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Infections, Transmissions, Cultures: The AIDS Scandals of 1990s Japan and the Genesis of “J-Horror” Brian Bergstrom Summer Institute 2006 Infections Then & Now: Infectious Diseases Around the World June 29, 2006 Infection （感染） 2004 Ochiai Masayuki -- First in “J-Horror” Imprint -- Made in Conjunction with Lion‘s Gate -- Released in Japan -- Produced with an Eye Toward Marketability in America Infection（感染) 2004 QuickTime™ and a H.264 decompressor are needed to see this picture. Infection（感染) 2004 QuickTime™ and a H.264 decompressor are needed to see this picture. A Genealogy of “J-Horror” • • • • • • • • • Parasite Eve （パラサイト・イブ）Ochiai Masayuki, 1997 Ring（リング）Nakata Hideo, 1998 Rasen （らせん）Iida Joji, 1998 Ju-on / The Grudge （呪怨）Suzuki Takashi, 2000 Pulse （回路）Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 2001 Dark Water （仄暗い水の底から）Nakata Hideo, 2002 One Missed Call （着信アリ）Miike Takashi, 2003 Infection （感染）Ochiai Masayuki, 2004 Premonition （予言）Tsuruta Norio, 2004 (movies listed in yellow have been remade in America) The HIV-Tainted Blood Product of the mid-1990s Scandals • Part of a larger phenomenon of uncovered government corruption touched off by changes in party leadership • Revolved around the distribution of unheated blood plasma to hemophiliacs during the early to mid 1980s that resulted in the infection of almost half of the hemophiliac population in Japan • Starting in 1995, lawsuits brought against the government and pharmaceutical companies by hemophiliacs became prominent in the public sphere • In 1996, monetary compensation and formal apologies were compelled from the defendants, and in 1997, three defendants linked to both the government and the pharmaceutical companies involved pled guilty to professional negligence and were sentenced to jail terms in 2000 Distinctive Features of HIV/AIDS in the Japanese Public Sphere • The Role of Foreigners • “High Risk” Groups • Identity Politics: • Hemophiliacs with HIV • Hansen‘s Disease Sufferers • Gay Movement Reading Disease • Metaphor • Susan Sontag, AIDS and Its Metaphors • The Politics of Reading “Against Interpretation” • Anagram • Ferdinand de Saussure • “The anagram permits us to see how another outside text, a hidden quote, can both organize and modify the order of elements in a given text” -- Mikhail Iampolski, The Memory of Tiresias: Intertextuality and Film Anagramming Fear: The Patterns of J-Horror • Infection • The Body as Locus of Fear • Haunting as Invasion • Transmission • Technologies and Networks • Trauma as Origin • Culture • Innocence and Culpability • Agency • The End of the World Parasite Eve （パラサイト・イブ） 1997 Ochiai Masayuki -- Mitochondria as Foreign Agent -- Corruption of Science -- Violation of Agency Parasite Eve（パラサイト・イブ ）1994 QuickTime™ and a H.264 decompressor are needed to see this picture. One Missed Call （着信アリ） 2003 Miike Takashi -- Technological Transmission -- Sociality and Vulnerability -- Violation of Agency -- Violation of Bodily Integrity One Missed Call （着信アリ）2003 QuickTime™ and a H.264 decompressor are needed to see this picture. Ring（リング） 1998 Nakata Hideo -- Technological Transmission -- Haunting as Viral Infection -- The End of the World The Ring / Ringu （リング）1998 QuickTime™ and a H.264 decompressor are needed to see this picture. Conclusions • Metaphor and Meaning • Ethics and Fear I: Reflection • The Face of HIV • Transnational Transmissions • Remake / Reproduction • International Systems / Foreign Agents • Apocalypse and Pleasure • The Viral Sublime • The Extra/ordinary • Ethics and Fear II: Projection Apocalypse and Pleasure: The End of One Missed Call （着信アリ） QuickTime™ and a H.264 decompressor are needed to see this picture. Selected Bibliography Feldman, Eric A. “Blood Justice: Courts, Conflict, and Compensation in Japan, France and the United States.” Law & Society Review (34: 3, 2000) 651-701. Iampolski, Mikhail. The Memory of Tiresias: Intertextuality and Film. Harsha Ram, trans. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. Japan Times. “Abe Pleads Not Guilty” Mar. 17, 1997. Japan Times. “AIDS Expert Took Funds from Drug Companies.” Mar. 11, 1996 Japan Times. “Green Cross Executives Guilty.” Mar. 1, 2000. Japan Times. “Health Minister Apologizes to HIV Hemophiliacs.” Oct. 23, 1995. Rucka, Nicholas. “The Death of J-Horror?” Dec 2, 2005. http://www.midnighteye.com/features/death-of-j-horror.shtml. Sena, Hideaki. Parasite Eve. Tyrone Grillo, trans. New York: Vertical, 2005 Sontag, Susan. Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors. New York: Picador, 2001 Suzuki, Koji. Ring. Glynne Walley, trans. New York: Vertical, 2003.