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Ghost in the machine

Probing the Japanese roots of The Ring.

- June 20, 2011

Professor Anthony Enns. (Nick Pearce Photo)
Professor Anthony Enns. (Nick Pearce Photo)

When The Ring came out in 2002, most people watched it once, then allowed it to fade from mind so their heart rates could return to normal. Not so Dal professor Anthony Enns.

His fascination with The Ring not only lasted, but recently culminated in his article ā€œThe Horror of Media: Technology and Spirituality in the Ringu films,ā€ published in collection The Scary Screen (ed. Kristen Lacefield, London: Ashgate Publishing, 2010).

ā€œMy essay is on the Japanese filmsā€¦ and the history of Japanese parapsychology,ā€ explains Dr. Enns, assistant professor of English. ā€My dissertation was on spiritualism and psychical researchā€¦ I actually knew about the history before I saw the films.ā€

Scary sources


When he first viewed the Japanese film The Ring is based upon, Ringu (Hideo Nakata, 1998) Dr. Enns was struck by its similarities to the story of historical Japanese parapsychological researcher Tomokichi Fukurai. ā€œAs soon as I saw the Japanese films, I knew that they were borrowing from this book,ā€ says Dr. Enns. ā€œThis (the film) is based loosely on an actual press conference that Fukurai held in 1910.ā€

Many North American viewers missed the homage by watching only director Gore Verbinskiā€™s take: ā€œAll of this history is omitted from the American remakeā€¦ I think thatā€™s simply because international viewers would not recognize the references to Fukurai.ā€

Not only does Dr. Enns view Ringu as being quietly inspired by Fukuraiā€™s work, he sees Fukurai himself as subtly resisting the 20th century domination of Western modernization over local Japanese traditions.

ā€œPsychology, as a discipline, was imported from the Westā€¦ Fukurai was trying to counteract this tendency. He wasnā€™t embracing the Western version of psychology that he was ā€˜supposed to,ā€™ā€ but instead, ā€œan older tradition that didnā€™t fit into Western notions of rationality.ā€ Fukaraiā€™s work in the occult brought him into association with Japanese mediums such as Chizuko Mifune and Sadako Takahashi, women who claimed talents of clairvoyance and nengraphy (the ability to influence photographs). Fukuraiā€™s publication of his theories met with widespread ridicule. ā€œIn the film,ā€ says Dr. Enns, ā€œThey incorporate the psychicā€™s suicide, nengraphyā€¦ although the shift is from photography onto videotapes.ā€

While he enjoyed Ringu, Enns doesnā€™t think it helped Fukuraiā€™s image. ā€œI do think thereā€™s something very conservative, ultimately, about the narrative. Theyā€™re betraying what Fukurai was trying to doā€¦ suddenly psychical research is something to be afraid of, itā€™s something to be feared,ā€ he explains, though he takes care to add ā€œbut I think theyā€™re great as films.ā€ The Japanese film was based on Koji Suzukiā€™s novel Ringu, and according to Dr. Enns, print narratives tend to take a hard tack on the occult possibilities inherent in new technologies. ā€œNew technologies always have urban legends: ghost photographs, phonograph recordings of voices of the deadā€¦ the history is fascinatingā€¦ these narratives are incorporated into print narratives through the mode of the gothic. Print narratives are always trying to remind us that other media are dangerous.ā€

Fascinating reading


Itā€™s also no coincidence that the terrifying evil at the heart of the different versions of Ringu is always female: early spiritualism had feminist undertones. ā€œFor a lot of women in the mid-19th century, being a medium was the only way to get work.ā€ Women, after all, were the telephone operators, and a ā€œspiritual medium was a switchboard for the dead.ā€

Given Dr. Ennsā€™ intense and sustained research on otherworldly interactions, does he care to weigh in? Do ghosts, mediums, clairvoyants exist? Were Fukurai and his mediums spurned visionaries, or mere tricksters?

ā€œI donā€™t know, and I donā€™t think it matters,ā€ says Dr. Enns. ā€œItā€™s very possible that the mediums were conning himā€¦ I donā€™t think that he himself had a motive for trying to trick people.ā€ And why societyā€™s eternal fascination with the supernatural and horrific, from Fukuraiā€™s era to our own? Are we just a morbid bunch? Dr. Enns gives us a little more credit. ā€œI donā€™t believe in spirits, but with these new technologiesā€¦ we are surrounded by the dead all the time in a way that people from the 18th century wouldnā€™t have experienced.ā€

If youā€™ve seen Ringu, then, Dr. Ennsā€™ article will prove fascinating reading material, and, if you havenā€™t, it comes recommended by a reliable source. Throw some popcorn in the microwave, and donā€™t forget to leave the lights on.