Maybe it was that it was raining heavily and the sky was slate grey and dark. Or maybe I just don’t like Mondays. I don't know. But once again, I found that I was compelled to watch The Ring –a film I've seen countless times, yet for every time I have seen it, "I looked but I didn’t see." That there are Easter Eggs buried in nanosecond film clips – those ghost images you can spot if you really look hard. These little blips of footage have the same staccato effect as a strobe – the way things seem to move haltingly, so in a way, though you see less, you see more.
I came across a review that said, pithily, "The Ring will never be more than a pretty good movie." I agree that it's pretty good – but will it ever be more? I was under the impression that it already was more. That there is this whole generation who grew up with films like Nightmare on Elm Street and The Exorcist, Damien: The Omen, that all contrived to set the stage for The Ring. In almost all, there is usually a weird, prescient kid (I keep seeing them in modern horror movies) who all have the same folded and pressed, slightly evil look with their latex white pallor and glossy, dark hair and squinty blue eyes. Kids at the age of innocence– between seven and twelve - I even spotted one in About a Boy (a horror film in a slightly different way). They'e all kids who are a bit outcast, those unaccepted by their peers, and even weird out their parents. Think: Stir of Echos, The Sixth Sense, The Others, and countless others. In every case, they are children who, odd as they may be, are able to see things that the rest of us are blind to.
Like Rachel's (Naomi Watts) son, Aidan, in The Ring, they are children who seem wiser than the adults who surround them. It is Aidan who lays out Rachel's clothes for her as they solemnly prepare for his cousin's funeral (do seven year olds usually do this sort of thing?). That he calls her Rachel, not mom; that he is calm and she is sort of hysterical. That he knows about Samora and the threat she poses and Naomi Watts, in her ditzy effort to do right by what she perceives as this poor girl, will eventually go and unearth her from the depths of her well-hole and once again, unleash Samora's fury on society.
That Aidan knows this to be the worst thing his mother could have done perhaps illustrates for us what we felt when we were young – seeing ourselves surrounded, we thought, by stupid and mindless adults. It seemed too often that our parents were ineffective. They often thought we were weird or burdensome, that we never quite fit in somehow. We were not the be-ribboned, neat children they themselves had been. The Leave It To Beaver kid. Our generation was largely undefined. We may have been disaffected and spoken and still speak in this monotonous, disaffected tone, but that's only because we got tired of all of the hysteria and shrillness around us, largely brought on by our parents who, seemingly immune to the threat of nuclear war and so many other painful and frightening things that we saw, went out to discos and mod clubs and listened to "I Love The Nightlife" and hid on the disco and had pool parties with the neighbors, who rubbed our silky heads like we were little pets, as they stripped down to their crochet bikinis. The things we saw: it's a wonder we didn't go blind.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Sadi, this was an excellent article.
I prefer Hideo Nakata's original, but this was an excellent film also. (the only problem i had, actually, was the same one i had with Nakata's film, namely the prologue. Just seemed corny as all hell.)
You touched on something i found rather bizarre and a tad distrubing in The Ring (more so in the american version, were the emphasis is put on how evil Sadako (Samara) is.) It seems to be a justification for abortion, (being pro-choice, i don't particularly find this worrying, just a bit odd) but worse, it plays on the idea that some kids can be born "wrong" and should be done away with.
Still, an interesting film, one which isn't an embaresment to the original (the asians managed that well enough themselves with the godawful sequels) and actualy adds to the mythology.
Thanks.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
also, on the subject of the subliminal imagery - at one point, i think its when (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER)Naomi finds the young un watching the video, and she rushes to him in slow motion, you can see through into the kitchen behind her. its dark, and you can see someone walking around in there. Was it a crew member? or a "ghost" thrown in to add to the unease. Either way, its a cool moment.
3 - Eric Olsen
fascinating rumination on generational slippage as viewed through the prism of a popular horror film, which I imagine I will now have to see. Thanks Sadi!
4 - srp
that's a good point about the children being "wrong" and an excuse for abortion. it wasn't what i was getting at, and i didn't see that myself in the film, but your point is well taken. To me, it was more about messing with the order of nature - which is really the opposite of that, if you follow...
And Duke, i hadn't seen the ghost. Crap, now i'm going to have to watch it again and see that. every time i see this film, i find more and more.
yes, Eric, slippage is a good word. i know, it's typical sadi off on a tangent - down a path that may not be right, but is just my own observation and weird brain circuitry. it all reminded me of that belief that we are "every character in our dreams." The Ring seemed like that to me - that i could see glimmers of myself and others in my generation in all of the characters, with a few exceptions - even in Samora, which was odd, but there you have it. Won't repeat my thoughts - they're all laid out there.
Many thanks to all for reading, as always.
srp
5 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
sadi, just a note about the original sequel, Spiral. You can find The Duke's review of it at http://www.mondoirlando.com/spiral.html
If you haven't seen it, you can count yourself fortunate and also, you may be suprised at the innane nonsense they concocted.
Ring 2, the one released for to eliminate all memories of the spiral toss isn't much better.
Oh, and spiral shouldn't be confused with the other asian horror about spirals, of which there is a review on the front page of this very site at the minute, i just noticed. Must investigate...
6 - Eric Olsen
being able to accurately convey your own "weird brain circuitry" is a gift, not a curse
7 - srp
am going to have to check out this Spiral film The Duke speaks of.
Yeah, Eric - i pray you're right. Not always feeling that way, but that's okay. It's something to do with the time... and getting feedback and thoughts from others is great - one of the best parts.
cool cool
rock on. i'm going to read Duke's Spiral review, then check out this other spiral film reviewed herein.
What IS all this about going in circles anyway?
interesting
srp
8 - klvzlsdjs
I think the ring was a great, great, movie
9 - sadi
obviously i did too..i think a lot of people really liked it and it's very rich in texture and layers too, so can be read on so many levels, which makes each time you see it the more interesting.
thx. for reading.
srp
10 - danielle
wierdos! this thing is dead scary!
11 - Rebecca
you spelled Samara wrong
12 - sadi ranson-polizzotti
Thanks Rebecca -- i'd rather be corrected, so thanks for that....