If you’re a horror fan and also like to read Japanese graphic novels, then there’s
a chance you might have heard of Junji Ito.
He’s the author of haunting works such as Uzumaki, Tomie, and The Enigma of Amigara
Fault.
Over a career spanning 30-plus years, he’s crafted a very large body of one-shot short
stories and graphic novels, each with an unsettling- often supernatural phenomena taking place.
One of the defining qualities of Ito’s work is his wildly imaginative and nightmarish
imagery.
Even without the context of the story, there’s a potent allure to his visuals.
Often, Ito presents objects or scenarios that are typically mundane or insignificant- things
we generally don’t ponder too much on, yet exist all around us- things like spirals,
or armchairs- and he twists an element to create a disturbing, yet thought-provoking
fantasy.
These ideas are illustrated in a way that is often unpredictable, reading more like
a sequence of events in a dream rather than a logical narrative.
But what is it at the heart of Ito’s work that truly makes it so horrifying?
Yes, on the front Ito’s work is scary because of how far removed from reality and humanity
it seems.
Junji Ito’s work is comprised of various elements that inherently draw us in.
So let’s unpack that.
In an interview, Ito stated: I always intended to write scary manga.
I’ve never stopped doing anything because I thought it might be too frightening.
It’s difficult to make manga as scary as a film.
There are no noises amongst many other things.
So compared to films, the scary parts don’t have as much impact.
There’s no comparison.
So you can’t really afford to pull any punches.
In works like Uzumaki and Dissolving Classroom, we see graphic, dream-like alterations to
the human form.
Body horror or visceral horror is a type of fiction where the scares come from an unnatural
transformation to the physical body.
This includes things like mutilation and decomposition.
And while we’re disgusted by it, we seem to be equal-parts fascinated.
Indeed, whenever gore comes on screen during a movie- our brains seem to be hard-wired
to hyperfocus on it, almost as if the more disgusting, the greater the need to see what
happens next.
This is often the case because we have similar physical bodies and can easily put ourselves
in the same situation.
And just like going to watch a horror film, it’s both mentally stimulating and cathartic.
*screams*
*laughing*
"Oh!
Lord ima have a heart-attack."
"DAMN!
This is some scurry shit"
*laughing*
"OH!
I AM SCARED!"
In works like Gyo we see monsters serving as the antagonistic force.
This is what’s known as creature horror, which put simply- it’s the bad guy is a
horrific monster trope.
We see this in nearly every classic horror film.
It’s the Xenomorph from Alien.
Or the Cenobites from Hellraiser.
This theme seems to be a staple in much of Ito’s work, and it goes hand-in-hand with
his use of body horror to convey a sense of manic discomfort.
The repulsive fish creatures in Gyo don’t just kill people, they take over their bodies
to survive- turning them into nightmarish cronenbergs with metal spider legs.
In addition to these, much of Ito’s work is saturated in a specific tone:
His stories often focus on really fucked up human beings- both creepy and insane, but
how is this different than most other horror novelists and graphic novelists?
Why is Ito’s work so profoundly popular in this particular literary category?
If not for the body horror, gore, or uncanniness of his stories and their individual situations
what is it exactly that underlies the overall theme of Ito’s work?
To answer that, we’ll need to take a deeper look into another author from a time since
passed.
The progenitor of what can be considered an unlikely and infectious phenomena- the Cthulhu
mythos, Howard Phillips Lovecraft- or H.P.
Lovecraft as he’s commonly known.
He’s responsible for quoting the phrase: “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind
is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”
This of course likely had much to do with his personal xenophobic and racist beliefs,
and I doubt the man that was H.P.
Lovecraft knew this as an objective, observable fact- but he did write horror- and he does
have a point.
More specifically, the idea of cosmicism: a literary philosophy created by Lovecraft
that would go on to permeate throughout much of his own writing.
Cosmicism is basically the idea that we, our actions, and everything we hold sacred or
dear to our hearts- they’re ultimately insignificant in the greater aspect of the universe and
time and space.
To sum it up, we are tiny.
Very tiny.
It’s the idea that people are powerless against what lies beyond our understanding
of reality.
Things like good and evil- they’re only devices created by us to organize the world
around us.
They don’t actually exist.
And this is a theme that is relatively consistent throughout Ito’s stories.
In addition to the cosmic horror elements, there’s the underlying feeling that nothing
the characters do actually matter.
Often- at the end of the story, there isn’t a lesson being learned, nor a resolution.
Even what we would traditionally consider our protagonists in Ito’s work alternatively
take on the form of a cast of characters we happen to be following- where we don’t really
have an emotional or sympathetic connection- at least, not one strong enough to care about
when they ultimately meet their demise at the hands of whatever strange activity takes
place.
In fact- we’re more interested in seeing what happens as a result of that horror, once
the mystery starts to slowly unveil itself.
And in the end, we’re often left with more questions than answers.
Nobody cares whether we understand or not.
It’s the reminder that we aren’t in control.
And whatever horrific unknown that happens to grace the pages of a Junji Ito story- it
generally happens regardless.
Similarly, in Lovecraft’s work he treats these cosmic entities as narrative vessels
to exemplify how small we are in the vast and timeless universe of infinity.
When asked for a statement regarding his story, “The Call of Cthulhu”, the work he’s
probably most well-known for- Lovecraft had this to say:
“All my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws, and interests,
and emotions, have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos at large.
