Inter-Cultural Translatability Of Ring

Ashimova Aitolkyn
East Asian Cinema, Fall 2015
December 18, 2015

Introduction
The effect of 1998's Japanese film Ring can be compared to a big tsunami wave that not only became highest grossing horror film in the country, but also shuddered Taiwanese, Korean, Hong Kong film markets. Following years many publications included it to the numerous symbolic "top 10 most scary films" lists. And when Steven Spielberg bought the rights to make the Hollywood remake it was seen as official evidence that Japanese horror cinema became new trendsetter in this genre and gained cult status in the West. Nowadays with numerous follow-ups within the Ring franchise and triggered a trend of Western remakes "Ring" is viewed as exemplary illustrative Asian horror movie.
I will argue that the wide success of the movie is caused not by its deep cultural ties with Japanese cinema and Japanese horror movies in particular, but because on the contrary "Ring" has little to do with its traditional background. Hideo Nakata deliberately cut off all the cultural traces in order to make cinematic language of the movie universal and cosmopolitan thus giving a way for its intercultural translation and to be easily replicated. In order to do it first I will analyze different Japanese merchandizing strategies and study the film as a media product. Second, I will briefly overlook history and main stylistic traits of Japanese horror movie genre. In my general overlook on Japanese horror cinema, I will focus on two main horror film sub-genres kaidan and ero guro and will give few examples of classical horror films. Then, I will analyze plot and themes of the film and compare them to the Hollywood remake. Finally, I will briefly summarize the cultural influence of Ring.

Ring as a media product and its merchandizing strategy
Nowadays despite the down downgrading economic situation that prevailed since late 1980s Japan is famous for its easily recognizable and popular media products. This could be due to the very skillful product merchandizing. We can identify two distinctive approaches in merchandizing. First, something that doesn’t look like Japanese on the surface bears something truly “japaneseness” in the inside. The example of this approach that comes to mind at ones is Hello Kitty, a fictional character produced by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty is portrayed as an anthropomorphic white cat with a red bow and according to her creators she was born in the suburbs of London in England. The crude and overly simplistic depiction of Kitty does not bear any cultural background, but now 40 years later after her creation it is a symbol of the Japanese kawaii culture. Originally aimed at the pre-adolescent female market as a mere toy, in the present days the Hello Kitty products range from mass market items to high-end consumer products and rare collectibles. It product variety has expanded and goes all the way from dolls, stickers, greeting cards, clothes, accessories, school supplies and stationery to purses, clothes, toasters, televisions, other home appliances, computer equipment and credit cards. Hello Kitty could be found on everything that can be colored pink and drawn a picture of white cat.
Another approach in merchandizing is to present the public something that looks conventionally Japanese on the surface, but the content could be applicable to the different cultures and situations. An example for this approach could be Ring. Even though the film features some classic Japanese horror film visual characteristics, essentially it is very culturally fluid and ambivalent. But first let’s analyze what are the features of classic Japanese horror cinema and how it is related to the visual style of the Ring.
Ring in the context of classical Japanese horror cinema
Foundations of Japanese horror cinema were laid as early as 1950s. Filmmakers were mainly inspired by the kaidan, the literature and later horror film genre about horror stories or particularly ghost stories which takes its roots from Edo period Japanese folktales. Adaptations of classical kaidan began already in 1940. In their aesthetic, they were not fully developed horror films, but mere filmed theatrical performances. The action in them is static and restricted. The director who basically nailed down the formula behind Japanese horror cinema was Nobuo Nakagawa.
