In Miura (2008), it discusses the rise of Asian horror in Western culture, and how this has led to a significant amount of remakes and considerable popularity. Specifically, between the years 1998 to 2004, it is stated that films from Japan, as well as Thailand and Hong Kong, had a substantial effect on displaying some of the most horrific moments on screen to theatergoers. Films such as Ringu and Shutter, are often highlighted as very successful, but memorable for their cinematic violence. The former film, was extremely successful to the point where it was remade by an American production house. The domestic company that released the film in 2002, DreamWorks collected roughly $129 million and about $249 million when it was released internationally. This suggests that Japanese cinema has had a substantial effect on America. It becomes necessary to understand why this is. What is it, in particular, about Japanese films such as Ringu, that have prompted American production houses to remake them.
Japanese versus American Film
Wada-Marciano (2007) considers that Japanese cinema offers a new phenomenon to films worldwide. This is due in part to many of the films pushing the envelope where other countries may not have. The country of Japan started understanding the need to add something new to its film in the early part of 1989, when film companies in the country realized that viewers were wanting something more than solely the general films. As such, discovering ways to make films better, specifically horror ones, was needed. Japanese filmmakers, as a result, started to incorporate different elements into their movies, but not so different that they could not be viewed as universal. One such element is that of location. Many Japanese horror films work on rather low budgets, and because of this the limitation of location is notable, but does not detract from the overall tone or specialties related to the film. In fact, directors have often made use of the low budget to reveal an ever eerier or more sinister tone for the films. This is accurate for Ringu, which seeks to use technology rather than location to unveil the destructive force of evil. Due to the overwhelming use of technology in Ringu, audiences started looking for it to be used in other horror films in the country. It became a running theme in horror movies, mainly, those produced in Japan.
Wada-Marciano (2007) continues by stating that horror films like Ringu play with technological fluency, to the point where it has become a pattern in certain films that have resulted from the country in recent years. Japanese horror films are then, influential in terms of the iconographic style and have produced a new kind of rhetoric for horror movies in general. Grob (2011) considers that American directors in their studying of Japanese horror films took notice of the cultish appeal, especially after many viewers started getting tired of slasher flicks such as Friday the 13th and psychological thrillers, such as Psycho. Many directors referred to this as the American horror slump and to get over that slump, sought to remake Japanese films, such as Ringu.
While it is said that horror movies are universal in their elements of shock and awe, Grob (2011) acknowledges that Japanese horror, because of its low budget, tends to focus more on the characters and narrative that it reveals, while American horror focuses on the effects. This does not mean that the remakes that Hollywood makes do not share characteristics with its J-Horror counterparts in terms of conventions, but that a larger portion of the Hollywood remakes tend to deal with the supernatural rather than other areas, that have a tone of something sinister. This is why directors saw that it was easier to remake Ringu, as The Ring, since the movie deals in the supernatural. The director of the Ring did not have to do much to distinguish the remake from the original Japanese film.
Still, Grub (2011) stresses that American remakes tend to be very different even though they are tapped from Japanese material. The films convey to audiences a clear and clever interpretation of Japanese culture, and how that country's filmmakers perceive horrific events and supernatural forces. The perception of the supernatural of The Ring's director, Gore Verbinksi, was dramatically different from that of Hideo Nakata's Ringu. One of the key themes associated with Ringu was that of modernity, while The Ring did not necessarily tackle that theme. In Verbinski’s version, there was less of a theme or rather modernity since the budget was larger, and tends to be in American horror films – so audiences were familiar with many of the modern elements, and almost expected them to be present.
Grub (2011) adds that this is another difference between Hollywood horror films and Japanese horror. There is a uniqueness about Japan that allows for a clear presence and interpretation to be made to audiences about what it is going for. Hollywood horror films often have a message, but there is not a uniform message. One film showcases something, while another film showcases another theme. A common theme in Japanese films because of the budget, and the simplicity of the dramatic elements is modernism. Japanese horror films, then are able to achieve more with less as opposed to their American counterparts. This is perhaps why to a certain degree, Ringu is more memorable to horror fanatics than that of The Ring, despite the success of the latter.
In addition to the budget and technological factors being the sole drivers behind Japanese horror films being different from American films, Pruett (2011) further considers the theme of the universe being common to Japanese horror. According to the author, there is a significant aspect of rules being beyond that of human understanding that are ever-present in horror films created in Japan. This gets back to the presented concept of the supernatural playing a heavy role in horror shown to Japanese audiences. Japanese horror tends to accept that there are concepts and ideas beyond human comprehension, while American horror seeks to explain these things. American horror attempts to express that a story can only be believable if it has a plausible explanation to the audience, while Japanese film is driven by allowing the audience to come up with their own conclusion, even if it is never clear. It also better explains why there are unique differences between Ringu and The Ring in terms of their story. While The Ring does not stray too far from the original, there are some elements that are different.
