Skip to content
1981
Aesthetics of Fear
  • ISSN: 1059-440X
  • E-ISSN: 2049-6710

Abstract

Barbara Creed’s concept of the ‘monstrous feminine’ illustrates a natural ‘affinity’ between woman and monster within horror, recognizing both for the potential dangers they are seen to pose to patriarchal society. Although when writing, Creed was referring to western horror cinema, the same theories can be extended to Japanese films. Today, no Japanese horror film is considered complete without its haunting woman spectre, the female or ‘vengeful ghost’ archetype, a trend which dates back from the time of Shindō Kaneto (1912–2012) to the latest film of the franchise released in 2022. Despite changes in Japanese sociocultural norms over time, the way these vengeful female characters are presented remains arguably consistent, positioning them as more ‘monsters’ and ‘freaks’ rather than women with whom the audience can sympathize. More significant is the trend of visually associating the female with feminine physical traits or behaviour and transforming her into something grotesque. While she is typically depicted as ‘monstrous’ through physical disfigurement or distortion of her body or face, her hair is often shown to be what fully embodies her vengeful spirit. Not only is this association of ‘horror’ with hair distinctly feminine and rarely if ever attributed to similarly ‘monstrous’ male characters, but in recent Japanese horror films, the female ’s hair is also seen disembodied, sometimes even moving of its own accord. Lacking the presence of an explicit female body, this hair of the female can arguably be seen as belonging to any woman, thereby extending the association of horror to the Japanese woman herself.

© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ac_00096_1
2026-01-30
2026-04-21

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Ambros, Barbara R. (2015), Women in Japanese Religions, New York: New York University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Carroll, Noël (1987), ‘The nature of horror’, The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 46:1, pp. 51–60, https://doi.org/10.1111/1540_6245.jaac46.1.0051.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Creed, Barbara (1993), The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Abingdon: Routledge.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Davisson, Zack (2015), Yūrei: The Japanese Ghost, Seattle, WC: Chin Music Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Ebersole, Gary (1998), ‘“Long black hair like a seat cushion”: Hair symbolism in Japanese popular religion’, in A. Hiltebeitel and B. D. Miller (eds), Hair: Its Power and Meaning in Asian Cultures, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, pp. 75–103.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Hearn, Lafcadio ([1894] 2005), Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, Rutland: Tuttle Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Kinoshita, Chika (2009), ‘The mummy complex: Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Loft and J-horror’, in J. Choi and M. Wada-Marciano (eds), Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 103–22.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Kristeva, Julia (1982), Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (trans. L. S. Roudiez), New York: Columbia University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Leiter, Samuel L. (1997), New Kabuki Encyclopedia: A Revised Adaptation of Kabuki Jiten, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Oates, Joyce Carol (1998), ‘The aesthetics of fear’, Salmagundi, 120, pp. 176–85.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Ōgata, Tōru (2000), Tamashī no arika: chūgoku kodai no reikonkan (魂のありか: 中国古代の霊魂観, ‘Is there a soul: Views of the soul in ancient China’), Tokyo: Kadokawa Shoten.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Pandey, Rajyashree (2017), Perfumed Sleeves and Tangled Hair: Body, Woman, and Desire in Medieval Japanese Narratives, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Hanabusa, Tsutomu (2012), Sadako 3D (貞子3D), Japan: Kadokawa.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Kobayashi, Masaki (1965), Kaidan (怪談, ‘Ghost stories’), Japan: Toho.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Nakagawa, Nobuo (1958), Bōrei kaibyō yashiki (亡霊怪猫屋敷, ‘Mansion of the ghost cat’), Japan: Shintoho.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Nakata, Hideo (1998), Ringu (リング), Japan: Toho.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Nakata, Hideo (1999), Ringu 2 (リング2), Japan: Toho.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Shimizu, Takashi (2002), Ju-on: The Grudge (呪怨), Japan: Nikkatsu.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Shimizu, Takashi (2003), Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (呪怨2), Japan: Nikkatsu.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Shindō, Kaneto (1968), Yabu no naka no kuroneko (藪の中の黒猫, ‘A black cat in a bamboo grove’), Japan: Toho.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Sono, Shion (2007), Exte (エクステ), Japan: Toei.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/ac_00096_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): J-horror; Japanese film; kaidan; ornament; power; weapon; women

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test