Semakunaru Horror

Semakunaru Horror (lit. "Becoming Narrow"), also known as Narrow Horror or Narrowing Horror is a subgenre of Horror Fiction created by Matsumoto Kyou, focusing upon themes of the inhumanity of bureaucracy, industrialization, and dehumanization as a whole instead of gore or shock. The themes of Semakunaru Horror are found in many works of Neo-Korean literature, such as the World of Terror franchise, or the many adaptations of the seminal work of the genre, Aka Renai Heya.

Origin

Matsumoto Kyou was the primary writer and source of the Semakunaru genre, with many of the themes coming from her own sickness, which she experienced throughout the near entirety of her life due to damaged caused to her lungs by the poor quality of air in the industrializing Fuzan, although she would also draw much inspiration from her near-starvation in an apartment upon Far Island, with the severe depression she was in at the time rendering her unable to leave the apartment. Kyou was distinctly inspired by (INSERT MERIDONIAN HORROR WRITER HERE), whose works she would acquire at a young age, developing a slight fascination with them, although she tried to make her works very distinct from the previous genres of such.

The hallmark of Semakunaru Horror is "Narrowing", the sense that in the wake of industrialization people were becoming "less", hollow in the sense that they were unable to bring themselves to move forwards. Individuals were unable to avoid this narrowing- unless they were to leave the industrial world, returning to the still-present fear and wildness of the natural world, the portrayal of such varying depending upon the story. She made an explicit effort to avoid the portrayal of the individual as meaningless, with their actions or lack of such being the primary means by which they succeeded or failed, a sense of optimism at odds with the terror of her works as a whole. This optimism also exhibited itself in the way the world as a whole was portrayed, as a currently bleak but not unfixable situation, although more modern writers have darkened some of these themes.

Themes

The core themes of Semakunaru Horror were laid out in the Journal of a Simple Writer, her essay on horror fiction released in 1929.

• Dehumanization
• The cruel but free wildness of Nature vs the safe but chafing restraints caused by Industrialization
• The inherent loss of humanity caused by man being forced into a stagnant place in industrial bureaucracy

Influenced Media

Games

One of the most notable (in the modern period) adaptations of her work is the state-created World of Terror franchise, currently standing at an approximate 6 (depending on the status of certain other games) "main series" entries. The franchise primarily comprises of a series of vignettes inspired from her work adapted into a "choose your own adventure" format with Role-Playing-Game (RPG) mechanics, such as "stats" which allow for certain choices to be made depending on the amount of investment placed into said stats.

Influenced Individuals

Kyou would influence many of the writers of her time, with her widely published work showing other writers that there was an audience for tales focused around fear and their own personal concerns with the industrializing of the period. Kyou's own caustic personality would prevent much joint work, but she would also provide advice to many individuals who wrote directly to her, such as Handa Kaori, a notable writer who would reference Aka Renai Heya directly in her own Chikyū no Monogatari (Lit. Earth Story), which focused upon the planet itself, and a symbolic "strike" against modernity by it. Kyou would allow Koda Madoka to continue developing her final work, the Once-Opened Room.

Writers outside of her life also referenced Kyou's works, with many making direct references to her more popular stories. Many more would reference her themes without direct acknowledgement of her directly.