The Popular Culture Association has a subset of presentations that touch on horror and science fiction in popular culture. One of the more interesting presentations presented by Valerie Wee Su-Lin of looked at differing cultural aspects of the Japanese horror film Ringu constrasted with the American film The Ring. Valerie is an assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore. She teaches in a number of areas, including media and cultural studies and film theory, and her research interests include horror and science fiction films.

Valerie has agreed to share some of research and reflections on the cultural facets related to two popular horror films.

TheoFantastique: Valerie, thank you for agreeing to share some thoughts related to some of the more interesting and popular horror films in recent years, and on the fascinating aspects of cross-cultural considerations related to them. Before we discuss these films in particular, how did you develop this interest and work academically?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Hi John, thanks for inviting me to weigh in on these topics. I appreciate the opportunity. My interest in horror films has rather ironic origins, in that I hated horror films as a child. They always made me afraid of the dark. Getting into graduate school and specializing in film and media studies, I realized I had a chance to investigate and better understand my response to horror films and perhaps gain a deeper understanding of what made them so terrifying and disturbing, how these effects were achieved, why they seemed to appeal to (other) people… So, I guess my interest grew out of an attempt to intellectualize (and thus exorcise) my fears. The further I got in studying these issues, the more fascinating I found the area. That’s largely how it all began.

TheoFantastique: You have also done some work on American “slasher” films such as the Scream trilogy, and science fiction such as Blade Runner and Alien. Can you talk a little about this area of research?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Well, my work in Alien and Blade Runner actually began as an MA student. I was interested in issues of gender and how that intersected with aspects of horror (something that continues to fascinate me). My work on these two films focuses on examining how female characters, as well as broader notions of the feminine – such as motherhood and childbirth, in the Alien films – are strongly aligned with the abject (particularly as it is defined by Julia Kristeva in her book Powers of Horror).

As for the Scream films, they were released while I was in grad school and when I finally got around to watching them, I found them quite distinct from earlier cycles of slasher films. My attempts to understand just what these differences were and what motivated these developments resulted in several papers on the subject. In one, I examine the ways in which the trilogy updated the defining conventions of the slasher film genre – in particular, how the series revised the treatment of the monster-villain and the final female survivor – to reflect the contemporary issues and concerns relevant to the teen generation that came of age in the final years of the 20th century. I suggest that these texts are actively engaged in commenting on and negotiating the threats, fears and concerns that characterized 1990s American society in general, and American teenagers – the film’s target market – in particular. The postmodern, highly intertextual nature of the series was the focus of another paper where I argued that the series represented the shift to a new “hyper”-postmodern phase, an event that I traced to a range of technological, cultural and social developments.

TheoFantastique: Earlier this year you presented a paper at the Popular Culture Association national conference that explored various cultural differences between the Japanese film Ringu, and the American film The Ring. How have these films, and Japanese horror in general, been influential in influencing and shaping the American horror film industry?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Certainly the profile of Japanese, indeed Asian horror has risen internationally. I think Japanese/Asian horror has been receiving quite a lot of attention from Hollywood recently in terms of various remakes (Ringu became The Ring, Ju-On became The Grudge, Dark Water was remade, and I believe several other remakes are in the works), however, I’m not sure how deep an impact these films will have on the way Hollywood portrays and depicts horror. So far, Hollywood’s interest in Japanese/Asian horror appears to be restricted to the level of basic plot lines, and in many cases, the more distinctive cultural elements in these plots are dropped or revised to make them conform to a more traditional Hollywood narrative form and structure. Even on the level of visual (and aural) style, Hollywood still prefers to retain most of its own established conventions rather than adopting elements of a less familiar aesthetic tradition. As you know, I address these issues in my paper comparing Ringu and The Ring.

