Ask John: What Makes Guro Manga Different from Live Action Horror?

Question:
I’m curious to hear why you find 2D gore “tasteless,” John. Not that it isn’t, I suppose, but I don’t see it as any more or less tasteless than simulated 3D gore. Creating both is a work of art, no? I’ll grant that 3D genuine gore is the epitome of tasteless grotesque entertainment, but as Jorg Buttgereit cleverly points out, “If you love special effects gore but can’t handle the real thing, you don’t really like to be offended by cinema.”

Answer:
I don’t think I’ve ever called guro manga “tasteless.” Rather, I have, in conversation, called it distasteful. The former is a critique of the attributes of a creative work. The later describes my personal reaction to certain types of artwork. In most cases I’m not the type to disregard the artistic integrity of personal expression regardless of my personal reaction to it. I’m an avowed enthusiast of live action splatter movies, but my tolerance for extreme gore in manga form is much lower. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the early films of Peter Jackson and Olaf Ittenbach, and Lucio Fulci’s “Gothic” period. But Henmaru Machino’s really outré ero-guro manga just freaks me the hell out. And I just can’t enjoy the explicit grotesque gore of mangaka like Waita Uziga and FAITH. I respect Suehiro Maruo, but I don’t really dig his stuff because it just doesn’t capture my interest. The relatively mild grotesquery of manga artists Hideshi Hino and Junji Ito delineate the upper extent of manga “guro” that appeals to me.

Necromantik director Jörg Buttgereit’s quote is interesting but oversimplified. There’s appeal in simulated gore because movie splatter indulges the viewer’s fetishistic interest in witnessing the pain of others and experiencing a vivid, affecting shock in a safe environment. Witnessing real snuff (setting aside the debate over whether snuff movies are or aren’t a mere urban legend) or crime scene photos removes the barrier of safety and morality. Furthermore, the depiction of real death or injury outside of the artificial structure of crafted film removes the context of “cinema.” I can agree that cinematic images of real human carnage have the power to shock, but not all real images of human decay are presented as entertainment and art the way cinema is. It may be hypocritical to enjoy Hostel but reject Traces of Death. But there’s a difference between Traces of Death -which is presented as entertainment regardless of whether its content is real or fiction – and crime scene photos of David Carradine’s hanging body or celphone video of Saddam Hussein’s execution, which are not framed as entertainment.

I’ve deduced two distinctions that separate guro manga from exploitive live action cimema; two explanations for why I enjoy live action horror movie splatter but don’t enjoy guro manga gore. The first lies in the way guro mangaka fetishize the pain associated with catastrophic mutilation. Movies like Dawn of the Dead or Braindead may depict a person screaming in agony while being violently torn apart, but it’s guro mangaka that pay special attention to depicting that agonizing pain on the face of the victim. Horror movie violence is typically shot from an impassive perspective. The viewer may empathize with the victim’s sudden death, but viewers typically don’t associate with the physical pain the victim is feeling. That may have to do with the fact that victims in live action horror movies are usually just that – victims. They’re the horror movie equivalent of cannon fodder – characters that viewers expect and sometimes even want to see die painfully. However, in guro manga the victims are frequently presented as protagonists. The victims of tremendous physical trauma in guro manga are heroic or leading characters, not supporting cast to be sacrificed. That makes the victimization of characters in guro manga more affecting and more striking than character deaths in typical live action slasher movies.

Second, the nature of guro manga allows it to be more transgressive than typical live action film. Upcoming live action films including Hisss and Splice, not to mention the Species franchise, revolve around hybrid females. But even extreme Japanese shock horror movies like Tokyo Gore Police only briefly deal with the sort of near unimaginable hybridization and mutation that commonly appears in manga by artists including Henmaru Machino and Waita Uziga. A sexy humanoid alien or a snake woman are a far cry from a cute teen girl whose body is half slug, or a girl whose flesh and bones have been stretched out into inhuman shapes. The artistic flexibility that the manga format allows, and its nature as a showcase for individual creative expression allows manga to depict imagery that would be practically unthinkable for inclusion in a live action film. As a result, live action horror tends to be less transgressive and easier to consume than the most outré and shocking guro manga.