https://youtu.be/ut_WdPJN5u0?si=RcPxwCYRN2Zqon3a

Ella Orchard-Blowen

Currents in Global Literature

Second Project

I did a podcast/video thingie (unsure of what exactly to call it), where I discussed 11 of the women from the media we consumed during the second half of this semester. I went through each character and discussed their “crimes”, basically their actions during the story. Some of these women commit actual crimes, while others have crimes committed against them. I used a tier ranking system and ranked these women based on the severity of their crimes. However I don’t want to sound like someone who “ranks” women, I think all of these women are very justified in their actions. I think my response to this literature matters because I am a woman, and I think it’s important to highlight when women are depicted as complex characters in the media. And I think analyzing these characters from a feminist lens, really highlights those flaws and mistakes of these characters which I would argue is very feminist. Women are not just simply good, nor simply just evil. People are complex and possess both good and bad within themselves, and I believe that characters should reflect that. I personally love when characters feel real, and aren’t just simple, flat cutouts. I want to be able to connect to characters, to understand them, that makes everything so much more enjoyable. I also love that we consumed so much media and literature centered around women and their stories in this class. In a lot of traditional English literature, or even history classes I feel like sometimes women’s stories are ignored and set aside in favor of other stories. It’s refreshing to consume stories of women from so long ago that I feel are still relevant to today. And again I use the term “crimes” loosely in this ranking system, some of these women don’t even commit crimes and those who do are extremely justified in doing so. I think Oiwa is extremely justified in everything she does in Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tokaido, Iemon had it coming. And Mizu was justified in everything they did in Blue Eye Samurai. And the common theme throughout these stories is that men do these awful, wicked things to the women in the stories. And then the women get their revenge against these evil, icky men. The men truly had it coming all along. And when reading these stories, or watching the media it really empowers me. However it is devastating to see how some things haven’t changed for women, women are still harmed by men constantly, and characters like Oume, from Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tokaido, or Koharu from The Love Suicides at Amijima, are still so real to life to this day. The things that happen to them feel like they could still happen today. And they do still happen today. These stories are so important and I hope they can continue to be taught, and examined. I hope these characters can be appreciated for how complex and real they are.

Works Cited

Bitran, Tara. “Does Mizu Get Her Revenge at the End of Blue Eye Samurai Season 1?” Netflix Tudum, 8 Dec. 2023, http://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/blue-eye-samurai-season-1-ending-explained.

Brazell, Karen, and Et Al. Traditional Japanese Theater : An Anthology of Plays. New York, Columbia University Press, 1998.

City, Teleport. “Tamiya Iemon Is the Worst.” WordPress.com, 2024, monstrousindustry.wordpress.com/2015/12/18/tamiya-iemon-is-the-worst/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

Collection, Lyon. “Lyon Collection : Kabuki : Shinju Ten No Amijima (“the Love Suicide at Amijima”- 心中天網島) [Shinju Ten No Amijima].” Woodblockprints.org, 2020, woodblockprints.org/index.php/Detail/entities/912.

Contributors. “Mizu.” Blue Eye Samurai Wiki, blue-eye-samurai.fandom.com/wiki/Mizu.

Galic, Hrvoje. “10 Reasons Why “Throne of Blood” Is the Best “Macbeth” Transposition.” Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists, 24 Oct. 2016, http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/10-reasons-why-throne-of-blood-is-the-best-macbeth-transposition/.

Hoh, Anchi. “Sultana’s Dream: Linocut Series by Chitra Ganesh | 4 Corners of the World.” The Library of Congress, 23 Sept. 2021, blogs.loc.gov/international-collections/2021/09/sultanas-dream-linocut-series-by-chitra-ganesh/.

Mansi, R. Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan’s Oiwa: Analysis of a Kabuki Vengeful Ghost. 2018.

Matt. “A-Yokai-A-Day: Oiwa (the Ghost Story of Yotsuya) | MatthewMeyer.net.” Matthew Meyer, 31 Oct. 2010, matthewmeyer.net/blog/2010/10/31/a-yokai-a-day-oiwa-the-ghost-story-of-yotsuya/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

McQueen, Sahtrese . “Ableism, Sexism, Racism – Blue Eye Samurai Season 1 Analysis – off BLXXK.” Offblxxkmag.com, 2024, http://www.offblxxkmag.com/articles/ableism-sexism-racism-blue-eye-samurai-season-1-analysis. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.

Myanimelist. “Osode Yotsuya.” MyAnimeList.net, 2024, myanimelist.net/character/204227/Osode_Yotsuya/pics. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

Reader, The MIT Press. “The Brilliant Vision of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s “Sultana’s Dream.”” The MIT Press Reader, 24 Mar. 2022, thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-brilliant-vision-of-rokeya-sakhawat-hossains-sultanas-dream/.

Roquia Sakhawat Hussain. Sultana’s Dream Illustrated. Independently Published, 4 Feb. 2019.

to, Contributors. “Madame Kaji.” Blue Eye Samurai Wiki, Fandom, Inc., 2024, blue-eye-samurai.fandom.com/wiki/Madame_Kaji. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.

—. “Mizu (Blue Eye Samurai).” List of Deaths Wiki, Fandom, Inc., 2024, listofdeaths.fandom.com/wiki/Mizu_(Blue_Eye_Samurai). Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.

University Library, Columbia . “The Love Suicides at Amijima.” Columbia.edu, 2024, bunraku.library.columbia.edu/plays/2/. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024.Wikipedia. “Yotsuya Kaidan.” Wikipedia, 29 Feb. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yotsuya_Kaidan.