English 1102 Course Blog

Questions for Discussion: The Ring

[Quick note: I'll have a few things to say about Turnitin.com in class on Wednesday. You will be required to submit your essays, but I will need to provide you with specific course ID and password information.]

Here are a few advance questions for this week's discussion of The Ring (IMDB site) (official site), which we will be watching this week. When you write your blog entries, you must respond to one of the following questions, but you should keep all of these questions in mind as you watch the film. As you watch, pay careful attention to the film's visual style, specifically its use of color, spcae, lighting, and props. For example, one recurrent image, or motif, might be the number of screens (TV screens, windshields, mirrors, windows) we see throughout the film. Keep in mind that motifs can imply both consistency and contrast (comparisons between city and country, color contrasts, etc).

1. Identify one of the key visual and/or aural motifs in The Ring and discuss its significance to the overall effect and meaning of the film.
2. Many theorists have suggested that horror films have entered a "postmodern" phase, which is characterized in part by reference to earlier horror films. As you watched The Ring, did you catch references to earlier films? Which films? What is the overall effect of this type of allusion on the viewer?
3. Throughout the film, communications technologies appear to be "haunted," threatening to shatter the safety and security of the film's central characters. Identify several of the references to communications technologies and discuss how they function within this logic (keep in mind some of our discussion of identity fragmentation as it pertains to Fight Club).
4. Domestic space is a crucial motif in The Ring. How are families portrayed in the film? How might we compare Rachel's family with the Morgan family?
5. In this context, you might consider ways of making sense of the content of the videotape itself. What can the contents of the videotape be said to represent?

I will place 1-2 essays on electronic reserve this week, which you should be prepared to discuss on Monday.