Week 3: Terror & The Tatooer
I read two of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro's short tales for this week and would like to draw some parallels between them. It is interesting to me that, considering the topic for this week, the assumptions I had made about both of these stories were very different from what they were. Starting with Terror, the name itself tricked me into thinking this would be a classic Japanese horror story, but it turns out to be very tame, almost comical, following the phobia and anxiety our main character has for trains and other modes of transportation. The very detailed description of the effect of such mental condition on him was viscerally detailed and almost made me feel the anxiety he was feeling, the throbbing in his head, and the sweat going down his tempers. The story concludes in a rather happy ending I'd say, leaving an open end to our "hero" as he hops on the train for his doctor's appointment.
The Tattooer is a bit more in touch with what I was expecting of a J-horror story. In fact, it explores a more realistic topic of a rather masochistic tattoo artist named Seikichi and his plan to "stab his needle" into a woman for the first time. Throughout the story, I had thought that the young woman that he obsesses over was actually a sort of spirit who would torment him after he drugs and violates her body by tattooing a black widow spider on her back, but it turns out the story ends right before I could confirm this expectation. In fact, it is even scarier to me that the "horror" that comes from this story is indeed much more realistic than an "evil spirit" trope. The character of Seikichi is unstable and violates her body against her consent, and I can only wonder if, when the girl's spider tattoo is shown at the end, "wreathed in flames", he meets his maker. It was intriguing to see her change in personality after getting the tattoo from a scared young girl to a more assertive woman, I wonder if that is an element of magical realism where the tattoo serves as a symbol for her "transformation", especially with the black widow spider imagery.
Terror and The Tattooer were very different works and it was fun to go from reading one to the other. I think some similarities between them are that Jun'ichiro explores more realistic depictions of horror through meticulous detailing in the feelings of his protagonists, portraying plots that definitely happen in real life, as well as both stories having a more open conclusion. I feel like reading some more of his stories to draw conclusions in his writing style and what I make of it in relation to this week's topic.
The Tattooer is a bit more in touch with what I was expecting of a J-horror story. In fact, it explores a more realistic topic of a rather masochistic tattoo artist named Seikichi and his plan to "stab his needle" into a woman for the first time. Throughout the story, I had thought that the young woman that he obsesses over was actually a sort of spirit who would torment him after he drugs and violates her body by tattooing a black widow spider on her back, but it turns out the story ends right before I could confirm this expectation. In fact, it is even scarier to me that the "horror" that comes from this story is indeed much more realistic than an "evil spirit" trope. The character of Seikichi is unstable and violates her body against her consent, and I can only wonder if, when the girl's spider tattoo is shown at the end, "wreathed in flames", he meets his maker. It was intriguing to see her change in personality after getting the tattoo from a scared young girl to a more assertive woman, I wonder if that is an element of magical realism where the tattoo serves as a symbol for her "transformation", especially with the black widow spider imagery.
Terror and The Tattooer were very different works and it was fun to go from reading one to the other. I think some similarities between them are that Jun'ichiro explores more realistic depictions of horror through meticulous detailing in the feelings of his protagonists, portraying plots that definitely happen in real life, as well as both stories having a more open conclusion. I feel like reading some more of his stories to draw conclusions in his writing style and what I make of it in relation to this week's topic.
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