Mind Games

Along with a newfound fear of flickering lights and brightly lit doors at the end of dark hallways, Epitaph left a deep impression with its narrative timeline and by extension, its manipulation of information. We see what the director shows us and thus know the truth only as the director wants us to see it. New information and details added in the second shot of the scene changes the context and our understanding of the story and characters as does seeing how the events slot in together. We assume certain things and then are forced to re-evaluate and come to new conclusions e.g. Which spouse is ultimately the real ghost? Does the surgery still count as a success after the murder and the subsequent destruction of lives?

This ties in with Reddy’s point about understanding the multiple modernities that exist and creating knowledge that is based on context rather than a specific epistemology. At first it was just a ghost killing Japanese soldiers, evoking simply fear and curiosity about the identity, but more background context changed my stance, the killer ghost becoming a grieving spouse driven mad and seeking revenge, this time garnering sympathy and understanding. Similarly, without knowing the history and the transformation of societies and areas, we cannot understand them the way everyone deserves to be understood. The narrative timeline also speaks to Reddy’s reflection that to “situate interventions in the context of late modernity” may mean, “examining the erasures, gaps and incompletions.” Epitaph shows the importance of things omitted – our understanding changed as new scenes were added e.g. the mother protecting Asako during the crash and reassuring her even as she died – would a loving mom come back to haunt her daughter or stay to care for her (disregarding the question of whether or not the ghosts are simply generated through guilt and love).

The timeline and manipulation of information is also reminiscent of the propaganda that would happen in regards to colonization and spread of modernity. The idea of modernity can be twisted to suit aims and lead people in one direction as was done so easily in the movie e.g. show people only the good side of colonization and modernity and keep them in the dark about the bad and ugly sides. The movie reinforced just how easy that is to do, playing with our perceptions and understanding.

            The vast difference in definitions of modern was also mirrored in Epitaph with the use of juxtaposition of scenes and emotions: darker, more sinister scenes of death and decay separated brightly lit mundane scenes. One very striking scene was when the light flickered, throwing everything into light and dark, showing us explicitly just how different the same thing could be. The contrasts are jarring and hard to reconcile but are part of the same story and are required to tell the whole story which also ties back to the idea of needing background information.