Kuroneko, directed by Kaneto Shindo, is a Japanese film that has been subbed for the American audience. It revolves around two women, Yone and Shige, who are raped and killed by samurais in the beginning. Only to reappear as ghosts who seduce and murder any samurai that pass by. With this being a Japanese film, with different cultural practices, "... "Kuroneko" becomes increasingly, pleasurably difficult to predict. It's alternately abstract and down to earth, recognizable and strange, and consistently surprising." Speaking of culture, lets first take a look at the cultural differences when it comes to death and its customs. The first custom in Japanese culture is the Tsuya, or the wake, which involves anyone close to the departed to spent all night with the body. This takes place one night before the burial or cremation. The second custom is called Soshiki, the funeral, which is self explanatory. The third custom is Shonanoka, the seventh day after death, during which sutras are read. The fourth custom is Shiju-kunichi, the forty-ninth day after death, which involves a ceremony for the dead, because it is believed that the soul starts a new life on the other side. As we see with these Japanese customs, there is a lot more importance put on different customs that most be done for every death. Therefore not only does it get confusing to keep track of all the different days and customs, but it is also time consuming. Unlike the more standard tradition in America, where we bury or cremate the dead and mostly carry on with our lives. Another custom I want to look at is how everyone moves and does certain things differently than western culture. One big thing that stood out to me was the way the women walk. They walk with small, and yet fast movements of the feet. Which almost makes them seem like they are levitating. We see this any time a woman is walking and it is interesting because it is not a western tradition. Though in Asian culture, this form of walking was very common during this time. Another cultural difference is how the characters sit on the floor, instead of a chair. As we see in the picture above, the women are sitting on the floor and eating their food. This is not something that is often seen in western films and therefore makes it stand out. A final remark on the culture has to do with the formality of everything. The men, especially higher ranking ones, are always being served by women and the women are looked at as second class. There is also a lot of importance put in formal practices and bowing whenever it is necessary. Now lets take some time and look at the symbolism and ironic themes throughout this film. First lets take a look at the most obvious symbolism, and that is the black cat. Which is shown many times throughout the film, usually just for a brief second before cutting back to the main story. An example of the black cat is shown in the picture above. This black cat symbolism is also an important cultural difference because, "western folklore regularly puts cats in general, and black cats in particular, in league with witches and other dark forces, but Japanese folktales are more ambiguous, starting with the fact that, while all felines are suspected of being more than handy mousers and cute house pets". This different take on cats is what makes this film different, and it gets better if the audience understands the Japanese culture. Now moving on to the ironic theme of this film, and that is the samurai themselves. There are a couple times in this film where a person praises the samurai and tells of their great achievements and how kind and courageous they are. Which is funny considering that the first thing we see them do, is walk into a home, eat the food, and then rape the women. This is ironic because the samurai are made out to be heroes, yet they kill innocent women. Then later on we see the samurais getting drunk and forcing themselves onto Shige. This portrayal of the samurai is ironic to the audience because they are told that the samurai are good, yet we see their actions and see that they are not that good. Overall, this film is interesting if the audience understands the Japanese culture. Since there are many things that differ from a western film and this film. In the end though, this film is a great horror film that does some interesting things.
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