The film I’d like to talk about is “my tomorrow, your yesterday”. It is a japanese live action film based on a novel with the same name. The reason I chose this movie is because of the concept of inverted parallel that has been used in it and somewhere reflects the allegory of meeting the right person at the wrong time where one’s time is moving forward where as other’s time is moving backward. The film talks about a twenty year old guy named Takatoshi Minamiyana who is pursuing a UG degree in visual arts. One day while commuting to the college he encounters Emi Fukuju where they exchange greetings and promises to meet each other everyday and soon they start dating. On march 1, Takatoshi discovers Emi's journal and is shocked to see how emi had written the journal as if the time is moving backwards and the first page of the Journal is dated March 16. Not able to understand anything Takatoshi goes to Emi the next day when Emi reveals that she is a being from a world in which time runs backwards; what humans perceive as the future she already experienced as her past, and vice versa. Emi has been watching Takatoshi from afar since he was young; she was the adult woman who rescued him from drowning at the age of 5. Because her memories of him fade as time goes on (and her time goes backwards), she keeps a journal to remind her of him. She also tells him that they can only be together for a month every five years, and because 20 is the only time their age matches, the current month is the last time where they can pursue a relationship. The concept of inverted parallel world used in this movie somewhere makes the concept look realistic and more believable that maybe there is a parallel world out there where there isn’t much of a difference and is same as our world. Not only this other movies like “your name” “orange” etc are based on the same concept and somewhere turns this idea of parallel world a more realistic one where we are conditioned to think what if there is a world like that out there?
The black mirror’s episode ‘Playtest’ was an interesting watch for me mainly because the horror element was shown very differently when compared to other horror themed shows or movies. An interesting feature about this episode is that it included several different ideas merged to serve one purpose - frighten the audience. Here, the focus is simply not on the jump scares or clichéd storylines but rather plays to the protagonist’s deep, disturbing fears. The structure and the interiors of the mansion imitated the typical idea of a haunted house but it barely made an impact. But the idea of the character Sonja being a bad person or his high school bully showing up messed with Cooper’s head. This trial version of the game results in his death, which he had been engaging with for less than half a minute. It can be observed that the entire idea of horror maybe is not fearing ghosts or something lurking in the darkness, but the technology which could kill you in few seconds if not handled correctly. This was an interesting attempt to spread fear to the audience. Although this concept is recurring in the other Black Mirror episodes, it is not prevalent in movies or shows of the horror genre.
Since I am House Stark, I decided to share this poem I wrote for my House. It's called 'Wolf':
Look upon your sins. Look them in the eyes. Whisper "how I missed you!" and watch the demons rise. For when the Gods are asleep, shadows crowd the graves. Death comes for all men alike - the cowardly and the brave. The Lion's roar, the Dragon's fire, the Stag's silver hoof. Echoed in time, the winter's chime! The night belongs to the Wolf.
The monster/creature that plagues the world in Bird Box is terrifying even though (perhaps because) it has no physical form. The only indication that it's coming is a few blackened leaves suspending in the air and the voices the victims hear as it traumatizes them to an extent where they invariably kill themselves. It's fascinating to see how far horror movies have come - from disgusting and gory monsters who got their scariness primarily from their repulsive appearance we've reached a point where a truly fear-inducing antagonist does not even have a body. The idea of monstrosity has been evolving a lot lately, and so has the idea of what's scary and what's not.
The concept of monstrous also comes in when you consider the 'insane' people in the story, the ones that are immune to the creature because of how their minds are wired differently. We are told that they've been ostracized from society even before the monster - they are those who have been locked up in the local asylum - the already monstrous and feared fit in perfectly into the horror narrative the survivors put together, the immune are crazy and they are the other. The only clear physical manifestation of the monster is visible only through these immune insane people - their glassy green glazed eyes are unblinking and unwavering and they are terrifying without doubt.
ALthough the fantasy element in Bird Box is overshadowed by the genre of horror it belongs to, its portrayal of the monster is fascinating.
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timeasmymeasure
Rimjhim-3ENGH
Date: 2019-07-31 12:03 pm (UTC)An aspect of horror element in ‘Playtest’ - a Black Mirror episode
Date: 2019-07-31 12:34 pm (UTC)Game Of Thrones - A Poem
Date: 2019-07-31 12:48 pm (UTC)Look upon your sins.
Look them in the eyes.
Whisper "how I missed you!"
and watch the demons rise.
For when the Gods are asleep,
shadows crowd the graves.
Death comes for all men alike -
the cowardly and the brave.
The Lion's roar, the Dragon's fire,
the Stag's silver hoof.
Echoed in time, the winter's chime!
The night belongs to the Wolf.
Bird Box and its Monsters
Date: 2019-07-31 12:50 pm (UTC)The concept of monstrous also comes in when you consider the 'insane' people in the story, the ones that are immune to the creature because of how their minds are wired differently. We are told that they've been ostracized from society even before the monster - they are those who have been locked up in the local asylum - the already monstrous and feared fit in perfectly into the horror narrative the survivors put together, the immune are crazy and they are the other. The only clear physical manifestation of the monster is visible only through these immune insane people - their glassy green glazed eyes are unblinking and unwavering and they are terrifying without doubt.
ALthough the fantasy element in Bird Box is overshadowed by the genre of horror it belongs to, its portrayal of the monster is fascinating.