Kappa

Poster for Kappa
MOVIE

Kappa

Deconstructing the myth of Oedipus within the framework of an ancient Japanese folk story, the Yonemotos craft a highly charged discourse of loss and desire. Quoting from Bunuel, Freud, pop media and art, they place the symbology of Western psychosexual analytical theory into a cross-cultural context, juxtaposing the Oedipal and Kappa myths in a delirious collusion of form and content. The Kappa, a malevolent Japanese water imp, is played with eerie intensity by artist Mike Kelley; actress Mary Woronov plays Jocasta as a vamp from a Hollywood exploitation film. Steeped in perversions and violent longings, both the Kappa and Oedipus legends are presented in highly stylized, purposefully "degraded" forms, reflecting their media-exploitative cultural contexts. In this ironic yet oddly poignant essay of psychosexual compulsion and catharsis, the Yonemotos demonstrate that even in debased forms, cultural archetypes hold the power to move and manipulate.

Release Date

1986-06-17

Year

1986

Duration

26m

Status

Released

Score

0.00

Production

Cast

Mike Kelley

Mike Kelley

The Kappa

Mary Woronov

Mary Woronov

Jocasta

Keye Luke

Keye Luke

Narrator (voice)

Edward Ruscha

Edward Ruscha