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Ring: Comparing the Novel and the Movie Adaptation

While the movie leaves permanent horror in viewers’ minds, the book delves into a range of social issues, explores medical technologies, and examines research into psychic phenomena.







In the movie, Sakato is killed by her father, who discovers her daughter’s sinister supernatural power and dumps the body into a well in a secluded forest.


However, in the novel, Sakato is raped and murdered by a patient infected with smallpox while visiting her father, who is suffering from tuberculosis in the hospital.


When the patient rapes Sakato, he discovers that Sakato was intersex while in the movie, she is simply a woman.


Why is Sakato portrayed as an intersex individual in the book?

The author discusses various issues related to cloning technologies and genetics that are omitted in the movie.


 

In the book, any female who interacts with this malevolent while ovulating — originally a videotape, later extended to books, and ultimately encompassing other media such as music and video games — will give birth to “Sadako.”


As an intersex entity, the “born Sadako” possesses the ability to self-reproduce more “Sadakos.” In time, once all other humans, either male or non-ovulating females, have died out, the world will be dominated by “Sarakos” sharing identical genetic material.


 

In the movie, the plot is simple to follow. With the ability of ‘mind writing’, which means being able to manifest one’s thoughts onto a photograph or paper, Sakato used this ability to instill her grudge into a videotape attached to the curse of being ‘contagious’ of the smallpox virus.


Anyone who watched the videotape but failed to follow her desired “instructions” would die from heart failure seven days later due to the virus. And these instructions were to let other people watch the videotape to pass down the curse.


The videotape in the novel lasts approximately 30 minutes, whereas in the movie, it only lasts about one minute. Additionally, in the novel, the message about dying in seven days is presented at the end of the videotape as subtitles, while in the movie adaptation, Sadako calls the tape’s viewers to deliver the message.


This alternative detail showcases the significant meaning of the name of the movie, The Ring, as it can be interpreted as a reference to the circular well that is the only sight Sakato can see inside the well and the never-ending loop of the curse, as well as the third meaning of the word “ring” — the telephone ringing, as Sadako personally delivers the curse message via phone call.


The iconic scene where Sadako crawls out from the television does not occur in the novel. Directors of movie or TV adaptations are acutely aware of what horror enthralls viewers and understand how to embed a memorable scene in their minds.


Consequently, they often omit extensive scientific research and issues of humanity, leaving an ineradicable mark with the legendary horror element of The Ring.


After writing this, I realize there’s a reason I can rewatch The Lord of the Rings series countless times, yet I struggle to complete even a single chapter of the book. The same logic applies to The Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire.

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