TheoFantastique: In your treatment on these films you contrast the differing perspectives on the supernatural that arise from “fundamental cultural and philosophical differences that structure Eastern and Western views of reality in general.” You summarize the basic differences as 1. Buddhist dualism and Western dialectics, 2. non-scientific and scientific worldviews, and 3. differing narrative/cinematic cultural traditions. How do these differ in the Japanese film as contrasted with the American treatment?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Well, I try to show that Ringu reflects a characteristic Japanese/Eastern viewpoint in which the Eastern belief in the vital and delicate balance between the opposing forces of order and chaos are a central consideration that structures the narrative. In fact, one of the interesting aspects of Buddhism is the absence of theistic notions of God or the Devil. As a result, Buddhists don’t usually think in terms of “good” and “evil” in the traditional Western religious sense. Instead, the Buddhist perspective emphasizes right and wrong. “Right” choices and actions reinforce order, balance, harmony, while “wrong” actions lead to chaos, upheaval, and destruction. In Ringu, the appearance of a terrifying and destructive female ghost is linked to several “wrong” acts. The first occurs when Sadako’s psychic mother is attacked and ridiculed by a number of reporters during a press conference where she provides evidence of her psychic abilities, and the second “wrong” act takes place when Sadako’s father murders her. Both are events in which chaos overcomes order, when fear overwhelms “appropriate,” responsible behavior. The rest of the narrative traces the consequences of these events.

The Japanese/Ringu world is also one in which the supernatural and paranormal are accepted as part of a larger reality. Ringu reflects an Eastern perspective that accepts the existence of what is beyond rational explanation, beyond human understanding and comprehension. Consequently, psychic powers and the presence of the undead are not necessarily marked as evil. In Ringu, Sadako’s terrifying presence is balanced by Ryuji’s helpful apparition who returns to provide the vital clue that can save his son; Sadako’s apparently destructive ability to “will” someone to death is balanced by Shuziko’s ability to predict a volcanic eruption which could result in saving lives. This is in contrast to The Ring, in which the supernatural and the unexplained are clearly coded as Other, as destructive and evil. From the moment Samara appears, she has a deadly effect on those around her. Her ability to haunt Aiden is just another manifestation of her threatening evil. The Ring, therefore, reflects a more Western/American dialectical perspective, one in which the opposing forces of good and evil battle for supremacy.

Finally, there are distinct cultural and aesthetic influences that have shaped the narrative, form and style of the two films. Ringu reflects Japanese cinema’s enduring link to classical art forms such as Kabuki and Noh theatre, and depicts the continuing influence of Japanese folk tales on contemporary narratives. The figure of Sadako borrows from the traditional tales of yurei, familiar female ghost narratives that are featured in both classical Japanese theatre and cinema. The Ring clearly borrows its narrative and visual influences from the popular and long-established genre of American supernatural horror. The figures of Samara and Aiden have clear precedents within popular American film culture. Samara is the latest incarnation of the deadly, evil child who is a threat to those around her, while Aiden is the young innocent whose sudden strange ability to communicate with the dead is a sign of an encroaching evil. In both cases, Ringu and The Ring, reflect a long history of cultural influences and in turn offer insights into their specific aesthetic contexts.

TheoFantastique: Why is an understanding and exploration of these cultural differences important for the average film viewer who wants to understand these films on a deeper level?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Well, it’s possible that average viewers experiencing these films are likely to read them in ways that tend to be culturally constructed, and built around their most familiar cinematic experiences. When we encounter something culturally unfamiliar or new, we may have difficulty understanding and appreciating the full significance of what we see, especially when it involves, as in the case of Ringu, a text from a culture that’s quite distinct and different from the Western/American perspective. Under these circumstances, I think that a viewer’s ability to fully enjoy and appreciate the cinematic experience, as well as value the film’s messages and artistic merits, can only be enhanced by a greater understanding and exposure to the differences that mark the unfamiliar culture. I think that getting a sense of the extremely different world views, ideologies and perspectives that exist at the core of two films, that appear to have such seemingly similar plots, can give us a richer understanding of the different cultures underlying these films, and help us enjoy the films better.

TheoFantastique: The vengeful female ghost figure is significant in these films, and appears to be a recurring character in Japanese horror. Can you share a little about how this character and how it developed in Japanese folklore to become a cultural icon of horror?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: The female ghost is one if the mainstays of Japanese folk tales. Many of these stories date back to the Edo period (which began around 1603). What’s perhaps most interesting about these female ghost stories is that they feature women who are perfectly ordinary and, as expected in Japanese patriarchal culture, entirely submissive and obedient, until they are brutally murdered by men in authority whose social function is to protect and look after these women. Only after this betrayal do these women return as terrifying supernatural beings with the power and ability to exact revenge. Interestingly, these vengeful ghosts appear to be free of the patriarchal constraints and limitations that the culture commonly places on (representations of) Japanese women. I think it’s also worth noting that these representations have endured through the centuries. There are a number of popular Japanese folk tales that are regularly staged in Kabuki and Noh performances, and, as Ringu proves, the stories and this particular female figure continue to capture the imagination both in Japan, and the world, as it would appear.

