I think Ross is unduly disappointed by the latter stages of _Ring_ - the way the narrative circles back on itself and leaves the audience unsure of it's direction or of her son's survival... Nothing is resolved: it can all happen again... So is that 'gothic'? What did you mean?
By 'postmodern', I guess you're referring to the way that the horror 'effect' of the film is built upon the necessary reiteration of a context-specific 'act of seeing' - including a specific set of (wholly contingent) circumstances investigated and performed by the journalist: a ritual of watching and passing on the video. (It would be interesting to compare the diegetic importance of the video in _Ring_ to that in Cronenberg's _Videodrome_...) So I'm interested in Declan's approach to folk-tale through the idea of repetition - but also in how this centrality of performed repetition in the film(s) might relate to the more economic conditions of the sequel/prequel in the horror genre?
(For example, I see _Alien Resurrection_ as another 'horror' film that gets preoccupied with its own status of repetition: the way it quotes and recycles from the previous films (and elsewhere) can be read as a sign of the franchise running out of creative steam, or as something interesting in its own right (viz. the theme of hybridity and replication in the film).)
Richard
-----Original Message-----
From: Ross Macleay [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 04 November 2002 00:13
Subject: Re: The Ring, Nataka Hideo, film & folktale
The killing video in The Ring is one of the most promising beginnings. It shows the screen as haunting, terrifying and irresistable. But sadly the film subsides from postmodern to gothic horror.
Ross
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