More on 'The Ring'

Remakes never bother me. The majority of the time, though, they are unnecessary and derivative, and some completely butcher the story ('The Haunting' 1999) of the superior original. And its true, remakes have a bad reputation, especially when remaking a good movie. 'The Ring' isn't just a bland, derivative, shallow horror remake, though, whose main purpose is to milk the scares out of a much revered modern masterpiece of Japanese horror. It expands on the story with impressive emotional resonance and suprisingly moving themes and symbolism. The film's beautiful and dark cinematography is not just for creepiness, but its moody and somber atmosphere supports the themes of grief and tragedy that provide much of the film's emotional underpinnings.

'Ring' and 'Ringu' are two very different films, and they tell the same story with two different styles. 'Ringu' is emotionally raw, intense, and grounded in terrifying realism. 'The Ring,' though, is elegant, slow paced, and haunting and nightmarish. Though the scares are much more focused in 'Ringu,' I was haunted by 'The Ring' more. The reason I find 'The Ring' superior to 'Ringu' is due to how masterfully they adapted the original story for the Western audiences, replacing the myth-like story of psychics and scandal with a much more personal story of family tragedy and island superstition.

In addition to a thoughtful and inventive change in the story, 'The Ring' avoids becoming a soulless remake by adding powerful and emotionally resonant themes. Besides the obvious thread of Watts' character's emotional growth as a mother through her empathy with Samara, and the recurring motif of grief and loss, the remake makes a potent statement on the media and its negative ability to resurface and spread the sorrow of others. It also has a prominent theme about parental responsiblity and children, and their need to express their feelings (anger and sadness in this case).

'The Ring' may suffer from a few commercial scares and watering down (being a Hollywood remake), but as a whole, it can be just as mature and realized as the original.

On a subtextual level, Rachel's growing sympathy mirrors her maturation from neglectful parent to caring mother, learning how to be a mother to Aidan directly and indirectly from Samara's curse. At first, Rachel and Noah are but immature, quibbling exes, but when Aidan watches it, both have to become serious for the sake of their son. Rachel also begins to show motherly empathy for Samara, which shows her how she needs to care for Aidan more.

Even though the film concludes with the horrorific climax of Noah's death, the well scene provides the emotional climax, despite the fact that the basis of the scene is built off a misconception on the part of the characters.

The well scene, other than temporarily resolving the problem of the curse, provides a moment of catharsis for the characters of Rachel, Noah, and Samara.

Noah: Before they discover the well, Rachel resigns and accepts the fact that the curse could kill her at any moment, and tells Noah that he has to do something to save Aidan himself. This hits him hard, knowing that he can't save his son alone, much less be his father, so he lets go his anger and frustration by trashing Cabin 12, which results in the discovery of the well.

Rachel: Rachel, who is back where she started in the cabin, feels sad that she couldn't save Aidan, or Samara, whom she has grown a unique empathy with. When she is pushed into the well, Rachel finally finds out what happened to Samara- her mother killed her. Rachel, being a mother herself, acts against character- she connects as a mother, and is truly horrified at what Anna did to her own daughter. After the flashback, Rachel is in tears. She finds Samara's body, cradles the young girl's corpse, "frees her soul," and rights Anna's wrong. She has learned how to be a mother. At the end, an emotionally exhausted Rachel gives an insightful commentary about children and parenthood.

Samara: Samara's main motivation is to channel her emotions of anger and vengefulness. She is a child, and acts like one: she wants others' sympathy and others to suffer as she has (thus the 7-day curse). I don't know if having her body discovered and taken out of the well gives her any more power than she already has, but on a metaphoric level, Samara pushes Rachel in the well because she wants Rachel to experience her suffering. She makes Rachel fall into well and into the water below just like she did, and see "the ring" as the well lid closes by itself just like she did, dooming her to permanent entrapment in the well. Most importantly, Samara "reaches out to Rachel" (a meaningful pun, very much intended) by literally “reaching out,” grabbing her, and showing her the murder through her mental kinesis. Thus Samara gets a mother-figure to save her from the well, rather than throw her in the well. A moment of catharsis for, at that point, a little girl whose parents mistreated her.

Thus a very potent emotional payoff

"Tell me, miss. What is it you think you know? ...then leave it alone."

