Weeping Demon

Weeping Demon was my clip of choice. In the first five minutes of Weeping Demon the wanderer did nothing but wander in darkness and fog. I was so tempted to change my choice but then the demon came along. It appeared at first that the demon was disappointed that the wanderer was a human. (It was almost as if he was expecting someone else.) And the wanderer seemed a little frightened when he realized that standing in front of him was a demon. After they got over the initial shock of each other the demon began to talk about his life. He tells the wanderer that the desert that they are standing on was once a beautiful field of flowers. Nuclear bombs and missiles changed it to the desert. Due to radiation, the people became horned demons, the dandelions were huge and the stems of the roses grew from the flower. The demon also tells the wanderer that when he was human he was a farmer. As a farmer, he used to pour lots of milk into the river to keep the prices up and used to bury vegetables with a bulldozer.

The biggest connection that I made with Shinto and the Weeping Demon is the characteristic of being grateful for the blessing of Kami. When he was a farmer the demon did not appreciate the blessings of beautiful flowers, fresh milk, or his crop. Now that he lives in a desert and has nothing to eat but other weaker demons he is resentful of what he has done in the past. What was once a blessing to him was quickly snatched away at the hands of another man and now he is to live with worst conditions than he did before. I also feel as if it is implied that the demon is thankful that he is a one horned demon instead of a two or three headed demon. As a one headed demon he may be eaten by a two or three horned demon but he does not have to live with the cancer-like pain of the multiple horns. The two and three horned demons horns hurt them worse than cancer and they have to endure this pain for eternity because they can’t die.