The characters are quite separate in how they are executed in the two films. For Ringu, the character of Sadako is deliberately vague, with the director and writer allowing the audience to draw their own interpretations of why she is evil, while with The Ring, the character of Samara's backstory is heavy in providing explanation. SlashingThrough (2011) writes that much of this has to do with American society and the degree to which there is a need to intensely feed the audience a backstory with a sufficient explanation. This refers back to Pruett’s (2011) point regarding the American films needing to have a reasonable or convincing narrative/story in order to be profitable. SlashingThrough (2011) comments that this presents a kind of cheesy, jump scare manifestation in The Ring. Ringu, on the other hand, does not need to execute this in such a way. There are no cheap scare tactics in order to expose the film's protagonist and antagonist, and the supernatural nature of story.
Bell (2012) explains a similar sentiment by asserting that American remakes of horror films are constructed in a way that aligns with the conventional Hollywood methodology of tying up the narrative at the end. This standard does not always exist in Japanese or other Asian horror films. There is a complexity to the Japanese ones that make them much more interesting and fascinating to watch not only for their cultural ideas or themes, but because of the fact that they challenge audiences to utilize their brains in order to figure out what is occurring and the various twists and turns in them. So can it be said that Japanese and other Asian horror movies are able to accomplish more with less? The answer depends on the film, of course – and the individual watching it. There is no one answer to that question, in spite of the substantial differences that exist between the two types of films.
American Film Is Sometimes the Preferred Choice
Hann (2009) believes that the remake of Ringu achieved what it needed to do. For the author, the Americanized version of Ringu is much less of an attempt to outshine the original. It is more of a disturbing movie that sought to work on the imagination of viewers. While the loose ends were tied up at the beginning, to the film's credit, the sick and twisted storyline works well for audiences. As such, American horror films work better when they are remakes of Japanese originals, when there are no attempts to outshine the original, but to simply present what Hann (2009) refers to as a stunning update or unsettling version of the initial one. Miura (2008) references that the Americanized plot can sometimes be effective because audiences may not have seen the original and if they have, and are presented with a different or less similar storyline, then the film becomes to a certain extent - a new one. In other words, there is not a preconceived thought or perspective about what the film will show, even with the typical characteristics that are often present in American horror films.
Films Other Than Ringu and Their Remakes
Miura (2008) comments that even though some Americanized versions may be preferred over their Japanese counterparts, for the most part, horror fanatics prefer the Japanese ones. This is mostly due to the fact that they understand the context to which Japanese films operate. As mentioned earlier, one of the more common themes associated with Japanese horror is the supernatural, the unknown or unexplainable. This excites viewers because it presents a different way of seeing what they have come to understand as the norm. Essentially, audiences prefer stories that are crafted using the metaphysical – and unknown. This is shown in the attraction that people have to the concept of faith in religion, shows such as Ghost Adventures, and other television shows that are presented on History Channel and the like. Given this, why haven’t American horror movies been able to tap into this idea, whereas with other genres they have?
It can be argued that much of the problem appears to be lack of realistic narrative in American horror scripts. Hollywood is centered on making slasher flick after slasher flick, with a psychological thriller thrown into the mix, that it did not have anything else to hook onto other than remaking Japanese horror. While with other genres, there were more concepts and themes that could be exploited and explained. This helps to shed light on Hollywood’s gravitation toward Japanese horror films, and the remakes that they create. Pruett (2011) finds that Hollywood has become so used to remaking Japanese horror, that anything other than that is simply a slasher flick. Therefore, the genre has been lost for the most part in American society because Hollywood has run out of ideas. So it is not that American horror films have not been able to tap into the characteristics of the horror genre, it is that they continually go with what works or what is perceived to be working.
Conclusion
This paper discussed the differences between American and Japanese horror films. Specifically, the paper outlined how Hollywood has tried to remake Japanese horror films such as Ringu, in order to shift the common slasher flick creations. The paper explained that most audiences of horror films prefer the Japanese originals because they force a need to consider the plot twists and turns, rather than having them expressed as their American counterparts more often than not do. The paper also highlighted that there are some horror fanatics who believe that the American versions are better than the Japanese ones because they often present a different or dissimilar idea than the original one. The discussion over which is better will more than likely continue to be debated, with the majority preferring Japanese horror over American horror – and as long as Hollywood continues to remake the originals instead of creating new ideas and concepts for the genre, that preference will prevail.
Bibliography
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