Blot Post 4: Asian Social Horror

Horror, according to Andrew Tudor (1997) can be a way for a film maker to discuss issues contemporary to the time they live in. Both Snowpiercer (Bong, 2013) and The Maid (Tong, 2005) reflect the issues of the countries they originate from and even transnational issues. Snowpiercer and The Maid have the theme of social inequality in common, but the way they discuss these issues happens through different frameworks of thought and cultural contexts. Snowpiercer is a thinly veiled Communist allegory, (Mirrlees, 2015) where the villains are wealthy and the heroes are poor, disadvantaged and driven towards revolution. It calls attention to class disparities but places these concepts within a sci-fi context; A train that carries the remnants of the human race through an endless snow-storm. The same essential story could have been told through a movie about the Russian revolution or some other, similar historical event. Relocating these concepts to a sci-fi context means that there is far greater artistic freedom.

The set designers, dressers and decorators were able to create condensed cultures within finite spaces, without needing to be concerned with reality i.e. where did any of the train's inhabitants ever go to the bathroom? It meant the casting, too, could be multicultural, including Octavia Spencer from The Help (Taylor, 2011). and Kang-ho Song, who had worked with director Joon-ho Bong before.

In terms of narrative, the film is greatly simplified despite its political themes in order to appear as a global blockbuster for the thinking viewer. (Taylor, 2016) The villains are inexplicably sadistic and evil, and the poor are all essentially kind and good. A prime example of this dichotomy is in the school carriage scene, where the teacher shows their students some pro-train propaganda, then suddenly opens fire on the heroes without explanation. Since the film apparently takes place within a kind of fantasy, the same demands of realism and accuracy we would impose upon a historical drama do not apply. The film maker does not need to engage with historical complexities the way they would with a film about Marie Antoinette. Instead they can simply express their point of view on social mobility through the plight of the characters.

Class divides are told through set design in Snowpiercer (2013).

Similar to Snowpiercer, The Maid uses a genre where the suspension of belief isn't so demanding. Horror, as a genre is unique in that the audience doesn't need to simply believe what they are seeing on the screen. (Tudor, 1997) They come to the genre with a series of cultural expectations which mean that they project certain beliefs onto what they are seeing. It is because we have seen other horror movies that when Rosa (Alessandra de Rossi) hears a drum pounding by itself the viewer knows that she will find something terrifying when she cuts the drum open. While one would expect that this knowledge would lessen the fear, it is rather because of this expectation that we find the scene suspenseful. The director, Kelvin Tong, connects this fear to the fearful experiences of migrant workers in Singapore, who have historically been subject to human rights abuses. (Gomes, 2011) But Western audiences may not know this and leave the film with little awareness of this. Rather, they are left with the strong sense that the practice of hiring live-in maids must end and that Filipino workers are better off at home than they are in Singapore. This sense is most keenly felt when Rosa, carrying Esther's (Nur Awal'liyah Ja'afar) remains into the airport, their two voice overs combining to say, "A month ago, I came to Singapore. I came here to see the world. I ended up looking into the darkest and saddest part of the human heart. Here, my journey ends. I am finally going back. So is another girl, who has been away from home for a long, long time." (Tong, 2005) The story could easily have been told as a drama, where Rosa is simply abused. But placing it within the horror genre means that scenes of Esther's ghost appearing create a deeper impact on the viewer.

Conventional horror tropes blend with transnational abuse in The Maid (2005).

In both cases, the judicious invocation of genre norms enables the viewer to experience the world of the film with further context being unnecessary in order to navigate the film's emotional texture. While it can mean that the viewer may miss vital information about the social condition being explored, it can spark interest and discussion nationally and abroad.

Source List:

Tudor, A. (1997). Why horror? The peculiar pleasures of a popular genre. Cultural studies, 11(3), 443-463. Bong, J. H. (Director). (2013). Snowpiercer [Motion picture]. USA: SnowPiercer. Taylor, T. (Director). (2011). The Help [Motion picture]. USA: DreamWorks.

Mirrlees, T. (2015). Hollywood's Uncritical Dystopias. Cineaction, (95), 4-15.

Taylor, B. (2016). The Ideological Train to Globalization: Bong Joon-ho's The Host and Snowpiercer. Cineaction, (98), 44-2.

Tong, K. (Director). (2005). The Maid [Motion picture]. Singapore: Dream Movie Entertainment Ltd.

Gomes, C. (2011). Maid-in-Singapore: representing and consuming foreign domestic workers in Singapore cinema. Asian Ethnicity, 12(2), 141-154.

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