Nakagawa who was born in 1905 as most filmmakers of his generation went through war propagandist films that were promoting unity of Japanese nation. And as most directors of who were working in 1950s his works reflected the psychological trauma from his military experience, his frustration, and anti-militarist and anti-authoritarian views. But in comparison to Akira Kurosawa or Ozu Yasujiro Nakagawa was fascinated by mysticism and grim grotesque. In many of his works, he took ideas from Japanese folklore and aesthetics of classical Kabuki theatre but rejected its cinematographic influence. For example, in his first horror film called Horafuki Tanji Nakagawa rejected the forced theatricality and stillness of early kaidan movies, the characteristic that from Kabuki theatre. This film is distinguished by actively moving camerawork, dynamic montage, and the feeling of suspense that resembles cinematographic traditions of Hitchcock. The plot of the film takes action in two times period – present days and 19th century. Juxtaposition of this two timelines shows precisely because of the sins committed by the ignorant and aggressive samurai in ancient times, his descendants have to pay in the modern time. Horafuki Tanji metaphorically expresses the idea of the moral bankruptcy of the "fathers" that could lead to insanity and death of the later generations. Anti-militaristic and anti-samurai premise of the plot Nakagawa complemented by spectacular visual solutions, for instance the present days were shot in black and white, and past was shot in full color, for even further juxtaposition.
Kaidan, as stories about ghosts, usually women who were abandoned and betrayed by their lovers or cruelly killed and avenging for their deaths became the dominant sub-genre of Japanese horror cinema in 1960s. This particular genre got to its popularity peak in classical films like 1964s Kwaidan by Masaki Koboyashi, 1968s Kuroneko or A Black Cat in a Bamboo Grove by and naturally Nobuo Nakagawa’s 1959 Tokaido Yotsuya kaidan. However, in the early 1970s Japanese cinema undergoes a crisis due to the change of generations of viewers and the onslaught of television. "Old-fashioned" ghost stories lost their popularity and can no longer serve as an effective allurement for the audience. And filmmakers who were related to horror cinema were actively looking for new formulas of horror stories that can appeal to the young audiences. And the solution was found in a form of ero guro.
Ero guro (also called ero guro nansensu or shortened as guro) was originally Japanese literary and artistic movement originating since 1930s. And artistically it focuses on eroticism, sexual corruption and decadence in many forms of abnormal display. As sub-genre of Japanese horror cinema it gained popularity in late 1960s and early 1970s.
The main inspiration behind this genre was mystery fiction works by Taro Hirai, who was better known by the pen name Edogawa Ranpo. He played key role in the development of the Japanese mystery fiction, and his works were adapted for films as early 1927. In addition to purely detective novels based on logic and deduction Ranpo’s legacy also included many mysterious stories with the elements of fantasy surrealism and sexual perversions such as sadomasochism and necrophilia. Recourse to these kinds of topics seems logical for a writer whose pseudonym is a Japanese alliteration Edgar Allan Poe’s name. Filmmakers for a long tie neglected Ranpo’s ero guro genre works, preferring his more “conventional” novels. However, faced with the decline in the number of horror film movie goers in the late 1960s Japanese cinema industry needed more sensational material to lure viewers back to the cinema. The famous films of this sub-genre include Teruo Ishii's Shogun's Joys of Torture (1968) and Horrors of Malformed Men (1969) and Yasuzo Masumura's Blind Beast (1969).
The first ero guro film is considered to be Black Lizard or Kurotakage, a 1968 adaptation based on Edogawa Ranpo’s novel by Yukio Mishima. Plot of the film revives around cunning female jewel thief named Black Lizard. She tries to kidnap a wealthy jeweler's beautiful daughter as part of a plot to steal the jeweler's expensive unique diamond. To thwart the planned kidnapping, the jeweler hires Japan's number one detective, Akechi Kogoro. This sets off a dual between Black Lizard and Akechi as each tries to outwit the other. In the process, Black Lizard and her crew are able to kidnap jeweler's beautiful daughter and get the diamond. Black Lizard takes girl to her secret lair on a remote island. On the island, she has a collection of eerie sculptures – taxidermic corpses of her ex-lovers of both sexes. There Black Lizard plans to preserve kidnapped girl’s beauty forever by turning her into one of her sculptures. The film was a huge success in the box office. It impressed viewers with authentic visual design and intense color palette. Nowadays Black Lizard has gained a cult following and is highly regarded as fine example of "kitsch" and "campy" films.