The film makes potent commentary on parents and children. Rachel is an emotionally distant mother and journalist who finally opens up to feel true compassion for the story she is investigating. She learns how to be a caring mother through her growing empathy for another child. Noah, dead-beat dad, watches his son at school from a distance, too afraid to take responsibility and be his father. Noah and Rachel fight and bag when beginning their investigation of the tape, but are forced to mature for the sake of their son when Aidan watches the video. The moral ambiguity of Anna and Richard's decision to kill Samara is a strong point in the film. Dr. Grasnik, the island doctor Rachel visits on Moesko, comments about her mentally retarded grandson: "When Darby there was born, we knew something wasn't right with him, but we loved him anyway." She later notes, though, that it "takes work, you know. Some people have limits."

"My son... That's why I'm here."

"He's going to leave me here... Daddy loves the horses. He wants me to go away."

The film is a commentary on the nature of children: their need for nurture and love, their need to express their feelings, and their want for sympathy and for others to experience whatever they go through. Aidan gives Rachel a great amount of help when she finally begins to acknowledge him. Samara and Aidan are both very unloved children who want to express themselves. "Children sometimes yell, or cry, or draw pictures..." Aidan drew pictures to deal with his grief over Katie's death. Samara channels herself through Aidan, making him subconsciously draw pictures of her suffering (the black circles he makes resemble the interor of the well). Samara is literally reaching out to Rachel (when Samara grabs Rachel in her dream and in the well, she makes Rachel experience what she went through- sitting in the mental hospital, being killed and dumped in a well to eventually die- it comes right after Samara "reaches out" and grabs Rachel in the arm). Samara may be evil, but she is a child who wants everyone to go through what she went through.

"She wanted that child more than anything in the world. How could she have done that? She just wanted to be heard. Some children yell, or cry... or draw pictures."

Rachel's goes through considerable emotional growth as a mother. At the beginning, she is an emotionally cold, emotionally detached reporter (and mother). As the movie progresses, she begins to get emotionally caught up in the case- not only to save her own life, but that of her child. Once she meets Richard Morgan, he tells her: "What is it reporters? You take a persons tragedy and force the world to experience it. You spread it like sickness." This comes as a hard blow to Rachel, and she is left to ponder the negative influence her profession brings to others. An emotionally detached Rachel would shrug off his comment, but now that Rachel has to save her son's life, she wonders whether meddling journalists do resurface past suffering (which is exactly what the curse is meant to do) and give no thought to the ones directly affected. Then, when Morgan prepares to kill himself, she, impassioned, condemns him for killing his own child, which emotionally affects her since she has a child of her own. Once he committs suicide, she becomes hysterical and it becomes clear that she is no longer the cold, uncaring reporter she was before.

The ferry scene isn't a cheap scare. The horse subplot reflects Anna and Richard and their own fall from grace.

"Have you heard about this videotape that kills you when you watch it?... You start to play it, and its like somebody's nightmare. And suddenly, this woman comes on- smiling at you, right? Seeing you through the screen. And as soon as it's over, your phone rings. Someone knows you've watched it. And what they say is, "You will die in seven days..."

The cursed videotape lies central in the mystery of 'The Ring.' Study the rules of the curse and some questions will be answered.

1. THE TAPE. The video was made by Samara, who burned the images in her head onto the tape. A central theme of 'The Ring' is the commentary on children and their need to express themselves. The tape acts as Samara's way to express her anger and suffering. The tape expresses the tortured thoughts of a little girl, just like Aidan's drawings express his own sadness.

2. SEVEN DAYS. Another main theme in 'The Ring' is the way children want others to sympathize with them and connect directly with them by experiencing whatever they went through. Samara was dumped into the well alive. She suffered through seven days knowing she was going to die down there. She wants others to experience the feeling of knowing of their unavoidable death in seven days.

Vivid Visuals

The film's vivid visual aesthetic is an integral part of the film's somber and elegiac atmosphere. From the haunting image of the setting sun casting a deep red glow on an isolated tree and a lonely cabin, a black horse plunging into the icy blue water underneath a dank blue sky, a pulsating lighthouse light illumnating the dark night, and the explosion of light on a frightening woman's face in a dark hallway. All these images are part of a striking mood piece whose excellent visual style doesn't overshadow but contributes to the substance.