I’m not one for short stories about things that go bump in the night, but the ones I do indulge in are from Western authors simply due to accessibility - being raised in America (and briefly Europe) does that to you. Reading Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things was an experience, to say the least. An anthology of traditional Japanese ghost stories was a bit out of my wheelhouse. I found myself enjoying it much more than I thought I would, though. That’s likely due to the differences between Kwaidonand my expectation of usual Euro-American ghost stories, and even further, the inherent differences between Eastern and Western culture.
The most interesting difference between ghost stories in the west and those I read in Kwaidonwas the art of their conclusions. In western media, we have a penchant for going after concrete endings. The supernatural being perishes and the heroes live, or vice versa. Solid. We can put down the book now and go on with our lives without having to think too hard. Not the case with Kwaidon. When one story was technically finished, you had to fill in the gaps of what would happen next - you’re not sure what happened to the characters. This is a benefit to the genre as leaving the audience guessing really adds to the fear factor of the story. What’s the point of horror without a little fear that lingers on the mind?
Spirits are never necessarily ‘evil’ in these stories, either - they’re just a part of the balance that humanity walks every day. While their consequences may not be beneficial to humans, they’re not more malicious than anything else in the world. These spirits or goblins are part of the natural order to most of the protagonists in these stories. In western horror, we consider things in two categories: natural and supernatural. Generally, western protagonists stray into the supernatural realm, where the evil baddies torment them until we reach the author’s desired conclusion: they make it out of the supernatural realm or not. The ghosts are seen as malicious because they’re not seen as the natural realm to the western audience.
These supernatural beings also don't seem to adhere to many rules in western horror. Yes, they have physical limitations (who wants an OP monster that no one can kill?) but they have no qualms about the who, or why, of an attack. Innocence is something rarely considered by western monsters. In Kwaidon’s short stories, every spirit or goblin plays by a set of rules that include the protagonist’s own actions and are generally value-oriented. Breaking the rules set by the spirit gives the protagonist consequences that they must learn from (even if the consequences generally include death).
While highlighting the differences between the two genres - because that’s what they are, two genres developed by two very different cultures - it’s only right to mention their key similarities. Both are meant to strike a sense of fear into the audience - it’s in the name. Horror. Terror. Why is that, though? Fear stirs up a sense of normalcy; bringing universal truths to the foreground with crystal clarity. Horror is meant to “awaken” both the protagonist and the audience to the value of their life - a reason many of the gothic authors were also romantics. An appreciation for life frequently passes us unnoticed and our assumptions frequently carry us. The horror genre is meant to take those assumptions and punt them out the window. Whether this “awakened” state lingers for any amount of time is up to both the author and audience.
The most interesting difference between ghost stories in the west and those I read in Kwaidonwas the art of their conclusions. In western media, we have a penchant for going after concrete endings. The supernatural being perishes and the heroes live, or vice versa. Solid. We can put down the book now and go on with our lives without having to think too hard. Not the case with Kwaidon. When one story was technically finished, you had to fill in the gaps of what would happen next - you’re not sure what happened to the characters. This is a benefit to the genre as leaving the audience guessing really adds to the fear factor of the story. What’s the point of horror without a little fear that lingers on the mind?
Spirits are never necessarily ‘evil’ in these stories, either - they’re just a part of the balance that humanity walks every day. While their consequences may not be beneficial to humans, they’re not more malicious than anything else in the world. These spirits or goblins are part of the natural order to most of the protagonists in these stories. In western horror, we consider things in two categories: natural and supernatural. Generally, western protagonists stray into the supernatural realm, where the evil baddies torment them until we reach the author’s desired conclusion: they make it out of the supernatural realm or not. The ghosts are seen as malicious because they’re not seen as the natural realm to the western audience.
These supernatural beings also don't seem to adhere to many rules in western horror. Yes, they have physical limitations (who wants an OP monster that no one can kill?) but they have no qualms about the who, or why, of an attack. Innocence is something rarely considered by western monsters. In Kwaidon’s short stories, every spirit or goblin plays by a set of rules that include the protagonist’s own actions and are generally value-oriented. Breaking the rules set by the spirit gives the protagonist consequences that they must learn from (even if the consequences generally include death).
While highlighting the differences between the two genres - because that’s what they are, two genres developed by two very different cultures - it’s only right to mention their key similarities. Both are meant to strike a sense of fear into the audience - it’s in the name. Horror. Terror. Why is that, though? Fear stirs up a sense of normalcy; bringing universal truths to the foreground with crystal clarity. Horror is meant to “awaken” both the protagonist and the audience to the value of their life - a reason many of the gothic authors were also romantics. An appreciation for life frequently passes us unnoticed and our assumptions frequently carry us. The horror genre is meant to take those assumptions and punt them out the window. Whether this “awakened” state lingers for any amount of time is up to both the author and audience.
I really truly enjoyed reading your blog post. You write with such style that I can tell that you're interesting in the topic that you're writing about! I hadn't ever read these kind of stories before either and found the comparisons interesting too.
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