That Sounds Scary

"Ma" is an aspect unique to Japan, without much of a similarity in American culture. The character for ma in Japanese can lend itself to a large variety of definitions placed within many different kinds of words. The most basic definitions and uses are “space”, “pause” and “void” or emptiness. 19 It is involved in both the seen and unseen areas of human life. From the pauses between thoughts in conversation, to an appealing empty space in a room, ma is felt in everyday situations and matters in Japan. Artistically, ma has a profound aesthetic influence. In calligraphy, it is the white space between and around characters. In theatre, it is the rhythm and pace of the plot. In homes and buildings, it is the arrangement and functionality of décor and goods. (And if you read that previous sentence out loud, ma can even be that short breath you took after the comma.)

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When it comes to the reflective silences and quiet moments in Kairo, I cannot help but think of ma. Film is an intensely artistic medium, combining elements of picture, sound, and storytelling. Ma can easily weave its way through film in a countless number of ways; which may make it a large influence on why Kairo’s audio is so different than its counterpart in America, a country where spaces must be filled with stuff, and pauses in conversation must be covered by a vocal opinion.

 

Within my analyzed scenes, scenes 2 and 4 offer the most obvious examples of ma. In Kairo, both scenes do not include a non-diegetic soundtrack until key moments, allowing for silence and natural sounds of life (diegetic on-set noises), or lack of sound, to carry the scene forward.

 

Scene 2 featuring Ryosuke’s frustrated mumbles and sighs throughout setting up the computer are as intentional and influential as the rhythmic electronic background music featured while Dex easily boots up his PC. Looking and listening back at this scene in Kairo, the normality of it all may be comforting (or perhaps even boring) at first, but as the quietness is continued on, a hidden suspense appears- just in time for the "Forbidden Room" video to scare the audience.

 

In scene 4, as the ghost approaches Yoshizaki, the absence of sound, or audial “emptiness”, perpetuates an amazing sense of realism that can bring terror and awe to the moment. Perhaps even, this silence is carried too long for comfort, breaking the sensitive limit of ma. The powerful orchestrated soundtrack within Pulse’s same scene artificially instills fear into its audience, rarely giving time to breathe as the ghost enthralls both the victim and viewers visually.

 

Certain moments, stories, music, and pictures, need “pause”. While many storytellers, musicians, and artists understand this “space for breath”; Japanese culture incorporates ma into so much of daily life that it is only natural to continue it, consciously or not, into art.