Although kaidan and ero guro are two very different genres both from stylistic and thematic points, character interactions and character development play a big role in both of them. Kaidan’s stories focus mainly on reason why people are haunted by spirits, the vengeances of ghosts’ are seen consequences of their actions. In comparison to kaidan ero guro revives around visual symbols. It is more gory and visional, but it also attempts to analyze characters’ response to the exposure to abnormalities.
Plot of the Ring takes its roots from conventional kaidan stories because it is based around vengeful spirit onryo. Even though traditionally depictions of onryo had no particular appearance, later a specific costume for this type of spirits was developed with the rise in popularity of Kabuki theatre. Distinctive onryo portrayal included white burial kimono, wild and unkempt long hair and prominent face make-up consisting of white foundation with face paintings of blue shadows. Spirit of Sadako that hunts the cursed tape has white dress resembling of burial kimono and her long hair hides her face entirely, which brings to even stronger effect leaving the ghostly features to the viewers’ imagination. Furthermore, the film has some elements of ero guro that can be seen in the scene where main characters uncover the well under the cabin and Reiko finds the decomposed corps of the girl. In that scene Reiko holds the skeleton in almost motherly way, symbolically substituting herself for the Sadako’s long deceased mother and establishing a link between her and the spirit. Moreover the particular emphasis on display of Sadako’s injured fingers with no fingernails in the scene when she comes out of TV screen or display of her fingernails stacked in the walls of the well also gives the film more ero guro exterior. All these elements combined together provide the film more distinctive conventional Japanese horror look and make it more visually recognizable both for domestic and foreign audience.
Plot analysis and translatability of the main motives
Even though plot of the film, based on Koji Suzuki's novel, which in turn draws on the Japanese folk tale, it brings to mind various modern urban legends about chain letters and ghost of small girls who haunt schools . In the film a legend circulates among teenagers that if one watch a certain vide, a telephone will ring right afterward, and one week later, that person will die.
Two teenagers, Masami and Tomoko, talk about a videotape recorded by a boy in Izu which is speculated to bear a curse that kills the viewer seven days after watching. Tomoko reveals that a week ago, she and three of her friends watched a weird tape and received a call after watching. That night she is killed by an unseen force.
Few days later, Reiko Asakawa, a reporter investigating the popularity of the video curse, discovers that her niece Tomoko, and her three other friends, mysteriously died at the same time, on the same night, with their faces twisted in fear. She also discovers that Masami became insane and is in a mental hospital. After stumbling upon Tomoko's photos from the past week, Reiko finds out that the four teenagers stayed in a rental cabin in Izu.
Reiko goes to Izu and arrives at the rented cabin, where she finds an unlabeled tape in the reception room of the teenagers' rental cottage. Watching the tape, Reiko sees a series of seemingly unrelated disturbing images. As soon as the tape is over, Reiko sees a mysterious reflection in the television and receives a phone call, with an unknown voice telling her "seven days". Disturbed, she leaves the cabin.
Reiko enlists the help of her ex-husband, Ryuji Takayama. They take a picture of Reiko and see that her face is blurred in the photograph. Ryuji then watches the tape, against Reiko's objections. A day later, Reiko creates a copy for Ryuji for them to study. They find a hidden message embedded within the tape saying "frolic in brine, goblins be thine". The message is in a form of dialect from Izu Oshima Island. That night, Reiko catches her young son Yoichi watching the videotape. Boy claims that Tomoko had told him to do it. Reiko and Ryuji sail for Oshima and discover the history of the great psychic Shizuko Yamamura, who was accused of faking supernatural powers; and thus committed suicide.
With only a day left, Reiko and Ryuji discover that the videotape was made psionically by Shizuko's lost daughter, Sadako Yamamura, whose supernatural powers surpassed even those of her mother. The two go back to Izu with the assumption that Sadako is dead and her vengeful spirit killed the teenagers. They uncover a well underneath the cabin and through a vision see the circumstances of Sadako's murder by her father. They try to find Sadako's body in an attempt to appease her spirit. Minutes before her seven days are up, Reiko finds Sadako's corpse, and they believe that the curse is broken.
