Trailer: Secret Reunion (Korean, 2010)

Trailer: Memories of Murder (Korean, 2003)

The Americanisation of Asian Cinema

For this assignment I intended to compare motion pictures that have been made in Asian counties such as Japan, China, Thailand and South Korea with the Hollywood remakes to see if the stories have been Americanized at all. I will analyse any differences in the narration, characters and outcomes of the films, as well as paying close attention to styles in which the films are produced. I will be concentrating on the horror genre. The films I intend to analyse are Ring (Japan, 1998) with The Ring (USA, 2002); a story about a cursed videotape that kills its viewers a week after they watch it, Ju-on: The Grudge (Japan, 2002) with The Grudge (USA, 2004); a film about a tortured spirit that haunts anyone that enters the house in which it resides, A Tale of Two Sisters (South Korea, 2003) with The Uninvited (USA, 2009); a story about two sisters attempting to reconcile with their father and his new girlfriend/wife after an unknown incident, The Eye (Hong Kong, 2002) with The Eye (USA, 2008); a film about a blind girl who has a cornea transplant that leads her to being able to see spirits, Shutter (Thailand, 2004) with Shutter (USA, 2008); a movie about a couple being haunted by a ghost that appears in photographs and finally Dark Water (Japan, 2002) with Dark Water (USA, 2005); a story that follows a recently divorced woman moving into a creepy apartment with her daughter.


The assignment will be broken down into five parts, firstly I will analyse the difference in characters, then the differences in the settings of the films, then the differences in the production of the film, then the differences in the narrative and finally I will be looking at product placement in the films. I will then conclude the assignment and answer the question; have the remakes of the selected Asian films been Americanized?


Firstly I will be analysing the differences in the characters. From my research I have discovered that the lead roles of the females in the remakes are often shown to be more innocent than those in the original versions of the films. For example in Shutter (2004) the lead role Jane and her boyfriend; Tunn are involved in a car accident, this also happens in the remake, but the major difference is that in the Thai version the couple are drunk and when they run someone over they decide to drive off leaving the body on the road. In contrast to the American version in which both Jane and her husband; Ben are sober and after the accident they search for the body, unsuccessfully, and they also inform the police on the matter, who also search for the girl, unsuccessfully. Also when comparing the main character in A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) with its American remake The Uninvited (2009), we find that Anna (from the American version) is much a much more pleasant girl than Su-mi (from the original). “Elder sister Su-mi [...] is sullen, depressed, and more than a little hostile toward everyone except her little sister”[i] while Anna is much more upbeat and despite not liking her father’s new lover (Rachel) she at least makes an effort to get on with her. Although this is not always the case, as in The Ring (2002), where the main characters take it upon themselves to break certain rules so they can further their investigation into the mystery surrounding the haunted videotape. For example the lead character, a journalist named Rachel Keller steals the videotape from the hotel lodge, in contrast the lead in the original; Reiko simply asks for the videotape. The remake also shows Noah breaking into an asylum to retrieve information on an ex-patient. From this I conclude that in the remakes the main characters are less deserving of the haunting or troubles inflicted on them, as they display more compassion than their Asian counterparts. The American characters are also willing to go further lengths to discover why deaths or hauntings are taking place and they do not mind breaking rules.

The amount of wealth and success on display when comparing the films is clear to see, for example in the original Shutter (2004) Tunn, is only a small time photographer (who shoots images for school graduations), he lives in a small flat and drives a small car. His counterpart on the other hand; Ben (from the remake) is an extremely successful photographer (for a major company named TGK), who lives in a penthouse suite and drives an expensive Jeep. The subject of success and wealth is also present in The Eye (2008) when compared with the original. For example Mun (in the original) is a violinist, playing with a group of musicians, while Sydney (from the remake) is much more successful, as she is the lead violinist and also in another scene from the film she is in a music studio recording a record. Also in The Eye (2008), much like in Shutter (2008), the main character has a much bigger apartment when compared to Mun. Mun lives in a small apartment in a large not too attractive building with her grandma, while Sydney resides in a large apartment on her own. When we look at both versions of Dark Water it is easy to notice that the levels of living arrangements are the same. As both versions show a mother and her daughter living in a small, run down apartment, but this is because it is the main storyline, and the happenings of the film heavily revolve around the apartment. But it is worth mentioning that although the wealth does not change in the remake, the job that the lead role has, does alter. In the original film, the main character works as a proof reader for a small publishing company, while in the remake, Dahlia gets a job working as a copy editor. While the job is still in the same field of employment; publishing, the American character has a much better job than her Japanese counterpart. From this I can conclude that the Americans are presented as much more successful in their field of employment than the characters in the Asian originals and because of this they display more material wealth such as bigger, more expensive apartments and more expensive cars.

