Abstract

This thesis will examine the depiction of Asami as a female antagonist figure in the 2001 film adaptation of the novel Audition directed by Miike Takashi and adapted from the 1997 novel of the same name by Japanese horror author Murakami Ryū. By considering the differences in her original portrayal and how the language of film changes the presentation of Murakami’s female antagonist, this project aims to analyze how Murakami and the directors who choose to adapt his works approach depicting acts of violence committed by women in a genre inundated with male-coded violence against female-coded characters. The existing framework for analyzing horror film antagonists is by framing them as inherently masculine. Murakami’s female characters, however, often predicate their violence and antagonism on their femininity, not despite it. This paradigm of female antagonists who are physically violent is not one which has yet been thoroughly explored. These female characters, who are aggressive villains not in spite of their femininity but because of it, upset the current model of “victim as female” and highlight a lack of scholarly language to describe physically violent female characters in villainous roles in fiction.

Committee Chair

Rebecca Copeland

Committee Members

Jamie Newhard, Marvin Marcus

Degree

Master of Arts (AM/MA)

Author's Department

East Asian Studies

Author's School

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Document Type

Thesis

Date of Award

Spring 5-2023

Language

English (en)

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