A Woman wearing a Hannya Mask. Hannya masks wymbolize the jealous woman in Japanese theatre. The color of the mask depends on the kind of jealousy harbored in her wicked heart.
The Woman demon is a really interesting archetype in Japanese fiction, movies etc. Though women arn't really encouraged to have a strong voice, there seems to be a fear of her suddenly using her quietness and fragility to lure the unsuspecting man to his downfall, which could include anything from financial ruin, a drawn out tortuous death or a simple broken heart. But what spawns this hateful creature that at one turn tittilates and the next terrifies?
Jealousy is a common trait associated with the fairer sex, and though one wishes it could be dismissed as a stereotype the abundance of catty behaviour, back stabbing and overall judgement that woman place on each other's shoulders begs to differ. But can we really expect anything else? Women havn't really had the luxery of living in a society that was very welcoming to their individual quirks. With the narrowing eye of beauty, girls are being taught that it's perfectly fine to rip another woman down on looks alone. Thus teaching men it's alright as well.
It's easy to state that it is the tyranny of man that has done this, but I suggest a more circular explanation. Though a patriarchal society may have sewn the seeds for woman on woman cannabalism it is the woman who choses to perpetuate the bahaviour. On the surface the primping and posturing is for the men, but the men seem, no offense, not as sensitive to the intricate stitching and design that women put into every aspect of their being. The cult of beauty is for the most part completely female. Beauty, or the feeling that one's lacking it is the root of most female jealousy.
Maybe it's just biological competition. Anyway, what this whole unstable mini essay was trying to say and was failing horribly at (due to my own lack of focusing ability lol) is that the Hannya mask though ugly and monsterous is just a mask. The most bullying, nasty woman you've deemed soul sucking, bitchy, crabby, cold, loose, ugly whatever term you use to reduce her to a one dimensional expendable entity is really just you trying to protect yourself. She's not wearing her mask, she's wearing yours.
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Phew! Now that that's out of the way here's the picture I did for Monster Channel Blog that some of my friends started. The theme was yokai. Tried using india ink in washes but unfortunately like always I had trouble with color potency. Am not very fond of it, especially since the mask looks almost goofy but what can ya do, better luck next time :)
Fuck yes. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sick of people trying to tell me the men and women are "naturally" more inclined to certain behaviors when we are actually conditioned to act certain ways. Once I became aware of this, it was actually quite freeing and I didn't wonder if I was actually a hermaphrodite or something.
Also your drawing is super. I like that subtle swirly liquid pattern happening in the background.