘the Land of the Living.’ Dra

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European ghosts appear to be more dream like creatures, while Japanese ones appear to be more humane. In traditional ghost stories of Japan the unfortunate spirits of women are mostly represented as suffered in their lifetimes and make the others suffer more then them when they become revengful ghosts.

Although the films Onibaba and Kuroneko are black & white, the ambience could successfully transfered with a powerful demon make-up, high contrast images with long takes and long shots. The tale is told by a chanter of No. The demon shows the protagonist other demons who weep out of pain, and asks the man to run away, otherwise he would have to eat him. The mother would not bear this situation and tries to scare her with a mask which she steals from a bad samurai. It is common in traditional Kabuki theatre to present the bloodshed on stage which is also done in the film in order to arouse fear.

Kwaidan consists of four shorts which are traditional ghosts stories that comes together in a book with a same name written by Lafcadio Hearn, a westerner who studies Japan literature. He throws the water away and gets a new cup, however the face is reflected in that cup as well. They are not mindless creatures that just fly around like western ghosts do. In addition to that the construction of the conclusion is inspired from another traditional art form, Kabuki.

In the film Onibaba there is a woman and her mother-in-law who kills samurai and sells their armors in order to survive under the circumstances of a civil war. When he tries to attack the three they disappear and reappear at will, taunting him. In th story, The Tunnel, the dead platoon and the commander hold a long conversation.

Common topics in this essay:
Snow Woman, Peach Orchard, Haiku Japanese, Dreams Kurosawa, Living Dramatic, Kaneto Shinto, Weeping Demon, Sunshine Rain, Shintoism Buddhism, Onibaba Kuroneko, japanese cinema, subject matter, art form, sunshine rain, japanese ghosts, traditional art, ghosts spirits, snow woman, peach orchard, story sunshine rain, woman mother-in-law, aestetic features japanese, particular subject matter, ordinary life rituels, japanese cinema relies,

Approximate Word count = 2816
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page double spaced)

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