My first blog will be provided right here for you to understand the first part that focuses on Ellis reading of Autoethnography and the Grudge. The second part of my blog focuses on the movie Ju-On and the comparisons I have made between the movies while using Autoethnography.

Source

The key points that I have found a number of connections and differences between both the films yet I felt that I needed to go into depth to understand the cultural background behind that of the spiritual culture of Japan. I can see that the history of Japanese and American culture have collided in these two movies such as that of the Rabbits Foot being symbolic of luck while not represented in Ju-On.

During this second part I went into more depth of information to grasp the knowledge more in the Asian areas of culture and how representation is seen. This is not all shown within this blog as I believe for me to understand more parts to the Ju- On story I would need to research further.

Key comparisons I made:

• The location is still situated within Tokyo with the exact same actors for the ghost family that are Yuya Ozeki, (Toshio the little boy) Takako Fuji (Kayako the Grudge) and Takashi Matsuyama. (Takeo the husband who kills both of them)
• The Director and Writer is also the same in both films known as Takashi Shimizu.
• The film is split into six different segments that are separate people affected by the grudge in some way or form of connection. They are Rika, Katsuya, Hitomi, Toyama, Izumi, and Kayako. This is a big difference to the American version as it did not show any thing in turn making the audience have to think for themselves on what was happening.
• There is a 2 year difference between the Grudge and Ju-On. This is a notable fact because the American version used a lot of special effects while in the Japanese version did not.
• The same story was present in both movies about how the grudge had come about. The husband killing both his wife, son and cat over a fit of rage due to her loving another man.
• The major difference (trying not to sound racist) is that every one of the actors in Ju-on are all either Asian or Chinese descendants which made the movie completely in subtitles making the movie and audio quiet hard to follow at times.
• The Grudge is known as an Onryo. When anyone has contact with the house or the history of the incident would be effected by the Grudge and die. An Onryo refers to a ghost in traditional Japanese beliefs that is known to cause harm and mayhem to the individuals it faces or are connected to strongly by emotion while even known to cause natural disasters. Within the Grudge, she causes people to stay in a fit of shock with the inability to move or speak. A key point I want to add in is that the Americanised version had no belief in ghosts while the Japanese have a strong belief in them.
• A lot more quick paced with little action but more dialogue. Example is in the beginning continues with the same line as the American. ‘The curse of someone that dies in a fit of rage…’->Rika= Rika is meant to be the main character from the beginning of the film as she is a social worker that goes to see Sachie the elderly woman. Instead of her dying at the beginning of the first film it just goes on to show the grudge bit much sooner. Her boss is never seen in this movie. No love connection but instead her friend goes to the house which is connected to Toshio as a student in her class.

  

  -> Katsuya= The current owners of the house are known as the Tokunaga family that consists of Katsuya (business man), wife Kazumi and his elderly ill mother Sachie. Of course the representation of the American family from the American film is passed on through here and his sister Katsuya. A key difference I found besides the couple in turn dying either way was that Katsuya seemed to have been possessed by the husband’s spirit of rage in turn killing his own wife.

  ->Hitomi= Sister to brother Katsuya like that in the American version she dies in the same way however instead of having the representation of the rabbits foot placed in there it is just a phone piece that the grudge grabs.

  ->Toyama= A retired detective that was on the original case was found by the current two detectives Nakagawa and Igarashi. A spin off from the American when it targets the current detective that was on the case. Which connects to seeing his daughter in the house known as Izumi.

  

  ->Izumi= Izumi started off as a young girl but as years goes on is in her teens after her father’s death. But is slowly effected by the grudge over time with blocking mirrors and glass as she felt guilty for leaving her friends behind in the house. She has had photos taken of her at school which shows her face covered in black. She is seen being watched by her dead friend’s spirits.

Final Result: Due to my view of both movies I believe it would benefit me more if I was to look up more of the traditional beliefs on ghosts in Australian and Japanese cultures to get a better understand of what the Grudge truly is. Plus familiarising myself with common beliefs as well.