Pulse (Kairo) | Loneliness in the Age of the Internet

Analysing the 2001 Kiyoshi Kurosawa film -- how it explores loneliness and the exposes the emotional disconnect present in social media.
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Social Meda Marketing Infographic
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The Impact of Social Networking (Infographic)
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2000 - Internet Service That's "50% Faster Than Dial-Up"
• • Video

[@RWAC685]

The Director Of Kairo Knew. HE KNEW.

[@VIPPERゝ]

My god this was a difficult movie to watch. Not because it was scary but because it was so sad. I cried more than I was scared.

[@carlcarter5636]

its depressing to watch

[@SNNS-nq5zg]

😂😂😂😂

[@sarahl701]

god, what a good movie. really appreciate your analysis, I agree that it's less of an indictment of the relationships the internet facilitates & more of an examination of how it influences our perspective on reality. a cautionary tale about being too online, or maybe even an honest depiction of what it feels like to be online (IT FEELS LIKE SHIT)

[@captmrfisherman]

Can't say I disagree with that last part. Being online certainly does FEEL LIKE SHIT

[@Exp.LJ1223]

This is the best video essay I've found on this movie on KZbin and idk why there aren't more? It's a very up to interpretation type of movie. Obviously there are the messages of loneliness and Internet culture disconnecting people from reality.

[@al.s.3277]

And they didn’t miss with the fact that people became obsessed with everything that had to do with the internet. People literally live in the virtual world (and of course I include myself), the fact that A LOT of people feel way better on the internet than the real world, etc.

[@TheHIOJK]

This movie IS a masterpiece though..

[@oliverswenson2470]

Watching this film, I couldn't help but self reflect on the themes of loneliness, depression especially during this pandemic. The unsettling images for sure were chilling but id say the dialog of death and loneliness were stronger. I think with Art and expression in general it's a goal of making the viewer react and hopefully think on the piece. I couldn't help but reflect myself onto the film. To see the toll that covid and all of its isolation and inactivity has done on myself and many others in this internet centered world. I can say I've been kinda down this winter and I've been constantly think of death these days. And to clarify, I'm not nihilistic or suicidal or anything it's just I have this anxiety and fear of inactivity. I just want to be back into this world and be apart of something that isn't just about me and to have a better understanding and love for other people. There is a feeling I've had where I'm overcome with tears of joy or tingles in my head where I know that I'am in the right place. That this is the right place for me to be. Where everything makes sense and feels right. A point of memory to look back and be proud. I just want that again. I really needed to share this with someone. Thanks. Writing helps. And I have a job coming up soon doing outdoor work. So there is a light at the end.

[@honeyjam9593]

I feel you. How are you doing now?

[@oliverswenson2470]

@@honeyjam9593 I am a lot better. I took a month and a half road trip out west and started a job where I camp and work out doors. I'm in a better place. Thanks for asking!

[@BatuhanÖzkan2]

@@oliverswenson2470 hope you are still well

[@abigaileldritch]

Seems like everything you’ve talked about has come true thanks to the pandemic. Now, we do rely on it

[@WaiW41]

Great analysis! Really enjoyed your discussion and even got some new ideas to work through.

[@banditoo7]

Excellent breakdown and analysis. Really enjoyed it, thanks

[@jaibhimadevi5805]

The afterlife seems conceptualized in Kairo in a way that harkens back to Sheol, and its Sumerian predecessor: "The house where the dead dwell in total darkness. Where they drink dirt and eat stone. Where they wear feathers like birds. Where no light ever invades the everlasting darkness. Where the door and the lock of Kur is coated with thick dust. When I entered the house of dust, on every side the crowns of kings were heaped." Aside from the central conceit of an internet-aided purgatory-on-earth apocalypse, the human fascination and terror of, not merely death, but the certainty of its utter solitude- and, thereby, how much of our lives is spent both practicing for and running from that starkest of all solitudes? Both every "ghost", yet no "ghost" in particular, is Death come calling; aside from the seemingly tacked-on ship ending, Kairo's a bit parallel to Bergman's "Seventh Seal" that way, with the struggle of heart and mind against the inevitable, desperate for meaning- Kairo, of course, gives us a Japanese perspective on how social mores designed to value respect and privacy also tragically inhibit connection. I've had a sort of bleak love for this film since finding it in 2003; the current pandemic, and emphasis on "social distancing", gives watching "Kairo" a surreal new twist of relevancy.

[@JordanHance]

Clicked on this video not expecting to hear a fellow South African. Great analysis and insights!

[@chuffa1130]

I don't believe I truly understood the underlying symbolism when I first saw this movie 20 years ago, foreshadowing what was to come with the onset of the internet, so much more than just a Japanese horror movie, interesting thing is the characters in the movie are drawn together because of the circumstances but still seem to be in some sort of isolation

[@sebp9882]

I wouldn't be so optimistic now.

[@l.-._.-._.-._.-._.-.l]

The cinematographer also did ringu and dark water, he's the goat of jhorror cinematography.

[@SamuelBlack84]

Loneliness is inescapable in reality or online If you don't connect with others on some kind of level then you have no choice but to be alone When everyone around you forms into social groups based on a shared interest they create their own social circle If nobody else shares your intetests you're out in the cold It happened to me a long time ago The world demands that you conform, assimilate and will not toletate individuality Where I'm from, the culture revolves around sport, drinking, gossip and toxic ideals of masculinity and femininity Everything that I'm not and believe me, I was horribly rejected by everyone for those very reasons So, loneliness for some is an inevitably

[@RogueBeatsARG]

Lain anyone?

[@M_reapr]

You'd probably like john luc baudrillard a lot he talks a lot about hyper reality that being forms of media outside reality will become more realistic and enjoyable then actual reality. Its more complicated than that but hes a philosopher from the 60s to 90s and he was writing about these ideas

[@NickdeBruyne]

Hey nice a fellow South African. Are you on Twitter? I’d love to give you a bit of a signal boost to let people know more about your channel. I watched this with my wife last night and your video clarified some stuff up really well. We ultimately found it a bit too slow and also a little confusing or under-explained on why things were happening and how, like the forbidden rooms too. It wasn’t quite as clear as something like The Ring where it’s clearly: Watch video >> 7 days >> dead.

[@kingkong905]

I have mixed feelings about Kairo. The first half of the movie was the best. It was so horrifying. The last part of it became dull and felt more like a drama than a horror movie. the theme was more depressing and sad than scary.

[@aresgalamatis7022]

@7:30 views, tweets, likes, etc. are not just desperate solitary experiences, rather datapoints aggregated for the born-rich owners to benefit from, handed over like our taxes for free to their dogs in the far right abusing them.

[@HenryFordOfficial]

it's a movie about literal demons tricking lonely nerds into thinking they will have friends after they kill themselves

[@shortrates]

Wes craven didn't have any input on that film. The American adaptation.

[@professionalprocrastinator8103]

WHAT'S THE MUSIC AT THE END?????? :O

[@captmrfisherman]

soundcloud.com/if-atoms-were-cathedrals/i-got-lost

[@Jerrongamereview]

Wow death stranding totally ripped off this movie

[@Maniahg]

what exactly did it rip off?

[@SitraSan]

No it didn't, Death Stranding is optimistically about forming connections and preserving what's left of humanity opposed to letting the world go through another extinction cycle. In the case of Kairo it's impossible to form connections and everyone is inevitably going to be consumed by their own loneliness one way or another, it's a rather hopeless endeavor