Week 03: Asian Horror - A Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami (6 pts)

    This week is all about Asian Horror and how the genre brings in a different side of horror that us westerns do not expect. We are talking about the world of the psychological and all the different life questions that would split out head open if we were to truly dive into it. This genre explores everything that is strange and also moments of awkwardness. It is truly a genre that is not for all but for those who want to dive headfirst into everything that doesn’t make sense and doesn’t necessarily have to. A perfect example of this is “A Wild Sheep Chase” by Haruki Murakami. 

As I said previously, the world of Asian horror is not just ghost and supernatural but rather things that don’t make sense and are not in our control. It’s all about analyzing the madness in the protagonist brain or rather in this case their emptiness. Meet the narrator of this story who like in many other Murakami stories does not have a name also does not care or remember anyone else’s name. His life quest is to find a certain sheep which will decide if he lives on living his tormenting pessimistic life or he will soon meet his creators. I was surprised on how this novel truly felt more like a crime mystery book rather than a horror but I guess the horror is hiding in plain sight like in most Asian horror. It’s from what I understand the horror of not being in control or being consumed by something. You can see this in other classic horror novels such as Battle Royale where students are forced to kill each other in order to survive. They have no control of the situation and are victims of a broken system/society. The only thing that these students can control are their fates and the decision of being participants in their unprecedented event. You can see a parallel of this in Murakami’s story in which the narrator decides to take control of his life by looking for the sheep and trying to understand what’s going on. 

One thing that I find incredibly interesting in Asian Horror is the amount of protagonist that can be described as cold and distant. It is a type of storytelling that feels less personal yet more observational. We the readers/viewers are basically along for the ride rather and there is no pause to think or feel but rather just experience in order to later on analyze. It makes the experience of Asian Horror very drastically different from western writing where it feels much more personal and emotional. 

I must admit that I certainly love this type of writing since it gives me more shivers don’t my spine as I sit down to think of what I just experienced. My classic favorites of this genre are Serial Experiments Lain and Shiki who both want their audiences to think about their decisions and what it means to be alive or even be human. It truly provokes me to ask a bunch of life questions that I would have never made myself if it weren’t for this style of storytelling and character development. 

I am very excited to read and watch more chilling stories like Murakami’s work and understand how horror does not mean physical monsters such as Dracula but rather the monster that we don’t notice or have succumb to being.