A Comparative Analysis of Motherhood in Recent Japanese and US Horror Films

Abstract

The previous two chapters have outlined the means by which essential motherhood is reproduced or resisted in the maternal horror. As I have argued, the horror film becomes a site in which a duality of fascination and fear are played out in relation to the maternal. Although I have focused exclusively on the North American horror film, this chapter will explore these same issues in Japanese cinema. Like the US horror film, Japanese horror cinema reproduces, explores and sometimes challenges dominant maternal discourses (which, like US maternal discourses, are patriarchally constructed). While some maternal signifiers and representations seem to correlate with US ones (for example, the theme of maternal sacrifice), others appear unfamiliar (for example, the place of the mother in the extended Japanese family structure). By comparing an original Japanese maternal horror with a US remake, I hope to demonstrate that although patriarchal cultures share common modes of maternal representation, and although maternal themes may appear universal (since they are translated from Japan to the US), each culture engages with this maternal discourse in radically different ways. More specifically, the shift from maternal representations in Japanese film to that of US film demonstrates that Western, US maternal horror films are more embedded in patriarchal discourses, more committed to reproducing essential motherhood than Japanese films.