I read Murakami once before in high school, and I hated it, which I now find interesting. I found it hard to relate to, too subtle, and just straight up boring. I had heard great things about Murakami and I remember being disappointed, because the book I had read wasn't near as great as everyone had made his work out to be. Needless to say, I didn't pick it up again until I was to read this book for this class.
When I came back to Murakami this time, I was hoping that I would receive it a bit better than I had before, because I definitely wanted to realize the genius of his work. I was pleased to find that I had a great time reading A Wild Sheep Chase, so much so that I definitely want to be able to read and finish it on my own time. The fact that I now find it so interesting was, in itself, interesting to me-- what was different about myself now than before, and why did I perceive this book so differently?
One of the things I have been thinking about a lot the past couple years is the difference in context between Eastern media and Western media, and the respective values that they represent. I think in high school I wasn't, er, 'read' enough, and though I enjoyed Eastern media such as anime and manga, I wasn't really ready to enjoy the elements of Eastern values that Murakami's more heavy work embodied.
I found that I appreciated a lot of the subject matter focused on by Eastern media, even in respect to eastern horror movies and such. The West so heavily emphasizes 'Good vs. Bad', 'Righteousness vs. Evil', good guys and bad guys... I found it very tiring. In real life the distinction between the two is sometimes very blurred, if even there at all. Why would I enjoy watching media that has values that are so alien from what my actual values in real life try to embody?
When I would watch or read Eastern media, often there is no good side or bad side. The lines between the two are both much more hard to distinguish. There is also an emphasis on the mundane and the vague, which I can appreciate. The West is very much about action, while much of Eastern media is about also focusing on the space between those actions, as well as how we as an audience can relate from everyday life. Much of Eastern character animation includes everyday gestures and mannerisms, which makes it that much more relatable.
The themes in J-Horror are similar. In many of these films, from a culture that considers many romantic interactions to be frivolous and unnecessary, sex scenes are absent, and it includes the standoffishness of the characters as a theme as opposed to the teamwork featured in Western horror movies. Someone who loves Western horror and grew up on Western media their whole life, they might be hard pressed to relate to some of these movies.
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