Secondly I will be analysing the settings of the films. While most of the remakes take place in America, The Grudge (2004) and Shutter (2008) attempt to keep the feel of the orient in their production by placing Americans in Japan. “The remakes, on the other hand, rely on the star power of non-Asian actresses and actors such as Naomi Watts (The Ring and The Ring Two), Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge) [...], who speak English and stay comfortably in American or Americanized East Asian settings. The most ironic arrangement is in The Grudge, which, despite the settings in Japan, stars [...] Sarah Michelle Gellar as an expatriate American social worker.”[ii] As Xu states, despite Americans being plunged into a new country they remain isolated from the Japanese culture as they continue to work and socialise with only other Americans. With detaching the characters from their Japanese surroundings it makes setting the films in Japan redundant, as the only aspect of Japan about the films themselves are the urban myths of the ghosts that haunt the main characters. In Shutter (2008), Ben and Jane move into a penthouse apartment, which is fully furnished with expensive furniture, making it look like a typical American apartment. In the example of The Grudge (2004) and Shutter (2008) it would make no difference if either of the films were set in America, like the other remakes. By surrounding the characters with Americans it could be argued that The Grudge (2004) and Shutter (2008) are more Americanized than the other remakes because they have completely ignored the culture in which the characters are surrounded.

Scenes are also displayed in different ways in the American version. One example in is The Eye, after Mun has had her operation she attends a calligraphy class, to learn how to write Mandarin, which could be thought of as common place to a Westerner viewing the film, until the calligrapher points out that not as many people are interested in Mandarin calligraphy anymore and he only teaches one class a week. While in contrast to the American remake, in which Sydney goes to a coffee shop. Going to a coffee shop is seen as a much more popular American past time. This again involves Americanisation, whereas both girls are previously blind, one attends a class on how to write while the other goes for a coffee.

Thirdly I will be analysing the production of the films themselves. It is easy to notice that the remakes are often much brighter than the originals. For example the house in A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) is "a dark, brooding Victorian pile contained within the austere perpendicular lines of a Korean countryside.”[iii] While in the remake the house is situated on a beautiful lake with a boathouse at the back and brightly decorated on the inside. This once again ties into the argument previously put forward that the remakes put forward a sense of more wealth as the American house is much more contemporary, compared to the old-style house featured in the original film. The American version of The Ring (2002) is also brighter and the production is polished when compared to Ring (1998), which at times has a grainy effect which relates to the storyline about a cursed videotape. Seeing as The Ring (2002), was to be put out by a major Hollywood studio (DreamWorks), adding a grainy effect to parts of the film may send the wrong message to audiences and possibly make the film look underfunded or crudely put together.

I will now concentrate on differences in the films. The American versions of the films often end happier than the original Asian versions, which relates to a typical Hollywood finale in which people are saved and live happy ever after. This can be seen in the original version of The Eye (2004), in which the main character Mun has a premonition (while stuck in a traffic jam), that there will be an explosion and everyone stuck in the jam will die. She acts on this premonition and attempts to get people out of their cars and to safety, although she is unsuccessful and almost everyone dies. The same scene takes place in the remake, but this time the main character Sydney is successful as she is able to convince the people in the traffic jam. She then gets them safely out of the way of the blast and nobody dies. The remake of Shutter has an alternative ending to the original. In the original Shutter (2004) Jane goes to see Tunn in hospital, despite discovering that his friends raped a girl and he photographed it all and hid the secret. This suggests that she has forgiven him. Whereas in the remake Jane does not go visit her husband Ben when discovering the same thing happened. This suggests that (the original) Jane is weaker than Jane (from the remake), who stood by her original convictions and decided to never see Ben again. This also relates to the innocence of Jane (Shutter, 2008) when compared to original Jane, previously discussed when comparing characters. The ending of The Uninvited (2009) differs from A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) too. In the original we discover that Su-mi has multiple personalities, and she has been imagining her sister; Su-yeong (who died) and acting out as her very own step-mother. Whereas in the remake, we discover that Anna has been imagining her sister; Alex (who also died), but her dad’s new girlfriend; Rachel was not part of her multiple personalities. Instead, Anna kills Rachel, while acting out as Alex. Often the American versions will display additional material too. For example in The Ring (2002) the cursed videotape is extended, the characters that have viewed the videotape get nose bleeds, horses drowning is written into the storyline and there is a reoccurrence of flies and puddles of water appearing.

