I really should be sick of Genji Monogatari, but for some reason, I never tire of it. Yes, it is a soap opera-like novel full of scandal, glamor, love, and drama, and if it were written in today's era, we would look down on it like a trashy romance novel, but the fact that it came from the past, has an exotic setting, based off a real historical figure, and one of the first works written by a woman, it is a masterpiece.
We really should dislike Genji no Kimi, because he is the first ever Casanova in history (if he had been a real person). Though it was normal to have several wives and lovers during the Heian times, he really should be branded as a serial rapist with an oedipus complex and needy tendencies. It brings out that age-old saying that as long as you're beautiful, you're basically entitled to everything, though in Genji no Kimi's case, that is not entirely true. Just because some random monk prophesized that he would bring ruin to the royal family someday, his father, the emperor, decided to demote his own beloved child to the rank of a commoner and then spend the rest of his imperial career trying to make up for it by bestowing ranks as high as possible for him.
I guess we can't completely blame Genji no Kimi for how messed up he became 'cause he is the first superstar in his time and we all know how messed up celebrities are =_=. First his mother was a lower ranked concubine, whom was favored by the emperor and picked on by the other court ladies until her death. Then he grew up with a mother for part of his childhood until his father married a look-alike to his late mother, Fujitsubo. Because they were close in age and she was extremely beautiful -- plus were not blood-related -- he fell in love with her. Though it's not completely certain if he loved Fujitsubo for who she was, or if he was actually in love with the image of his own mother, we know that they had a one-night affair which resulted in the birth of the next succeeding emperor after Suzaku, Reizei. The prince was then raised as Genji no Kimi's brother when in reality, he was his son. So yeah, this is scandal number one.
Next, he goes and picks up a little girl who also looks like Fujitsubo/Kiritsubo, kidnaps her, raises her to be his ideal woman, and then forces her to sleep with him. Of course, she submits to him later after resisting the first time and then becomes the love of his life. Scandal number two =_=;
He goes to sleep with a beautiful widow of a dead prince as part of his list of conquests and then immediately regrets it afterwards when he realizes how needy and sensitive she actually is. Had he never slept with her or even approached her, he would not have turned her into an emotional mess and her chaotic emotions would not have materialized into a vengeful spirit that went about killing every other woman he's in or has been in a relationship with including a beautiful lady named Yugao, his wife the Lady Aoi no Ue, and lastly, Murasaki, the love of his life.
Scandal four: he went around raping women left and right, causing some to become nuns afterwards because of the trauma and guilt he had caused them, one whom was a governor's wife and then his stepmother and one-time lover, Fujitsubo.
Scandal five: he boldy had an affair with his sister in-law, Oborozukiyo and was then stylishly exiled for it.
Also, because of all the sins he had committed throughout his life, he felt protective and defensive of "his" women. When his son, Yugiri, walked down the halls during a storm one and the screen to Murasaki's chambers opened just in time for him to catch a sight of her, Genji no Kimi was angry, because he remembered how he had committed a transgression against his own father long ago and feared Yugiri would do the same thing. Karma also struck back at him years later when he took his last, official wife, Onna San no Miya, had an affair with Genji's nephew, Kashiwagi, and produced a son, Kaoru. Genji knew that it was not his child, but raised him as his own anyway because of the crime he had committed ages ago.
In any case, Genji was a basket case of personal and external issues. He had many different complexes, love affair after love afair, and did quite a lot of outrageous things and still was loved and accepted by many. Then again, it was a man's society back in the day and the number of conquests you had usually showed what a great man you were ... in a way =_=; But the fact that he was so beautiful, allowed him to get away with a lot of things. There was a lot of playing on guilt and basically being as screwed up as you possibly can get in one scandalous tale of love and constant betrayal. In the end, we just say that Genji no Kimi was actually quite a miserable character despite the glory in his early days. If I were him, I'd die of stress young =_=;
Anyway, the real point that I wanted to actually get at is the anime, Genji Monogatari Sennenki, which is a very good adaptation of the story. It is altered slightly for today's audience and can be quite sexual (which was basically the story in a nutshell, sex, sex, and more sex though it was toned down on paper) and it omitted some of his conquests from the story (like the ones where I can't remember their names =_=). Then again, I'm only on episode 7 (then again, because it IS episode 7), we'll see how much they incorporate in the rest of the story. I just wanted to say that if you want a visual version of the novel, this anime is probably the best version I've seen of anything ever made. No live action or animated movie has done as good of a job as this version has. I really recommend it if you're studying the book right now or if you happen to dig Genji no Kimi despite not really being a fan of his character like me.
No comments:
Post a Comment