Spirits in Eastern and Western culture.

                     Im gonna repeat a bit of what we talked about after this class, but i found it really interesting so want to go over in-depth. So in there are some pretty large differences in how people in eastern and Western culture view spirits and in ways the undead. I eastern cultures specifically Japanese views on spirits are lighter and more positive, they are supposed to be here watching us and helping. Their presence on Earth is a common fact of everyday life, versus in western cultures that are dominantly Christian and so when you die your spirit or soul is really only supposed to be in either heaven or hell, so if it is not in either place thats and issue. Spirits interacting with people on earth in western culture is almost never a good thing, its either a tormented soul left behind because of unfinished business like in quite a few ghost stories and mysteries such as paranormal activity or a demonic or evil presence like in the Exorcist. They come closer to creatures or monsters then the souls of people. where as in Eastern fiction the evil spirits really seem to be more of a vengeful or punishing nature, they are often also givers of warnings and are more of a force of nature then a malevolent creature. Still on top of that is most spirits in eastern asian cultures are not evil but just peoples souls existing and watching and their interactions are close to normal or excepted, like in Rashomon when the median channels the ghost as her own witness, then proceeds to lie and defend herself like every other character. I dont know, but I kind of think the contrast of normality and absolute horror between the east and west's views on spirits in fiction is actually hilarious.