Another main difference between the originals and the remakes is the amount of product placement that features in the American versions. While early remakes such as The Ring (2002) and The Grudge (2004) feature limited or no product placement, by the time Shutter (2008) is released there are plenty of brand name products and companies getting mentioned or shown. The original Shutter (2004) does feature some name brands such as Canon, Fujifilm and Polaroid, all of which are linked into the storyline, seeing as the film revolves around photography. We see this again in the remake, as Pentax, Lecia, Polaroid and Kodak make appearances, but so do products not relating to photography, such as Jeep, FedEx, SanDisk, Apple Mac and Cadillac. The Uninvited (2009) has more products on offer than A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), showing Range Rover, BMW, iPod, Apple Mac and Ford. The remake of The Eye (2008) features products such as Lipton Ice Tea, a Samsung television and also a Chrystler car, although there is less product placements in The Eye (2008) when compared to Shutter (2008), there are certainly more in the remake than the original. In both versions of Dark Water, there is a child’s bag that plays a major role in the film as it belongs to the ghost of the girl (named Mitsuko is the original and Natasha in the remake) and it appears again throughout the film, but in the Japanese version it is simply a school bag with a cartoon bunny on it, but when it comes to the American version it becomes an Hello Kitty bag. This could be down to presenting the American characters as capitalist commodities, surrounding themselves with products that are instantly recognisable to audiences, especially when it comes to cars, as audiences instantly recognise the badge or logo of a car and can determine the wealth of a character from that.

In conclusion, the Asian films I have studied have been Americanized, but to different degrees. Seeing as the majority of the films are re-set onto an American backdrop, Americanisation was inevitable. Characters were bound to pick up American traits, such as living in classier homes, driving expensive cars, wearing more glamorous clothes and working better jobs for better money. For the most part the American characters are put forward to be liked more by an audience; we can see this in Shutter, as Ben and Jane are a much more caring couple than Tunn and Jane. The American versions of the films are often altered to a happier ending to make them more digestible for the Hollywood audience; in Shutter (2008) Jane does not return to Ben after discovering what he did and in The Eye (2008) Sydney manages to convince people to move in time to get away from the explosion. A key sign of Americanisation lies in the product placement featured in the remakes, while the originals feature next to nothing being advertised, the remakes are often rife with brand name products being shown off as a sign of wealth, like Ben’s Jeep (in Shutter, 2008), Rachel’s BMW and designer glasses (in The Uninvited, 2009) and Sydney’s widescreen Samsung television (in The Eye, 2008). For the most part the final product that is produced by the Americans is clean cut and polished, we see this comparing The Ring (2002) with Ring (1998), with the original being shot with a grainy feel that echoes back the main storyline; a cursed videotape. Perhaps the most Americanized films I have research are The Grudge (2004) and Shutter (2008), while it is clear that an attempt has been made to relate the remakes to the originals by setting them in Japan (although the original Shutter was based in Thailand), they feature a cast almost entirely made up of Americans, which suggests they could have just be based in America in the first place. These two films optimise the Americanisation of Asian films, as they are set in Asia but the characters are so withdrawn from their surroundings that the Japanese culture does not even matter in the context of the films. So to reiterate, all of the films I have studied have been Americanized to a certain degree, while some such as The Ring (2002) or Dark Water (2005), have only been changed slightly for American consumption, with the American’s shooting the films slightly different or altering storylines to better suit the American audiences. Other films such as Shutter (2008), with its American centred cast and copious product placements have been Americanized to preposterous lengths.

---

[i] Galloway, Patrick. “Asia Shock; Horror and Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand”. Stone Bridge Press. 2006. (page 36)

[ii] Xu, Gary G. “Sinascape; Contemporary Chinese Cinema”. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 2007 (pages 154-155)

[iii] Galloway, Patrick. “Asia Shock; Horror and Dark Cinema from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Thailand”. Stone Bridge Press. 2006. (page 36)

Review: Sick Nurses (Thailand, 2007)

Sick Nurses (สวยลากไส้) is a Thai Horror film about a rundown, shabby looking hospital in Bangkok. Tahwaan, who happens to be a lady-boy, was to marry Dr. Tar, until discovering that the good old doctor had gotten one of the other nurses pregnant, feeling betrayed he/she/’IT’ threatens to go to the police and inform them of the body-selling scam that’s been taking place, in order to save themselves, the other nurses kill her off. Tahwaan, returns to haunt them, killing them one by one, in the goriest ways possible.

I sometimes got confused watching this movie, not because of the storyline or anything, but the way it came across felt like a porno at times. It’s probably the most sex-charged horror film I’ve ever seen … yet there’s no sex! Soft-porn-Horror! Despite this the film is quite good, it doesn’t hang about, wasting time with a “plot”; the action is prominent from the get-go.

