Archive: Cultural Communication In Horror Genre: The Ring VS Ringu Analysis

Gage Skidmore

At the turn of a new millennium many advancements took place around the world, most prominently the rise of technology. Japanese filmmakers of the 90’s conveyed stories centered around technology and turned it into a bone chilling experience for audiences.  Due to the internet Japanese culture became extremely popular, especially with films such as Ringu (1998) and Ju-On (2003) that were later remade for by film producer Roy Lee who would later shaped the course of horror films of the early 2000’s. Better known as “Remake Man” Lee is an American  film producer who did the one thing no other person in Hollywood thought of, he watched the most commercially successful Asian films and bought the rights to make a North American versions. The remakes became instant hits with films like Shall we Dance (2004),Hong Kong film and Internal Affairs (2002) as Martin Scorsese’s, Oscar winner The Departed (2006), just to name a few. One of the first films Lee produced was The Ring, having bought the rights in between a deal with Dreamworks for a million dollars for The Ring which was a sleeper hit, generated well over 100 million in the box office domestically. Lee’s idea to infuse asian film culture with western culture impacted films of the early 2000’s. The Ring has made an everlasting impact in western culture being put in the list of multiple publications top horror films, the story has been imprinted in the minds of those who have seen it. Though the films The Ring/Ringu have successfully evoked fear in both Japanese and Western audience gives an impression that fear is not limited to one's culture. The horror in The Ring/Ringu  particularly derives from the use of technology and isolation.

Dating back to the release of Poltergeist, technology has been used to suggest horror can be found inanimate objects such as computers, televisions and phone screens. The key The Ring is making a worst case scenario of a situation a reality. The Ring remake though  marketed as a mystery, thriller made the film PG-13 unlike the 1998 Japanese film based on a book. The Ring was released in 2002, directed by Gore Verbinski starring Naomi Watts, the film disturbed audiences,  Journalist Finn Cohen recalled as “The rest of the audience sat in stunned silence. As people filed out, a young woman, visibly shaken,asked her boyfriend to stand guard outside the bathroom door while she went in.” The film evokes a sense of unease by creating a feeling of anguish and despair. The misty gray color palette and rainy cold world in the American version allowed audiences to immerse themselves into an uncanny atmosphere. Contrasting the Japanese version in which director, Hideo Nakata used shadows and utilizes low frequent noises making the film a very quiet private compared to the American version. The Ring/Ringu follows a  journalist named Rachel/Reiko who is investigating the mystery of her nieces death she soon discovers an urban legend of a cursed VHS tape. After watching the video filled with grotesque images Rachel/Reiko is promised the same curse of its victims. Having shown the father of her child, Noah/Ryuji and accidentally exposing the material to her son Yoichi/Aidan, with only seven days to live Rachel must find a way to break the curse. The fear behind The Ring implies the misuse of technology and the horror that lies upon the misuse of technology and the effects it may have in society. 

In both versions of the film, The Ring/Ringu the story is told as a personal haunting experience, using mundane like objects such as television sets, phones, and computers, instilling a sense of uncertainty. Successful in both Japan and North America, techo-fear is a cross-cultural form of communicating the horror behind technology. Suggesting that the horror of the film is the effects of mass media, the exchanging of information good or bad. Ringu and The Ring both evoke fear by displaying the result of over consuming technology. Right in the beginning of the film, the two teenage girls are watching television, mindlessly flipping through channels on a television one says, I hate television,” as the other replies“ Pick something, I don’t care,” many of us fall victim to spending hours indulging on technical devices.These same devices we use our lives everyday becomes an opportunity for the haunted young girl Samara in the American version and Sadako in the Japanese version to attack through television conveys the thought that the things one consumes may be the cause of one’s own death. In the conclusion of the film, the only way to prevent death is by duplicating and sharing the video. This form of fear is universal because of its implications on the use of technology becoming the means of one's own death.

The vengeful spirit of Samara/Sadako are forever restless, the mere sight of either one of them kills their victims instantly in contrasting ways. Sharing the same plot line, the story is portrayed differently in Japanese and American culture particularly in terms of Samara/Sadako’s origin story. Isolation is a major theme and cause of both Sadako/Samara emergence as an evil spirit. The fear of isolation is more prominent in Asian culture being , “.... taught to seek compromise and to explore the relationships between items and their context.” Evidently, Samara and Sadako are both raised in isolation with only a television set  alludes to the way people may isolate themselves through the use of technology. The lack of human connection caused lack of moral, Samara’s vengeance derives from the betrayal of her adopted parents. Though Samara loves her mother she admits that she enjoys hurting people and does not know why. Sadako’s fury stems from the disbelief journalists had on her and mother psychic abilities, in a fit of rage she kills one of the reporters, causing her mother to kill herself. Her anger led her further into isolation as she was taken to a remote island out in the shores of Japan leading to her death. The films differ in what led to Sadako/Samara rage, Samara found pleasure in hurting people and Sadako was plagued with anger after her mother committed suicide. Though both Samara/Sadako come out from a screens to scare their victims to death, Samara distorts the faces of her victims as they are scared to death was a way to evoke fear western audiences as Sadako simply stares at her victims who are shocked to death by her presence in a freeze-frame. 

The Ring/Ringu are both box- office hits that has altered horror stories can be interpreted in different cultures and still evoke the same emotion. The films focus on how technology isolates people. Specifically in a scene, reporter, Bruce Stone points out when  Rachel staring out in the distance of a balcony and sees a multitude of different windows filled with people watching television, he says, "Here in microcosm is the film's broader agenda: The open windows are themselves transparent and eerily traversable screens, providing a foretaste of Samara's climactic entry." Signifying Samara’s access to harm others due to the evident abundance of technology in society. The Ring/Ringu becomes an interpretation  of a “warning” by bringing awareness to the  information we share and consume from different forms of media that may result to fate of the characters in the film. As Journalist, Finn Cohen points out “..like the characters in “The Ring,” we try to spare ourselves from the weight of these images by sharing them with others.” The success of The Ring/Ringu stems from the multifaceted themes on technology and isolation that can be easily communicated through different cultures.