“House” Blog – War Within

Nobuhiko Obayashi, the director of “House,” deposits different hints of cultural and technological advances that serve to reflect the Japanese life within the horror flick. As one can tell, the devices used to create this 1977 film were obviously rudimentary—the “fake” backdrop, the awkward levitation of objects, and the comic movements—as compared to the technology utilized to produce present-day film. The types of materials used within “House” exhibits how Japanese culture in that time period is established. For example, the Japanese didn’t have the technological ability to capture scenes of wilderness or scenery as one could have seen the juxtaposition of disproportionate objects; furthermore, it was difficult to understand how the Japanese could have allowed the suspension of different items without the use of more advanced devices. The use of trains was also of prevalent use during the 1970s, as opposed to planes and cars in present day. The 1977 film emphasizes how in comparison with 2010 life, the technology utilized are so similar yet so “basic.”

Similarly, the cultural aspects within the movie shouldn’t be underrepresented. Besides horror, the film mainly encompassed ideas of teamwork, love, and war; especially war. One subtopic of the flick included the story of how the aunt’s husband got drafted into war (World War II) and that her love for him has led her to wait for his return. The basis of this history has much relevance to Japanese culture, in the sense that war breaks physical relationships. After all, the movie was produced in the 70’s and World War II was initiated in the 40’s, emphasizing the small amount of time between the two occurrences. Interestingly, the event for when the father of Gorgeous (protagonist) comes back from his trip to Italy, his relationship with his daughter breaks as he brings home another woman. This scene parallels the shattering of relationships between families in World War II. It stresses how even thirty years after the war, Japanese people were forced to pick up the pieces of the unfortunate memories. Even in the conclusion of the movie, one of the last statements that was uttered included, “What never perishes…the question…is love” (Obayashi), emphasizing that even though relationships were lost, love continues to exist. Gorgeous’s aunt is the symbol of undiminishing love, eating Gorgeous and her six friends to possess everlasting youth, even though it was presented in a “twisted” way.

On the other hand, there were also many scenes of female nudity that were spread throughout the movie. The inclusion of such ideas emphasizes how Japanese culture included the celebration of the female body; there were many instances for when many of the girls, such as Sweet and Melody, would strip out of their clothing whenever the house would bring misfortune. There were many scenes that included the interaction among the girls in the movie, including the event in which Fantasy laid upon Gorgeous and called her “mother”, portraying the different bonds between women that can be established. Besides the contents of the movie, one can tell that ideas of sexuality were already spread throughout the eras, including the existence of geishas in Japanese culture.