TheoFantastique: How is this figure treated differently in Ringu in contrast with The Ring as the character reflects differing cultural and narrative conventions?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Well, there are some fairly obvious surface differences. Sadako (in Ringu) is a teenager, nineteen, I believe, while Samara is a young girl. Sadako is Shizoko’s natural daughter and she may have inherited some variation of her mother’s powers, while Samara’s origins are mysterious and unknown, we only learn that she was adopted by the Morgans.

But what’s more interesting are the film’s treatments of these two characters. Ringu, in keeping with the tradition of the Japanese female ghost story, offers a rather ambiguous depiction of Sadako, in that she is not presented as solely and purely evil. As I point out in my paper, the only evidence we have of Sadako’s “evil” is that she is allegedly responsible for a reporter’s unexpected death. Yet the film is interesting in that there is little “objective” confirmation of this, all we have is her mother’s shocked accusation, that Sadako never responds to. Also, if Sadako is guilty, we should recognize that she was acting to defend her mother against the gathered reporters. This doesn’t redeem Sadako if she actually did commit murder, but it offers some explanation and context for her actions. Also, Sadako’s return as a vengeful spirit is in keeping with the narrative conventions of the Japanese ghost story in which a woman is murdered by a male whose socially prescribed role within the Japanese patriarchal perspective, is to guide and protect her – in this case, her father. Her actions therefore stem from the “wrong” actions of (male, patriarchal) others who have betrayed their responsibilities.

In contrast, Samara in The Ring is the epitome of a destructive, supernatural force, one who appears to follow in the tradition of American supernatural horror films such as The Omen. Her entry into the Morgan household is immediately followed by disaster – the horses need to be destroyed after succumbing to some mysterious illness, Anna (Samara’s adopted mother) becomes increasing paranoid and is driven to murder and suicide. So, unlike the teenage Sadako, whose guilt is at least ambiguous and who remains a mysterious cipher while alive, Samara’s link to evil is made much more explicit. In fact, Samara herself admits to being the source of her mother’s visions and acknowledges her supernatural power. Samara, therefore, appears to conform to more mainstream Western/American depictions of supernatural evil.

TheoFantastique: In your article on this topic you refer to the depiction of the supernatural in The Ring as fundamentally evil with no attempt to depict “any positive or redeeming” qualities. You then quote an author to the effect that this is due to Judeo-Christian notions wherein “any manifestation of the supernatural is fundamentally evil.” I wonder whether the situation might be more complex than that in that The Ring reflects both a Judeo-Christian assumptions about the supernatural, rationality a nd order, but also secular assumptions about these things. Since Christianity does allow for a positive sense of the supernatural, might the negative treatments of the supernatural in The Ring reflect aspects of both Christianity and secularism’s response to the paranormal?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Yes, you have a good point there. I must confess that I was uncomfortable with the overly broad nature of the statement about the Western view that “any manifestation of the supernatural is fundamentally evil.” As you point out, there is room in Christianity for both good and evil depictions. Certainly, when the secular perspective is acknowledged – a perspective in which reason, rationality and the need to know and understand is valorized against the less “valuable” obscurity of the spiritual – there is the tendency to cast the unknown, the unverifiable, in more negative ways. In fact, if I can jump ahead to your next question a little, I recently completed a paper that discusses, in some detail, how The Ring attempts to navigate the tension between acknowledging the power of the supernatural, while still cleaving to a narrative framework that continues to embrace a more rational, logical perspective. These ideas are explored within a larger consideration of how gender and horror intersect in both Ringu and The Ring. While the paper I presented at the PCA touched on gender and horror, there were a number of ideas that I wasn’t able to fully explore there.

TheoFantastique: Do you have any other research projects that you are working on related to such issues, Valerie?

Valerie Wee Su-Lin: Yes, in addition to the paper I just mentioned, I’m also pursuing my interest in how traditional art/aesthetics, and distinct practices within each culture’s depiction of visual images, shape the specific images found in the deadly videos in Ringu and The Ring.

TheoFantastique: Thank you again for sharing your thoughts on these things, and for your continued interest and scholarship on these facets of popular culture.