Page 121 - Nightmare Japan Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema

108 Nightmare Japan

propelled by a ‘philosophy of individual competition, which sets one
person against another’ (Williams 2005: 141), and in which a ‘winner’
emerges only if a ‘loser’ falls. By chronologically juxtaposing the
revelation of Hoshino’s victimisation at his previous school and the
failure of his family’s textile business with Hoshino’s rise to power
among his fellow classmates, Iwai’s film links radical economic
transition and generational dissociation with cycles of ijime. The
abused/victim may, given the right circumstances, become the greatest
abuser/victimizer; similarly, the bully’s position of power may be less
secure than s/he imagines. Importantly, Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou
disallows easy binary categorisations of characters as ‘good’ or ‘bad’;
some characters may elicit more sympathy than others, but the
motivations behind their actions are seldom, if ever, incomprehensible.
Therefore, even though Hoshino’s orders – disseminated throughout a
complex chain of command – culminate in violent rampages and suicidal
leaps, his inner turmoil still resonates powerfully with many viewers.
When a crane shot swoops down from above and circles Hoshino’s lone
figure screaming with a visceral fusion of rage and grief, the image Iwai
captures is not that of a heartless bully, but that of an isolated human
being in a state of severe emotional turmoil.
The anonymity of the internet, coupled with the appeal of pop
star Lily Chou-Chou’s ethereal music, provides characters with an ironic
form of ‘escape’ from the routine violence and rigid social hierarchies of
everyday life in the ‘real world’. In the virtual world, Hasumi Yuichi, the
film’s central protagonist and a victim of bullying, manages a popular
fan-based Lily Chou-Chou web site and discussion board. As on-line Lily
‘expert’ named ‘LilyPhilia’, Yuichi finds the community, support, and
respect absent from his daily school and family life. However, the refuge
provided by the web site, like each of the ‘relationships’ it enables, is
fleeting. Fan postings appear either sporadically or in manic torrents, and
although exchanges of ideas and messages of sympathetic encouragement
occasionally flicker across his computer monitor, Yuichi must eventually
venture outside. When he does, the realm he encounters differs radically
from the virtual, idealistic haven in which the only requirement for
membership and, thus, acceptance is an appreciation of, or curiosity