You get the idea that the film is not to be taken too seriously, but yet it does have some strange and unexpected twists towards the end and there’s some intriguing camera work throughout the film.

So, the film’s nothing spectacular, but if you like pretty girls in nurse outfits getting slaughtered, you should definitely watch it... and who doesn't like that?

Review: Audition (Japan, 1999)

Audition (オーディション) is the much talked about Japanese horror film directed by the infamous Takashi Miike. The film is a story of an older man attempting to find love after losing his wife seven years before. To find himself a woman the man holds an audition, with his friend and he comes across a girl he believes to be “the one”.

It’s hard to review this film without going on to spoil the end, so I urge you to buy, borrow, rent, steal, download or watch online … basically go to any length you can to see this film and avoid getting information on the actual storyline as the film will lose some of its impact.

Because of my ever growing hunger for films from the East I couldn’t avoid people mentioning this film. I’ve heard everybody from Jonathan Ross to Quentin Tarantino praise it. So I kind of already had an inkling into what was going to take place.

So watch it, then come back and highlight what is under this sentence.

Audition isn’t you’re typical horror film, but of course you know this now, seeing as I’ve told you to watch it and you shouldn’t be reading this if you haven’t. It sets itself up as some sort of romantic drama in which we find Aoyama (Ryo Ishibashi) in search of woman to marry and the story moves at a steady pace. Although we get treated to little things that could be to come, such as Yoshikawa’s (Jun Kunimura) uncertainty about Asami Yamazaki (Eihi Shiina).

And of course Yoshikawa was right to be uncertain, because Asami’s a fucking basket case. The torture scene is incredible. It just counterbalances the movie so well. It’s not for the squeamish, as my girlfriend found out as she watched through the gaps in her fingers and complained about another “romantic night in”. The acting is brilliant too, Eihi Shiina pulls it off as a shy girl, but you get the feeling something else is going off and it’s hard not to feel sorry for Aoyama and you do want him to find a new love.

I was unsure if Audition would live up to the hype, especially after seeing Ichi The Killer (don’t get me wrong, great film – but I was promised that I’d feel sick, which I didn’t), but it did. Kudos Takashi Miike.

Trailer: 13: Game of Death (Thai, 2006)

Review: 13: Game of Death (Thailand, 2006)

13: Game of Death aka 13 Beloved (13 เกมสยอง) is a psychological thriller with elements of black comedy. The story revolves around a young man; Phuchit (Krissada Terrence), who is at rock bottom after losing his job, his girlfriend and his car.

Phuchit then gets a mysterious phone call, the voice on the other end of the phone tells him he has a chance to win 100 million baht, all he has to do is 13 tasks. Phuchit is apprehensive at first, but eventually takes on the tasks one by one, instructed by the voice on the telephone. The tasks start out simple enough but as time goes on they get more brutal. Some tasks are funny (Task 3), some are kind of gross (Task 5) and some are a mixture of both (Task 7).

As the tasks go on Phuchit has to face up to aspects of his past and make moral decisions that will affect his future. The films manages to hold the viewers suspense throughout and you are forever wondering what the next task will bring. The film also demonstrates the lengths that people will go due to their greed and love of money.

This is by far one of the best films I have seen from Thailand yet.

Director: Chookiat Sakveerakul
Year: 2006

Review: The Host (South Korea, 2006)

The Host (괴물) bills itself as a monster movie, when in fact it’s so much more, with terrific elements of black comedy and a political undertone that is evident throughout, director Bong Joon-ho has put together a superb film.

The film is based around a mutated creature living in Han River that kidnaps a young schoolgirl; Hyun-seo (played by Ko Ah-seong), it is then up to her family to try and rescue her. Each family member has their own little quirk or personal obstacles to over come, for example the aunt Nam-joo (played by Bae Doona) has a tendency to hesitate under pressure.

As the film progresses it becomes harder for the family to attempt to save Hyun-seo because of government intervention and an overwhelming American presence around Han River. After a fear over a outbreak of a deadly virus, that started with the creature and passed on to Park Gang-du (played by Song Kang-ho); Hyun-seo’s father, the family become wanted fugitives and the pressure mounts on them as the continue to find the monsters nest to save Hyun-seo.

What was I found good about this particular picture was the monster itself, unlike typical monster movies I’ve seen before, we actually get to see a good view of this particular monster form early on. The monster itself is quite bizarre; it does have a look of a mutation (or what I would imagine a mutation to look like). The film also has some quite funny moments and I like the political aspect included about the American involvement too.

I highly recommend this film to anyone, I’m not a massive fan of monster movies, but I found this film a delight to watch.

Director: Bong Joon-ho
Year: 2006