Why Japan Laughs at Zombies

Why Japan Laughs At Zombies
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Why Japan Laughs At

Zombies
June 24, 2014 by Rudy Barrett 28 Comments
If you think about it, Japan is almost the perfect setting for zombie fiction: densely populated cities,
sprawling subway system, small island nationadd a zombie outbreak and Id watch that movie.
However, nine times out of ten in Japanese zombie movies, instead of seeing a slow, deliberate,
creepy film where the shambling hordes of the undead shuffle through crowded Tokyo subways
spreading their deadly plague, you often get this:
http://www.tofugu.com/2014/06/24/why-japan-laughs-at-zombies/
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Finally, a zombie film thats also about poop!

or else you get this:
A scenery-chewing Power Rangers-style villain and wacky action sequences
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Japanese zombie filmsare almost exclusively horror comedies and typically come in two flavors:
cheek and very thick layers of camp.

If the zombies arent playing an over-the-top game of kung-fu baseball against our protagonists, like
in Battlefield Baseball,
Then they are the background of a romantic-horror-comedy with the main characters impending
zombification as the crux of the plot, like Life is Dead. Lets not fail to mention that he contracted
the virus by having sexual intercourse with a zombie prostitute.
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Zombies are parodied further in manga like Kore wa Zombi Desu Ka and Tokyo Zombie.The latter
also got a movie treatment featuring two friends whoare factory workers and, of course, martial arts
masters squaring off against legions of the undead in a zombie kung-fu horror comedy (Jeez, they
really are THAT popular).
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There are even movies that push the horror elements fairly well but still seem overly interested with
parodying the genre, making jokes, and having creepy comedy elements. A good example of this is
Stacy: Attack of the Schoolgirl Zombies. The title and many of the visuals are used for cheap shock
value, with over-the-top gore and wacky sight gags aplenty. The filmmakers also keep up a near
constant barrage of self-aware references to pioneers of the modern zombie film like George Romero
and Sam Raimi.
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Why are zombies so often seen as clowns in Japanese media? Despite the fact that a zombie clown
Why Zombies DONT Scare Japanese People

Theyre Foreign
Photo by Joe Mabel
Just like vampires, werewolves, and several other horror beasties, the zombie is not native to Japan.
Japanese interactions with the undead are limited to spirits, certain yokai, and sometimes the
Chinese Jiangshi(hopping corpse). After the zombie boom of the 1990s, which followed the
popularity of the Romero movies, Zombies began to get more international appeal and Japan got on
board the zombie train.
However, the foreign-ness of zombies never seems to leave the Japanese consciousness when they
are making zombie media. Its similar to American-made ninja or kaijuu movies very similar if you
consider how ridiculous some American ninja movies are. For this reason, invoking zombies in a
Japanese movie is often considered referential of Western pop culture and because of that is often
approached from a more ironic or humorous angle. This is perhaps why, when Japanese creators
tackle the subject matter in a more straightforward and less subversive way, such as in Dead Rising,
House of the Dead or the Resident Evil/Biohazard games, they are always set in the Western world
and not in Japan.
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Historically, ghosts have captured the imaginations and fears of Japanese people far more than any
promise of the corporeal undead ever has. There are a handful of reasons for this. Firstly, the
Japanese traditionally cremate their deceased. Because of this, the iconic imagery of zombies rising
from the grave is not only culturally disconnected from the mainstream its also completely
impossible to depict realistically in Japan. Second, there is a rich history surrounding the existence of
ghosts and spirits in Japan where zombies are not only the new kids on the block, but they are also
seen as more outlandish and, as such, carry less weight in a horror movie. If the movie is meant to
scare you, Japanese film might lean in the direction of a ghost story before using something with a
physical body. Zombies just dont have the same creep factor as a ghostly hand on your shoulder that
slinks away when you stop to notice it. I mean how can they, because, well,
Theyre Clumsy
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Lets face it, traditional depictions of zombies arent really THAT menacing. The idea is that they are
slow and lumberingly incompetent by themselves but in a massive horde can quickly become a
problem a slow moving problem, but a problem nonetheless. This can go south for moviemakers
because the slow movements, imperviousness to damage, lack of awareness when limbs fall off, and
tendency to trip, slip, and look silly causes zombies to be a big unintentional source of physical
comedy. There is not a single movie that I mentioned above that didnt feature at least one scene
where a zombie was flailing around humorously or otherwise used for a visual joke. Zombies are just
silly-looking sometimes. Several western depictions of zombies have abandoned the slow moving
schtick of the past for the swift-moving predatory infected model from 28 Days Later or Left 4
Dead. I cant help but think this is due at least slightly to the fact that you can only generate so much
tension in a scene where your main antagonist is moving at the speed of smell and in danger of
falling down at any given moment.
Theyre Everywhere
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This is definitely a big factor forany filmmaker approaching a zombie movie, Japanese or otherwise.
Creators have to spend a bit of time digging around in the barrel of creativity going, what else have
we got? It cant just be zombies anymore. It has to be zombies with this or zombies with
that.Between movies, video games, board games, card games, television shows, podcasts, t-shirts,
and anything and everything else, we have over saturated the universe with zombie media. Were
approaching a zombie singularity where every movie will either have a zombie in it or a superhero.
Even in Japan, which has much less of an infatuation with zombies than the West, the feeling has
started to emerge that they are running out of fresh twists on the zombie formula and thats a driving
force in leading Japanese filmmakers to continue creating weird and wacky films. Zombies have
reached the point where they are so played out that, frankly,
They Dont Mean Anything Anymore
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Zombies have worked as a scare in the past, not just by relying on blood and gore, but because they
were representative of the perceived social ills and legitimate concerns of the filmmakers. In the
same way that the original 1954 Godzilla endures because its a striking nuclear allegory, George
Romeros Dead films (the movies that for better or for worse started this modern zombie craze)
endure because they dealt with issues like government ineptitude and unchecked commercialism.
Romeros zombies represented the fear of individuality being wiped out and absorbed into a mass
consumer hordefears that dont resonate with the rather collectivist Japanese population. Zombies
also represented the concept of the other, something that is different from you that swoops in and
grows until you are pushedout of your rightful place. This is a very common fear to play on in the
West, but something that a largely homogenized society like Japans didnt readily cling to.
Even the more universal themes that couldve made zombies frightening to the Japanese, such as the
fear of spreading illnesses or the abuse of nuclear and biological weapons, have now been so
watered down in the media that they too have lost their resonance. The iconic imagery of a walking
human corpse has been used and reused and recycled and overused and reiterated and distilled
until it doesnt actually stand for much of anything any more. Sprint has used them to sell cell phones
for goodness sake! A zombie is no longer an icon of fear. A zombie is just a zombie: A disposable
rotting mook. If thats all they are, why not throw them into kung-fu movies where filmmakers are
always looking for hordes of something or other to have their stars punch their way through? I mean,
its not like they mattertheyre just zombies!
Now if youll excuse meI have some Japanese zombie movies to catch up on.
Bonus Wallpapers!
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[1280x800] [2560x1600] [1280x800 Animated]
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_Baseball
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_%28fictional%29
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0879265/?ref_=tt_rec_tt
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0275773/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451954/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stacy_%28film%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Zero
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helldriver
Filed Under: Culture, Editorial, In Japan, Media
Tagged With: culture, film, horror, japan, movie, movies, Society, video games, zombies
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About Rudy Barrett

Rudy loves writing about his geeky passions (language and rhetoric, manga,
Japanese culture, video games, horror fiction, art and animation, and tabletop
gaming). He's also into "cool guy" stuff...allegedly.
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