What is...?

This is some funny thoughts that I had about "definition" when reading Scout McCloud's Understanding comics: the invisible art

First, this is his definition about art (page 164): "Art, as I see it, is any human activity which doesn't grow out of either of our species' two basic instincts: survival and reproduction."

Thus: "Yet in almost everything we do there is at least an element of art."

I don't intent to debate the definition of art, but after seeing his, I came back to his definition about comics (which I wasn't really satisfied): comics: Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response to the viewer.

I doesn't disagree with this. Taking a today's comic, breaking it down and assigning the definition, it suits perfectly. The problem is that the definition suits more than just it.

To that definition, the kind of picture manuscript carved onto cave's walls long ago, or Egyptian painting can be called comics.

But I wonder, how many people will agree with me if I show them those and say "They're comics". Very likely that I'll receive "Hell no."

Manga is comics, right. But to me (and some people), it feels strange to say such things. To me and the likes of me, comics is of western, and manga is...manga, it belongs to Japan. It's just that, the right definition (I'm assuming that McCloud is right, because I agree with that definition) won't work commonly if people don't feel that way. And to my common sense, manga is not comics.

I actually want to say more about common sense but suddenly all the inspiration flew away =.=

But in short, what I'm trying to say: language is very vague and the way we use it is much more vague. As for definition (of any kind), I think the aspect of how it's commonly perceived should be considered more. We live in a community after all. Language is just something we invent to refer to something, and it certainly can be altered by the ones who invented it: we.

Lady Snowblood (film)

Alternative Title
Shurayuki Hime (Japanese Title)

Film Year
1973

Directed by
Toshiya Fujita

Writting Credits
Kazuo Uemura
Kazuo Koike

Starring
Meiko Kaji (as Yuki Kashima/Shurayuki-hime)
Toshio Kurosawa (as Ryûrei Ashio)

Genre
Drama
Thriller

Tagline
None

Plot Summary
Yuki's family is nearly wiped out before she is born due to the machinations of a band of criminals. These criminals kidnap and brutalize her mother but leave her alive. Later her mother ends up in prison with only revenge to keep her alive. She creates an instrument for this revenge by purposefully getting pregnant. Though she dies in childbirth, she makes sure that the child will be raised as an assassin to kill the criminals who destroyed her family. Young Yuki never knows the love of a family but only killing and revenge.

Run Time
01:37:17

Thanks to Kill Bill that there are more people (including me) know about this movie. Why? Because the song "The flower of carnage" (Shuka no hana), used after the bride kills Oren I-shii, is actually taken from Lady Snowblood. And ironically, the re-released DVD of Lady Snowblood has the line: Movie soundtrack contains the song "The flower of carnage" ("Shuka no hana") featured in Quenten Tarantino's "Kill Bill vol. 1" . It should be the other way around, I think.

Aside from the song, Tarantino has borrowed more from Lady Snowblood: the revenge theme (tracking and taking down one by one) the chapter format, the assassin heroine as well as many similar shots (and blood spray). After watching Lady Snowblood, I could say that they are pretty similar to each other (or should it be Kill Bill is pretty similar to Lady Snowblood). While I (maybe) don't really care about that, I've been thinking about one thing: when will be it be "inspiration" and when will it not?

Now for the film itself. It was made on 1973 so so obviously it can't be compared to Kill Bill or any films nowadays. However, except from the fact that the blood looks too fake and the low-quality picture, everything else is fine. The film focus more on Lady Snowblood's revenge (it's the main story, anyway), and has less (if not none) sexuality (in the manga Lady Snowblood tends to use her body frequently to achieve her goals). The film is good standing alone, but because most people watch it after watching Kill Bill, the joy is pretty much lessened.

There is a sequel of this one, namely "Shuryuki Hime: Urami Renga" (Lady Snowblood: Love song of vengence) and it has nothing to do with either the manga or Kill Bill so I just leave it out.

Anyhow, anybody watched Kill Bill should watch this one, to see how much Tarantino has been inspired.

References:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0158714/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072157/

Lady Snowblood (manga)

Lady Snowblood (Shurayuki hime) is a manga written by Kazuo Koike and illustrated by Kazuo Kamimura. It was first publish in the 1970s and rencently published in English by Dark Horse Comics. The manga featured a title character who is seeking revenge for her mother while making a life as an assassin. 1973, the manga was adapted in two a move with the same name, starring Kaji Meiko as lady Snowblood. This movie later became an inspiration for Quenten Tarantino's famous Kill Bill.

The English verions of the manga (obviously, I can't have read the Japanese version, can I?) consists of 4 volumes, each contains 3 - 4 episodes. The episode usually self-contained, while still contributing for the main story.

The manga dated back to the 1970s, so the drawings is of the old style (Tezuka's manga is a good example for this style). The graphic is not eye-catching (though still enjoyable) has a feel of water-color painting. There are also errors on human anatomy and perspective. The pictures are almost refrained in their frames, and no flashy screen tone or effects are used at all. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it makes the pace slower and the story less intense than I had hope (or maybe because I watched the movie first?). The manga contains many gore, violence and sexuality (including homosexuality) and the graphic surprisingly is very well used.

The only reason that I want to talk about this manga is because of its movie adaption (I usually like to track down the origin of something). This manga is the start of everything: Lady Snowblood manga -> Lady Snowblood film -> Kill Bill

References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Snowblood