Detached heads

Mad science essential: Re-Animator
The Wasp Woman

There is an additional detached-heads visual tradition, and it appears to be Japanese.  Three images are all via Janitor of Lunacy, but I don’t know much more about their specific provenance.  (If anyone could offer any in comments I would be appreciative.)  The first has the look of a traditional ukiyo-e.

The next is much more in an anime style. It’s the most thaumatophile of the bunch, what with all those wires and a pretty Rotwang-like figure in the background.  Since the main character is a robot, it’s perhaps not surprising that she can be insouciant about the fact that she’s carrying her own head.

And the last falls into the category of “I really am at something of a loss to explain what’s going on here.”  But I include it because (among other reasons) the visual look of the rings which divide head from body here is the closest image I’ve found to the hyperspatial cinctures in Where Am I?

Like I wrote, if anyone could contribute any understanding here…

2 thoughts on “Detached heads

  1. I’m not sure if it’s related, but there are traditional Japanese monsters called Nukekubi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nukekubi), who appear as normal human beings by day, but by night, their severed heads fly around screaming and seeking their human prey.

    You might also be interested in the Filipino Penanggalan, another detached-head monster. Perhaps these are more fantasy than mad science, but the Penanggalan is supposedly the result of “dark magics”. They say that at a certain (mad) level, technology and science are indistinguishable from magic.

    • They say that at a certain (mad) level, technology and science are indistinguishable from magic.

      I agree! And thanks for the suggestions.

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