The Ring (2002) is a USA remake of a Japanese horror film titled Ringu (1998). Both films tell a story about a woman who tries to figure out the mystery behind the death of four high school students after they watched a strange video tape. Investigating on the video tape takes both women named Reiko (Ringu) and Rachel (The Ring) discovering about Sadako (Ringu) and Samara (The Ring), the figures behind the mysterious death.
Generally, both movies tell a similar opening and ending, but the main story of the film has some differences as the effect of some differences between the two countries which produce both movies. First difference which influences the story of the film is the geographical differences. In Ringu (1998), Sadako’s mother can predict the eruption which is going to happen in the future. It is the effect of geographical difference because Japan, the country of where Ringu is produced, is an archipelago which is on the edge of a tectonic plate called the Pacific Plate. That is why in Japan, there are many volcanoes, and eruption and earthquakes often happen there. But it is different in The Ring (2002). Rather than having the power to predict the eruption, Samara’s mother has a horse ranch which she loves very much. USA, the country of where The Ring is produced, is a country which is famous as the western country, well-known for its ranch and cowboys.
Besides, another difference which is shown in Ringu (1998) and The Ring (2002) is cultural difference. In the scene where Reiko (Ringu) and Rachel (The Ring) ask the high school students about the mysterious death of their four schoolmates after watching the strange video tape, the way Japanese high school students (Ringu) and American high school students (The Ring) dress and the way Japanese high school students (Ringu) and American high school students (The Ring) act are different. In Ringu, the high school students wear uniforms and they talk to an older woman politely. Different in The Ring, the high school students do not wear uniform and they talk to an older woman (Rachel) casually. This difference shows what people often say about the cultural difference between western country and eastern country, that people who live in eastern country appreciates polite more than the people who live in western country do.
***
Like I said before, The Ring (2002) is a remake of Ringu (1998). But I actually watched The Ring (2002) first before I watched Ringu (1998). I watched The Ring (2002) on about two or three years ago. Honestly, I tried to refused watching Ringu (1998) because most people said Ringu (1998) was scarier than The Ring (2002). But when I watched the film, I do not think like that. I think The Ring (2002) is scarier. There are two reasons of it. One, Samara, the ghost in The Ring (2002) moves faster and weirder than Sadako, the ghost in Ringu (1998). Second, in The Ring (2002), the filmmakers show the face of the victims who died because of Samara, which are quite horrible and disgusting.
Lidya Angelia 