And now I'm sponging about Japanese theatre because JAPAN and because why did I not know anything about this stuff already.
- Calling it a kabuki mask in the movie was actually somewhat inaccurate [! the movie was otherwise VERY accurate Japanese culture wise; smacks to me of a simplification for Western audiences who may have heard the name kabuki before but that's all] as kabuki actors paint their faces [called kesho style], but don't wear masks. There are two other main types of Japanese traditional theatre called Noh and Kyogen, and Noh actors are the ones that wear masks.
- Kabuki facepaint for demons or spirits or villains is called kumodori and there are a ton of standardized designs in use. The colors mean different things. Quoted:
Kumadori designs are color-coded, with each color representing different personality traits or emotions; the audience uses the face paint to identify each character as he enters and to immediately recognize his emotional state. The colors used to represent good characters and positive emotions are red, for passion and enthusiasm; pink, for youthful joy; light blue, for an even temper; pale green, for peacefulness; and purple, for nobility or elevation of spirit. Pink and purple are used rarely and only for a few particular characters.
As kumadori is used for villains and demons, the colors representing bad character traits or negative emotions are used frequently. Indigo represents depression; brown, self-centeredness or egotism; gray, applied to the chin, melancholy; black, fear; and deep red, anger, stubbornness, and cruelty. Deep red is the most common kumadori color, and it can be used for characters who have both positive and negative traits. Next in frequency is indigo, which is often used by actors playing ghosts.
so, 1: the red kabuki paint makes total sense for Callaghan/Yokai [that's his 'villain form' name apparently?] in the context of the movie regarding cruelty, passion and justice being Red traits. and 2: indigo representing ghosts, HELLO POKEMON, hello the default ghost pokemon color being indigo or purple, hello pokemon submerging me in japanese culture from childhood [can you guess what got me into it in the first place? xD]
That's all for now since I have to get ready for work but yeah I wanted to point those things out. I need to get me to the library and actually read some books on Japanese culture and just sponge on the internet some more. Japaaaan <3 my favorite culture I'm such a huge fucking weeb
