The Comparative Literature Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst Presents
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The Comparative Literature Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst presents The Best of… JJUNIORUNIOR YYEAREAR WWRITINGRITING Vol. 1 Fall, 2005 Copyrighted Material Program in Comparative Literature Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures University of Massachusetts Amherst 430 Herter Hall 161 Presidents Dr Amherst, MA 01003-9312 USA © 2005 by the Comparative Literature Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the Comparative Literature Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Nikolina Dobreva, editor and book design Essay selection committee: Nicole Calandra David Lenson Daniel Pope Essay authors: Buffy Berthiaume Jack Eskin Kaitlin “KC” Forcier Alice Gray Jaclyn King Table of Contents Introduction 4 Buffy Berthiaume From Japanese Haunting to Americanized Horror: The Transformation and Acculturation of a Foreign Genre of Film 5 Jack Eskin Russkies and Rednecks: Anti-Modern Currents in Literature 11 Kaitlin “KC” Forcier From the Wicked to the Wise: Feminist Re-Appropriations of the Witch Identity in the Fiction of Monica Furlong 17 Alice Gray Robinson and Glover: Two Different Times for Tap-Dancing in Hollywood Film 24 Jaclyn King The Onslaught of Dread and the Consequences of Freedom: An Inquiry of Existential Thought Within The Things They Carried and Slaughterhouse Five 31 Introduction In the Fall of 2005, I requested to teach Junior Year Writing (Comp-Lit 397B) mainly because I was intrigued about teaching writing, and because I wanted to ex- perience working with Comparative Literature majors and students with a strong motivation to grow as writers, rather than those merely looking to fulfill the requirements for a course. I knew I had big shoes to fill, as both Dale Hudson and Alix Paschkowiak before me had done an outstanding job. What I did not realize was how exceptional our students are: I was continuously impressed and challenged by their knowledge and analytical skills that were on par with what one would expect from accomplished scholars. The Junior Year Writing final conference, an all-day event that allowed the students to formally present their findings in front of their peers and friends, as well as in front of Comparative Literature faculty and graduate students, took place on December 6, 2005. Once again, the students brilliantly handled all the difficulties involved in completing their research in a timely manner, delivering their papers well, and providing exhaustive replies to the complicated questions that their professional audience was eager to ask. The exceptional quality of all the papers presented at the conference led Professor William Moebuis, the Chair of the Comparative Literature Program, to suggest that the work of our students be showcased online in the form of a publication, as it deserves better acknowledgement and a wider audience. Although all the essays were excellent, the publication was to be competitive, and it contains only the “best five” essays written for the class. I would like to acknowledge the dedicated work of Professor David Lenson, as well as that of two of my fellow graduate students, Nicole Calandra and Daniel Pope, who read through all the papers and selected the five finalists. The essays that follow focus on different topics, and vary stylistically, yet they are all the result of careful research and a painstaking writing and rewriting process. I hope this will be only the first of many publications that will continue to exhibit the outstanding work of Comparative Literature majors. Nikolina Dobreva Instructor CompLit 397B Fall 2005 From Japanese Haunting to Americanized Horror: The Transformation and Acculturation of a Foreign Genre of Film by Buffy Berthiaume This article examines the aspects of AMERICANS as a nation are driven Japanese horror films that generate a by violence and death. Every media source trepidacious uncertainty among young and in the country is on constant alert for the old, and how such foreign content is next horrific story of the day, each vying for conducive to Americanized versions of the top authority on the matter and watching as same material. By exploring the structure, people stand enthralled by the gruesome dialogue, and impact of two American sights of murder, destruction, and uncon- remakes of Japanese films, The Ring (2002) scionable events lain before them. It is no and The Grudge (2004), the study also surprise, then, that horror films have always identifies the elements governing the appeal held a strange sense of captivation for for the subject matter which Japanese audiences; generation after generation horror provides to an American audience willingly pays to feel that rush of adrenaline unaccustomed to cultural diversity and that comes from the unfamiliar. It is the cognitive dissonance. unknowable and unforeseeable