In some cultures like Korean, people have a different order to their names. In Chinese like Korean, the family, given name, given name order continues.

Problems in definition but basically a way of life. Differs from behavior the same way speech differs from language or weather from climate. A kind of abstraction that includes both social institutions as well as symbolic information. For example, the structure of the kinship can be quite different. In Chinese there are for example, 5 different kinds of uncles. The terms, as in English can be used for non-relatives who are close to one's own family.

Cultures are internalized early in life and like language, the rules for language are known subconsciously. People can speak a language but cannot explain the grammar. Like language bits of culture cannot be moved from one to another without some modifications taking place.

The supernatural; is a cultural phenomenon. Therefore horror movies need to produce a culturally appropriate supernatural. Some small additions may be added by film makers who are required to produce a visual representation of the supernatural.

Some aspects of culture deal with various aspects pf the supernatural – especially those places where the natural world contacts the supernatural one. These may involve such things as rituals surrounding death - especially in a transitional state when moving between life and death (funeral rituals) and rituals to deal with the spirits of the dead.

Different cultures may have different genres of films. Chinese have a kind of film called geung si (dead corpse) films. Geung Si is the original title of Rigor Mortis. These are films about re-animated dead bodies who are reanimated and are in some ways akin to zombies. Traditionally they are the bodies of soldiers who died away from home. Shipping them back was expensive and so it was cheaper to get a Buddhist monk to animate the bodies and have them move themselves home. The problem with soulless bodies is that they have no moral or ethical structure and are kept in control only by the priest who chants as he moves them. Should he fall asleep the animated zombies could easily go on a rampage' In the older films the zombies are shown moving by a little jump forward - almost like a hop on both feet.

Chinese have different types of "ghosts" including -'hungry ghosts" which are distinguished from regular ghosts.

There are also Geung Si which are reanimated dead (akin to zombies) often soldiers who died far from home and are reanimated so they can be moved (rather than shipped) home. They are kept under control by a Buddhist priest chanting spells as the dead are marched back to their homes. The priest occasionally falls asleep and the Geung si rampage since they are no longer socialized beings.

It is not clear whether such things actually went on during days of smuggling when the sound of a Buddhist gong at night might drive people into their houses there by letting smugglers through towns without interference.

Ghosts lack chins Since some symbols can be universal, they generally based on some real world event in which a kind of analogous connection is made - e.g. the west as a location of the dead. It may not occur in all cultures, but it is intelligible. Smoke (which disappears) and reflections showing some interior aspect of the person are often associated with spiritual parts of people.

Cultural symbols are specific to cultures and while they may fit the cultural patterns, they are not usually easily grasped outside the culture.

Almost anything can be symbolic - numbers.. 7 is lucky in west. Yakuza means 8-9-3 a losing hand in sammai karuta "three card" a game in which the object is to reach but not exceed 19. B-9-3 makes 20 which is the first losing hand over 19.

Colors: Here white is marriage, black is mourning. In Asia, typically red is marriage white is funereal.

These can be very complicated. Consider red by itself in the west often means danger or passion, but in combination with green may indicate Christmas. Or talk of a company being "in the red" meaning "in debt"

If you go to Chinatown, bags from stores are red because it is seen as a happy color.

Feeling blue? Sad.

Individual symbols need to have enough context for their meanings to become clear.

In 1985 Rick Lau made a film called Mr. Vampire a comedy horror films which revitalized the geung si genre

AFTER THE FILM

The film's original title "Geung Si" refers to the kind of supernatural being mentioned earlier. The words geung si are used in the film but the subtitle reads "vampire" rather than zombie. Zombies and vampires have different ontologies.

Culturally, the ways to rid one's self of supernatural beings varies – something which is played with in The Mummy when Beni Gabor (Kevin J. O'Connor) produces a variety of amulets from different religions to protect him from the mummy

Connections with the supernatural can take on both good and evil aspects.

FILM TECHNIQUES

Color: desaturated. Not unusual in horror films - gives a muted tone a kind of "soulessness"

Color symbolism: white associated with funerals (red with marriages) Number symbolism 2442 2=easy 4=death

Use of reflections to show soul as separated from body (sometimes used to show duplicity - depends on genre)

This film links geung si films to martial arts films in terms of movement.