The ghosts in different cultures

[摘 要]Different cultures have different ghosts.Here such differences will be discussed in the stage of culture.How the culture affected these ghosts' image，gender，action，and other aspects in the fields such as religion，value judgment and the social habit，and so on.In this article，we especially talk about it in the horror movies in different cultures for example.

[關(guān)鍵詞]ghost culture horror movie west and east

[中圖分類號]G2 [文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識碼]A [文章編號]1009-5489(2009)12-0145-02

In this article we don't discuss whether the ghosts exist or not，but as a phenomenon of culture，the ghosts culture has been truly existed in human society from long ago.The culture of ghosts deeply rooted in different cultures and gave great affects and improvements for human beings and society

1.the affect of religion:in western worlds，if we talk about something evil，It will just the opposite of holy，of the angle，or the God.That is the demon.These are particular in bible.They can come into one's body and make the people to do something awful，terrible.Their destination is against the God.Most of the western people believe that the God，demon，heaven are really exist.In a horror movie，when a revenge spirit show up，some white light surround him.He told people he is an angle and ask people to kill someone who should die.It's so weird that the people who saw him firmly believe what he said.

This can't happen in China.In China's history，there is totally no religion war，because Chinese people's attitude to religion is not as that confirmed as the western world.

2.Social habit:as we all know that western people are open，straightforward，so their ghosts in movies are seemingly scared，bloody in a straight way.Often they give as the visual effect more than in the spirit，and the ghosts are disgusting rather than fearful，like one eye pushed off and hung on the face，so is the guts out the belly.

China is belonged to the eastern culture which is more implicative.So，the ghost's image is often someone has some unfinished business and he came back and didn't go away.So the image is to some extent not horrible but a beautiful lady and then the story come into a romantic and sad tragedy.

The western people especially the Americans are also very humorous.So there are also some very funny，fantastic characters in the ghost movies.The trickster as an example.It is a half god half man thing whose interest is to trick people sometimes even to die，and his tricks are usually fantastic and he is proud of them like a dissolute professor meet a beautiful mummy，a zoologist is bitten up by a crocodile in the sewer，a dissembler is kidnapped by aliens and forced him to dance slowly with a female alien.Such funny stories are so imaginative and conceivable.It is too nice to unadmirable.

3.The philosophy affect:as we talked former，we can't keep trying into the philosophy area.Metaphysics is deeply compounded with the ghost culture.So，in eastern world，ghost is often something terrible，mysterious，powerful，and shapeless.In China's history，there is one kind of ghost has no shape and no one can see it，hear it.Anyone is feared with the things he doesn't know.So we can see that，the horror movie of eastern world is more affected in spirit than visual，and the spirit impressive is more terrible than the visual effect.

4.Ideology and value judgment:the western world is more developed than the eastern，especially the USA，so there are so many horror movies in America has a very powerful ghost.At last the whole citizens are killed by this ghost who all turned into ghosts.It is not unrelated with the ideology of the western world which they think outmatched over any other world.They often think they are the most powerful so that impose their ideology and value judgment to others，and their ghost culture as the same.So in the western horror movie，the ghost has destructive power and can destroy everything and hegemonic.

5.Others:in the western world，there is a special kind of horror character--vampire which connecting with the history background and the architecture，wears a kind of black robe and lives in a mysterious castle.In western world，a bleak house or castle is also indicate of some horrible thing.More worthy thing is that the vampire is often a handsome young man with pale face who will has a romantic experience with the protagonist.It is so suitable for the fantastic taste of the western people.

Also from the bible，western people afraid of some numbers which is used into the horror movie as the name like Black Friday，the Supernatural 13.Interestingly，when Chinese people gave bless each other on the phone massage on June 6th，2006，the western people was terrified by the day.Because they think 666 is indicate of Satan.

All in all，this article's destination is not to preach superstition，but to think about the difference culture through the phenomenon of the ghost culture which came out from the deep root of the philosophy，history，ideology，religion and so on in horror movies.

[參考文獻(xiàn)]

[1]陰法魯:《中國古代文化史》，北京大學(xué)出版社2003年版。

[2]汪玢玲:《〈聊齋志異〉與鬼文化》，《蒲松齡研究》2000年。

[3]Interpreting the Ghost Images in The Woman Warrior US-China Foreign Language，ISSN1539-8080，USA

[4]For Gods，Ghosts and Ancestors The Chinese Tradition of Paper Offerings BY JANET LEE SCOTT University of Washington Press 2008

[5]History，evolution，and the concept of culture:selected papers by Alexander...By Alexander Lesser，Sidney Wilfred Mintz.Cambridge University Press