The next day Ryuji is at home and his TV switches on by itself, showing the image of a well. The ghost of Sadako crawls out of the well, out of Ryuji's TV screen, and frightens him into a state of shock, killing him via cardiac arrest. Before dying, he manages to dial Reiko's number; she hears his last minutes over the phone and realizes the videotape's curse remains unbroken. Desperate to save her son, Reiko realizes that copying the tape and showing it to someone else saved her. With a VCR and Ryuji's copy of the tape, Reiko travels with her son to see her father in an attempt to save him, realizing that this is a never-ending cycle: The tape must always be copied and passed on to ensure the survival of the viewers.
Director resolutely rejected all that is not related to the main action. There is no love interest or any superfluous details of everyday life characters in the film, everything subjected to the primary goal – to lure the viewers into the atmosphere of a horrific nightmare, from which they cannot wake up. To some extent this could be relate to the modest budget of the film. However, in order to accomplish their task, the filmmakers have spared no effort or time. For example, to convey the eerie sound of phone calls that haunts heroes before their deaths after viewing the tape, the composer mixed four different types of telephone rings. This particular sound effect was recorded on over 50 tracks.
The austerity of the plot could be seen as a certain innovation in Japanese filmmaking. There is no classical character development. In other words, viewers of the film do not learn anything new about main characters and their relationship as the plot progresses. Hence the characters’ arc is merely cut down to the journey from point A, when they did not know anything about the nature and causes of mystical deaths, till the point B, when main character finds out the truth. From this point, this film could be viewed not as a coherent narrative, but as a slow build up to the final set piece, the reveal of Sadako and death of the Riuji.
The scene takes place in a small and dimly lit apartment. The TV set turns on by itself and what looks like VHS-tape is showing Sadako is abnormally moving towards the viewer in one continuous shot - indicating that it could be a live feed. We get a shot of the girl climbing out of the TV through the character’s perspective. This way it appears as the ghost is coming after actual viewer as well, audience can more effectively feel as frightened as the Riuji because they are basically seeing what he is seeing. The girl keeps moving slowly and abnormally forward and audience repeatedly get continuous of this through the character’s perspective with the exception of a few close-ups shots. This scene goes along with menacing and eerie sounds which adds to the horror of the viewers. The death scene climaxes with the shot of Sadako’s abnormally turned down eye.
One of the main themes in the film is the theme of motherhood. Reiko is divorced and independent young woman. She rejects her natural role as traditional homemaker in pursuit of her identity. This could represent gender role issues in traditional society. And her relationship and interactions with her son show that subsequently she is neglecting her traditional role as mother. There is a scene in the film when it is Yoichi who prepares her mother’s clothes and helps her to dress symbolically receiving a role of adult who takes care of others. The boy in the film acts very independent for his age and even when he meets with his father he doesn’t show any feelings of affection or attachment. It could be due to his mother’s behavior that boy consequently refuses his role as a child. As the plot progresses viewers find out more about Sadako’s backstory. Unconscious conflicts in the main character’s family are expressed through the supernatural conflict in the other family. Although her relationship with her mother wasn’t shown it is evident that girl got her paranormal powers from her mother. Reiko during her investigation starts sympathizing with the dead girl. Moreover, when she finds the decomposed body Reiko doesn’t show any signs of horror. Main character holds the skeleton in affectionate motherly way, allegorically substituting herself for the Sadako’s long deceased mother and establishing a link between her and the spirit. In the final scene when Reiko decides to pass on a curse in order to save her son she redeems herself in a role of mother. There is no explanation in the film why exactly Sadako decided after many years from her death to choose such a strange way to transfer her curse. But it is understandable from filmmakers’ point of view. TV screen can resemble both a window and a mirror. And mirrors were always a base for superstitions in many cultures, the most famous one is the belief that person who breaks a mirror is deemed to have seven years of bad luck in English speaking countries. TV screen plays its role as mirror in the film in the scenes when Reiko watches the cursed tape for the first time and sees Sadako’s reflection in it after. In the end of the film she sees her already dead ex-husband reflection when she tries to figure out how to break a curse. Also in the tape Sadako’s mother shown through the reflection in the mirror.
