Tonight, I watched the ghost movie "Hidden 2" with my roommate, which was much better than the first one. But I have to say, compared to the oriental ghost films, the makeup effect of western ghosts and the horror effect of unnatural behavior are still a lot worse. It can be said that if you pick it up alone, you will think that it is just a heavier smoky makeup. Goth makeup is horrible.
The methods and abilities of ghosts used by Western ghosts and Eastern ghosts in "subduing ghosts" are different. This time, because of writing the thesis, I learned some differences between the academic research traditions of the East and the West since ancient times. The Western academic tradition of empirical research is earlier than that of Chinese culture, and the rationality and spirit of natural science are also more obvious. Chinese classic ghost films use the deeply rooted Taoism/local customs and cultures as the background of the film's story, and obviously involve more ethics and morality. However, in Western Christian culture, if you look at the Bible, you will know that Christianity contains a lot of rational thinking. Therefore, Western ghost films will use a lot of scientific instruments in the process of "subduing ghosts". For example, they use instruments that can display the changes in the heat of objects. The presence of heat in one place is evidence of the existence of some kind of life. Including "Insidious 2", what really amazes me is its sci-fi logic. The development of the entire family story is based on the "time loop theory". Ghosts can break through time and space to travel through. The protagonist's childhood and growth The timeline of the film is connected and connected, and the whole story is a closed time loop (but compared with professional science fiction films, the logic of this film is still not enough). Regarding the abilities and attributes of ghosts, as far as the ghost films I have seen, Dongfang emphasizes the "soul of unjust death", and most of them cannot step out of the place where the unjust crime happened. The solution is to solve the regret and grievances of the ghost before his death, so that moral justice can be obtained. stretch. However, ghosts in Western ghost films are not limited by time and space. They usually follow a certain person for some spontaneous utilitarian reasons, such as their need for a living body/to satisfy their own desires, rather than the real and Someone has a grudge, and the solution is some kind of witchcraft or violence to send it to hell. However, with the process of globalization, oriental ghost films are approaching the west, and South Korea's "Kunchiyan" is very obvious. It may be that modern society uses "science" to prove ghosts more convincing to the audience.
Digression: When I was watching this film, I was thinking that if the plot of Western ghost films is that ghosts can break through the limitations of time and space, people will follow wherever they go. Then if I go to an eastern country, will the western ghost and the eastern ghost be scared by each other when they meet? Will the two of them come to some sort of agreement to decide, diplomatically, whether to scare me in the way of ghosts in Eastern Japanese/Taoist culture, or in Western Christianity/Witchcraft? Or will the two of them cause conflict by themselves, making a movie similar to "Sadako vs. Gaya"? Thinking about it in this way, in fact, ghosts and ghosts can't play any new tricks, either in melee combat like humans, whoever has the most strength wins, or using supernatural magic like Harry Potter. Think creatively, that is, the two of them scare more humans to death than whoever can, but such an obvious competition is more hilarious. Another way to compete is to compare which ghost can scare the other to death. Can the ghost scare the ghost to death? Even if it can be frightened to death, that is, the Western ghost is descended by the Eastern ghost, and loses to hell; or the Eastern ghost loses and goes to the underworld, and is escorted away by the black and white impermanence to accept the trial of my Lord Yama? These methods are a little ridiculous no matter how you think about them.
Humans' imagination in ghosts is still very limited, and they cannot escape from what human beings have seen and experienced so far. Ghost movies are far less brainy than serious sci-fi movies. When you realize that ghost movies have great limitations, you will not feel afraid.
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