Morning, Fam…
So,
yesterday, I said I had a few thoughts marinating, which I intending to put out
there, but Joey had a post
she’d worked really hard on, and since she doesn’t post much, I wanted her to
shine.
Last week,
we watched the J-horror (Japanese) film, Audition,
which really messed with and confused us.
Of course, I Wikipediaed it to dig up some backstory and insight, and it
said the director was talking about social commentary of the oppression and repression
of Japanese women.
The story’s
about Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi), a widower wanting to get back into the dating
game, but he’s been out of the game for so long, he has no idea where to start,
so one of his filmmaker friends suggests holding an audition for a fake movie
to choose a date. Of course, actresses
come out of the woodworks, but he’s drawn to one: Asami played innocently by Eihi
Shiina.
I don’t want
to give too much away if you check it out, but there’re points I want to
discuss. A word of warning, the film's BRUTAL, consider yourself warned.
First, we
understood Asami had history with a fam member in her past that wasn’t, shall
we say, pleasant. But, we couldn’t
figure how Aoyama figured into what the director was trying to convey…until
yesterday morning.
I woke up
and told Joey that Aoyama’s mistake was how he went about finding Asami. By holding the auditions instead of dating
her the right way, he objectified ALL the women that auditioned INCLUDING
Asami; thereby, reinforcing her past.
Now, you
have see the film to see how it plays out.
It’s in Japanese, so there are subtitles to read, but it’s a crazy ass
film…to say the least.
It was made
in ’99, so I don’t know if societal ideals’ve changed, but I know women, even
here, get the shit end of the stick, through no fault of their own, without a
fight unless their employer, fam member, what have you’s 21st
century progressive, meaning they’re seen as equals with their own set of gifts
to offer society. Even then, the scales
might not be tipped to balance.
In closing, the
horror genre gets shit on for being just that, but if you look deeper, there’re
issues at play that really might needed to be evaluated.
Be good to
each other.
-J-
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