Another reoccurring theme of the movie is the fear of technological development or collision with modernity. Traditional Japanese vengeful spirit haunts the tape, and the curse is passed on from one person to another not based on personal connections which would be more traditional approach, but mere through the act of copying the information. This idea does not have many connections with a folk tale, but resembles a computer virus. Computer viruses are passed on with the information, in fact it is the type of information itself and so is the Sadako’s curse. Thus conventional image of onryo dissolves in the modern idea understandable by everyone.
The aforementioned themes of the movie such as motherhood and new self-identity gender issues, superstitions related to the mirrors and idea of curse linked to the new technologies are very culturally ambivalent. They are relatable both to Japanese and non-japanese audience. This ambivalence could be found not only in the reoccurring themes but also in the name of the film. In Japanese “ringu” is alliteration for the English word “ring”. The name of the film could be reference to the telephone ring that characters receive after watching the tape. However, in English ring also stands for a circle or a loop. And filmmakers planted numerous visual images of rings and circles throughout the film. The most famous one is the image of the well from which Sadako’s ghost emerges and the image from inside the well. Especially when Reiko sees a flashback of ghost’s memories Sadako’s father is seen in the circle of light. Translatability of the film became evident with Hollywood remake’s release 4 years after.
The Hollywood translation and comparisons with the original film
The Ring is an American remake directed by Gore Verbinski and starred Naomi Watts as the main lead. Since author of the original novel Koji Suzuki was one the co-writers the plot of the remake is very close to the original film with same reoccurring motives and visual symbols with the few exceptions.
The film starts almost identically: two teenagers Katie Embry and Becca Kotler are talking about some cursed videotape which, as legend has it, kills every person who dare to watch it after seven day passes. It turns out that Katie herself watched the tape with her boyfriend and two others at a campsite right seven days ago. Suddenly, girls hear the telephone ringing downstairs which startles them a lot but luckily it happened to be just Katie's mother. Having finished conversation with her mother, Katie comes back to her room and sees a startling image of a well appeared on her TV screen. Next moment we see how her friend Becca finds mutilated dead body of Katie .
Next the film introduces Rachel Keller, Katie’s aunt working as Seattle journalist who decides to investigate this tragic accident. Rachel has a little son Aidan from whom she knew that Katie predicted her own death. Afterwards she finds out that Katie’s other three friends died at the exact day as Katie under similar circumstances. Soon Rachel discovers this cursed videotape in the hotel cabin that Katie lived in called Shelter Mountain Inn and watches it too. As expected, the story repeats and Rachel hears the Ring.
Rachel is confused and frightened and therefore decides to ask her ex-husband Noah Clay for help. Together they watch videotape again and make a copy of it. Rachel discovers hidden footage of a lighthouse on the tape. Researching it reveals the identity of a woman on the tape named Anna Morgan from Moesko Island. Rachel decides to travels there. Arriving on the island, she visits the Morgan Ranch where she learns from GP, Dr. Grasnik that Anna committed suicide many years ago having left her husband Richard and their adopted daughter Samara. After, Rachel sneaks into the Morgans’ house, discovering a recorded medical interview with Samara, on which she admits that she does not intentionally hurt the people around her, but "it won't stop." Rachel confronts Richard, but he commits suicide in a bath tub. Noah arrives and they break into the barn, finding Samara’s bedroom in the loft, and discover a picture of a tree burnt into the wall – the tree seen at Shelter Mountain.
Rachel and Noah go back to the cabin in shelter Mountain, discovering a stone well beneath the floor that is also present on the tape. Rachel is knocked down the well, and experiences a flashback, revealing that it was Anna who pushed Samara down the well and sealed her in before committing suicide herself. Rachel finds Samara’s corpse at the bottom of the well, and it is removed by the authorities.