To achieve the essence of real externality whether of time, or space, or dimension, one
must forget that such things as organic life, good and evil, love and hate, and all such
local attributes of a negligible and temporary race called mankind, have any existence at
all.”
This isn’t to say that Lovecraft is the only major influence in Ito’s world.
This absence of good and evil is echoed in the Shinto ideology.
And yes, while we do have some characters throughout Ito’s stories that resemble a
villain- what’s interesting to note here is that any cognizance of malicious thought
tends to stem from the desires of Ito’s human characters.
And yes, perhaps the concept of cosmicism is more apparent in some Ito stories than
others.
For example, Uzumaki features an abstract threat in the form of an unseen force- whereas
in Glyceride, it’s more apparent that the misfortune taking place stems from the narrator’s
disturbed family.
And still yet, somehow in that story, her father’s obsession with grease isn’t about
him- rather, it’s as if the grease itself has taken over him- seen when he bleeds grease
instead of blood.
The grease itself becomes an ominous presence overtaking the house.
Even with the human-driven madness, one can’t help but sense the arbitrary presence and
influence of something much bigger at play.
My point here is that the concepts presented by cosmicism tend to linger in one form or
another, in much of Ito’s work.
The bizarre things that happen outside of our characters’ actions- there’s often
no explanation for what’s really happening.
No moral reasoning for why.
And no clear understanding of who or what is pulling the strings, if there is any consciousness
behind it at all.
Like Lovecraft, Ito’s work is cosmocentric rather than human-centric.
We’re just passengers along for the ride.
Witnesses to these subjective horrors that take place.
Flies on the wall compared to these monstrosities.
And furthermore, these “monstrosities” as we might call them, are for lack of a better
phrasing- simply a thoughtless result of accident and nature.
Similar to how there is no conscious thought behind when you trip and fall down the stairs.
Or when a shark comes to eat you if you’re lost at sea.
It’s not personal.
There’s no malevolent force at work.
You’re not specially chosen.
That’s just what happens.
And this isn’t an idea that I can take credit for.
Much of these notions come from Sunand Tryambak Joshi- otherwise known as S.T.
Joshi- who is currently the leading figure in the study of Lovecraft's work.
With regard to the Cthulhu mythos or KLOO-LOO mythos for the acolytes out there - Joshi
posits that whereas other types of mythology and even religion seek to reconcile the difference
between the human and the universe, Lovecraft’s narrative philosophy does the opposite, really
accentuating how small, powerless, and insignificant we, and our egos really are.
It’s sort of an anti-mythology in a sense.
Considering the fact that Junji Ito is a noted fan of Lovecraft’s world, it’s no surprise
that his work reflects much of the same concepts that Lovecraft was known for.
So how does this tie into what we can identify?
What is the word for this sort of fear, this… fear of the unknown?
Well there’s panphobia which is the fear of an unknown evil.
But if we’re remaining faithful to cosmicism- we have the contradiction that evil is just
a construct therefore there is no evil and can be no fear of it.
Then there’s xenophobia, which is the fear of something unknown or foreign- though we
largely associate this particular word in terms of a racial and cultural divide.
Of course there’s phasmophobia, which is the fear of ghosts- which while it does focus
on a subject shrouded in mystery, ghosts objectively speaking- aren’t real- at least if the more
extraterrestrial influenced work of Lovecraft is anything to go by.
There’s nyctophobia, the fear of the dark- which if we dig deeper into its core- fundamentally
comes from the unknown.
And then we have agoraphobia which is the general fear of well…
everything.
However, none of these really seem to hit the nail on the head- and furthermore, most
of these terms were made up at some point without validation- on the internet.
The truth is, there doesn’t seem to be a term for this sensation- but moreover, I don’t
think there’s really a need for one.
By its very definition, putting a word we can identify on a fear of the unknown seems
inappropriate.
The unknown keeps us curious.
It keeps us fascinated- a large part of why I think we can’t seem to look away from
Ito’s stories, even when there’s no clear sympathetic connection to characters.
It keeps us asking questions.
And in searching for answers, we might find the scariest truth of all- that there isn’t
one.
What makes Junji Ito’s work so horrifying, is that in the face of these driven terrors
taking place, there’s nobody behind the wheel.
No conscious motivation.
We can create the illusion that we are in control of the things around us.
But it’s only an illusion.
Humanity in all its fragility, can only go mad in the face of incomprehensible horrors.
And one might go on to relate that this brings about a meaningless to everything.
But in my research of cosmicism, I’ve found that there seems to be a difference between
that and nihilism- albeit subtle.
With cosmicism, the realization that life is utterly meaningless doesn’t necessarily
equate to living a life without meaning.
Contrarily, a life of content can be sought after in spite of this fact.
...at least, that’s my current understanding.
If that wasn’t too depressing- in light of all this, I’d like to bring to memory
a quote from astrophysicist, Neil Degrasse Tyson: “Yes, we are part of this universe-
we are in this universe.
But perhaps most important than both of those facts, is that the universe is in us.
When I reflect on that fact- I look up.
Many people feel small because they're small and the universe is big, but I feel big- because
my atoms came from those stars.”
Though we are but a fraction of a millisecond in the big picture, this “insignificance”
grants us a freedom to truly make the best of it.
That just about wraps it up for this video.
So until next time, thanks for watching!