that draws curiosity and intrigue in one’s day-to-day This paper won the first prize in an all- life, playing on the unconscious fears within campus contest for the best essay written in the depths of the mind. It is an anxious a Junior Writing class. anticipation for the unexpected and for feeling that flush of terror from the body’s Keywords: horror film, Japan, US, remakes, defense against certain irrationalities. It is cultural difference the desire to validate the unease that a mind harbors against things which cannot easily be explained, where childhood fears are revisited through adult eyes with no less irrationality, but with a better understanding of the potential truth behind films. However, as audiences grow more accus- tomed to the typical American horror film, directors and producers are increasingly aware of the need to incorporate new territories of the unexplored into their work. Instead of rotting bodies or masked men, which have become all too familiar, Ameri- cans have now turned to the greater intan- gibles to be found in Japanese horror, namely ghosts and revenge. The Japanese horror genre blends amplified music with heavy atmosphere and a sense of foreboding within a seemingly ordinary setting to produce a psychologically unnerving response of apprehension. The westernized horror film, however, is commonly linked with blood and gore brought on by a crazed killer, something which initially contributed to its widespread success as a genre but recently has been outdated. A new way of viewing fear was needed to make the hearts of an audience beat within their ears once more. A new path needed to be found in order to purge the innermost recesses of the mind, where lost secrets, misgivings, and nightmares lurked, waiting to see the light of day. Such a route was taken and explored through the modern day Japanese horror boom, cleverly referred to as J- horror, with movies like Gore Verbinski’s The Ring (2002), and Takashi Shimizu’s The Grudge (2004). Typically, the American horror film features a mentally disturbed character, such as that of Michael Myers in each of the Halloween movies, but Japanese horror films have instead introduced characters who are mentally disturbing. The character of Samara Morgan in The Ring and that of Kayako Saeki in The Grudge evoke a chilled sense of the uncanny with their irregular movements, stilted gait, and supernatural deliberateness, combined with an amplification of strangely unsettling music and abundance of shadows. Most times one’s fear is increased with the simple presence of these characters because the point is not to be completely menacing, but to be enigmatic and perplexing in an overtly minimal way. Customarily, American horror films never offer an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty or “the unnerving feeling that rationality is a luxury [one] can no longer afford” (D’Angelo), but instead are predictable and to the point, leaving little to the imagination. J-horror films leave more to the imagination and more to think about; when there are questions without ready answers, it makes the plotline more intriguing and allows for a lot more discussion. It is apparent that Japanese horror films have a much more illusory and incorporeal quality within their structure, which some say has given Hollywood a reason to disregard all rationality (Lovgren). But clearly, disregarding the rational has greatly benefited horror as a genre because that is precisely what horror is about – letting go of inhibitions and losing control. Japanese horror allows our country to experience a terror different from the traditional American horror stories involving ghosts, where spirits only exist as enemies. In Japanese culture, spirits do not exist simply as foes, but they subsist in day to day life, as an ever-present force. Koji Suzuki, author of the novel Ringu, which spurred the production of The Ring films, has made it clear that he is profoundly disappointed in what he describes as “conventional horror flicks” that offer no more than blood, evil, and overused sound effects. Suzuki feels that real fear must stimulate an audience and be able to evoke a feeling of tension that borders on panic. He describes the typical horror films in America and Europe as tales that must ultimately eradicate evil spirits, while the ending of Japanese horror movies typically suggests that the spirit still lingers, unable to be extinguished. Suzuki believes that such a suggestion is made because the Japanese regard spirits not as adversaries, but as entities that must be accepted as coexisting with us (“An Interview with Koji Suzuki”). Such a concept is disconcerting in and of itself because spirits are free of worldly control and therefore are much more powerful than any mortal person they may choose to torment. In both The Ring and The Grudge, it is difficult to tame the encountered spirits because their intentions are never quite clear, nor are their subsequent actions.