The next day, Rachel and Noah returns home being confident that curse is in no effect anymore. However later, in his apartment, Noah is murdered by Samara’s in the same fashion as Rachel’s niece Katie. In enraged grief, Rachel burns the original tape but realizes she was spared because she had made a copy and shown it to Noah, when he did not. In an effort to save Aidan, Rachel aids him in copying the tape, Aidan asking her what will they do when they show it to someone else, though Rachel does not reply.
The themes of the original film reduplicated but exaggerated in The Ring. For example, Samara is adopted daughter and nature of her paranormal powers remains unknown. Thus her conflict with her mother is due not only to the abnormal powers but same time because of Anna’s inability to take the role of mother. She rejects this role in the act of killing the girl. Similarly to the original Ring Rachel also unconsciously struggles in her relationship with her son. Aidan refuses to call her mother and always refers to main character by her name. “Technology of fear” in the film is very different from Japanese. There are many conventional jump-scares and background music play greater role. These differences are more prominent in the one of the final scene, the death of Noah. The scene takes place in a very large and well-lit area. The TV set turns on and what looks like a video with a high production value is showing a girl walking towards the viewer. The tape cuts and the girl is suddenly closer to the screen than before. With her dirty clothes as well, shots of her skin which is in the process of decomposing and tone of the VHS tape and the poor quality effect of the tape that on the girl after she breaks out from the TV carries a very surreal suspense of disbelief. Audience gets a couple of shots of the girl climbing out of the TV including a shot that moves along with the girl. Samara keeps walking normally towards the character and suddenly appears right in front of him with the loud sound effect. The next shot is basically from the girl’s perspective. This way it appears as the audience is coming after character along with the ghost. The scene is not continuous and the flow is interrupted a few times by cutbacks to Rachel. Stylistically the scene shows very different type of horror. It is faster paced and do not allow for a slow build up.
The remake has a higher production value due to the much higher budget ($48 million). The remake is set in Seattle, which is the famous rainy city. And it rains for most of the picture. Most of the daylight scenes are filmed with a green wash. The result of this particular technique is that makes what should feel healthy – the forest, and countryside of a region – look sickly and fetid. The green seems to symbolize a catastrophic fertility; life cycles speeded up so fast that decay has supplanted growth as the central fact of existence. In the context of girl’s body decomposing in the water, the trees and leaves and grass seem very malevolent.
Another distinctive visual feature of the film is deformed faces of the victims. If in Japanese version victims’ faces were just twisted from fear, in American version they immediately get to the stage of decomposing which could be viewed as a result of ghost’s powers. In addition, there are more visual symbols of rings added to the film. For example, the ring on the newspaper as a print from coffee cup in the beginning of Noah’s death scene.
Influence on the World Cinema
After its release Ring became new trendsetter in this genre and gained cult following status in the West. In the last decades of XX century, Hollywood horror had largely been dominated by the slasher subgenre, which relied on on-screen violence, shock tactics, and gore. The famous examples of such films are 1974’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre directed by Tobe Hooper, 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street or 1996’s Scream both of the movies directed by Wes Craven. Hollywood horror films of this age were more focused on showing numerous death scenes in various ways in order to shock the viewers. Ring helped to revitalize the genre by taking a more restrained approach to horror, leaving much of the terror to the audience's imagination. The film initiated global interest in Japanese cinema in general and Japanese horror cinema in particular. This "New Asian Horror" resulted in further successful releases. It paved the way for many Japanese horror remakes to come after the film's success such as The Grudge (2004), Dark Water (2005), Pulse (2006), and One Missed Call (2008) and inspired numerous follow-ups within the Ring franchise and triggered a trend of Western remakes. There are also Korean remake The Ring Virus made one year later after original’s release and video game adaption The Ring: Terror's Realm.
In conclusion, Ring became a cultural phenomenon not only in Japanese but also World horror cinema. Its influences are affirmed by numerous follow up sequels and foreign remakes. The success of the film is due to its cultural translatability and relatability of the themes to a broader audience. It is evident from the similarities with its main Hollywood remake The Ring, which follows the original closely with only few alterations in the plot elements.

References
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