Sadako Yamamura
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Sadako Yamamura (山村貞子 Yamamura Sadako?) is the antagonist in Koji Suzuki's novel Ring and the more popular film of the same name. She returns as the antagonist in Rasen and is also the protagonist in Ring 0: Birthday. She is also the basis for the main villains of the Korean and American remakes of the Ring cycle films.
Her name combines the Japanese words for chaste (sada) and child (ko).
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[edit] Character
Sadako's character is not directly portrayed in Ring, but is briefly in Rasen and to a much greater extent in Ring 0: Birthday, although there are differences in these various portrayals.
Ring 0's "normal" Sadako was extremely timid and shy, and threatened by others.
Most other incarnations share one thing in common - Sadako's need to reproduce, something she can not do herself (she is portrayed as an intersexual.) This is generally the reason why she creates the "Ring Virus", since she will "live on" in it, as long as her DNA (merged with that of the smallpox virus) still exists (although in some incarnations where the "Ring Virus" is just treated as a mysterious phenomenon, and not a biological virus, she generally created it for the purpose of seeking vengeance on humanity).
Spiral or Rasen's Sadako is substantially different from her other incarnations, much cheerier and more confident (which is the result of mastering her powers, giving her god-like abilities). She is not timid at all - she engages in a sexual relationship with Mitsuo Ando, despite her intersexuality (Ando does not notice due to the lack of light), and also brazenly demands several things of him when they are dating, instead of answering his questions.
[edit] Gender
In the Ring novel Jotaro Nagao claims that when he raped Sadako (shortly before murdering her), he discovered she had Testicular Feminization Syndrome; despite having the external appearance of a beautiful woman, chromosonally she was XY, a male. The only external sign of her condition is the fact that she had external testes. Internally, she lacked a uterus or ovaries, meaning she could never conceive a child. This aspect of Sadako's character was not included in the film versions of Ring (or its American remakes) presumably because it was not as relevant to the plot and possibly too disturbing for certain audiences, though that aspect was included in the television serials and the Korean remake.
When Sadako is reborn in Spiral she has changed, physically, for no explicable reason, other than perhaps her own (possibly subconscious) intention via her psychic powers. The "new" Sadako has a womb and ovaries, and also states (in a letter to Ando) "What is more, the man in me can ejaculate." However, it would appear that she does not have a penis as such; rather, her ejaculations are internal - into herself.
Although Sadako inseminates herself twice in Spiral, she never carries an egg fertilised only by herself to term - and as such it cannot be said how such a pregnancy would operate. The following details are based on her "resurrections".
By removing the DNA in one of Sadako's fertilised eggs and replacing it with that of another (then returning the egg to her womb) Sadako can "resurrect" the dead (or potentially clone the living.) Her pregnancies, in these cases, last about a week, and the offspring grows back to their age/level of physical development from when the sample was taken in another week. The offspring retain all their memories from when the sample was taken, which Suzuki explains by claiming that memories are stored in the intron of DNA.
It is unclear whether Sadako can clone herself or not, and if so, what the gestation period would be, or how fast her clone would grow, and also what memories they would possess.
[edit] Two Sadakos?
The filmed version of Ring 0: Birthday introduced the concept of two Sadakos - an idea not present in the earlier Ring books or films. The movie implies that sometime in her early youth Sadako split into two identical girls. One was relatively normal, while the other was psychopathic and violent. This second Sadako was imprisoned by her father and drugged so that she would not physically mature. The second Sadako is never seen clearly, so it's not clear just what her physical state is, only that she has the size and proportions of a child.
Both Sadakos possessed psychic powers, although it is never clear whether they are the same. The "normal" Sadako exhibited, at one point, healing powers and also (similar to The Sixth Sense) the ability to see the ghosts. She was also linked to the other Sadako, who wielded more violent powers (such as psychokinesis) and used them to defend the "normal" Sadako when she was under duress - even if it was her own powers causing said duress. However, it was likely that neither Sadako had the other's skills, since the "older" Sadako did not use psychokinesis to prevent her murder, nor did the "younger" one use psychic healing skills to enter puberty.
After the violent murder of normal Sadako, the other Sadako merged with her. This merger involved no physical contact, as the child Sadako was locked in a room when it occurred (and vanished afterwards), and two characters watching over the nearby corpse of older Sadako witnessed only the reanimation of her corpse.
The "restored" Sadako was mostly based on the older one, although when provoked her powers surfaced and her appearance changed to resemble her younger form, her face obscured by her hair, moving mostly through shadows, etc. It is likely this is similar to multiple personality disorder, as Sadako later returns to a state of normalcy.
Due to the fact that movie-Sadako was not intersexed, it is generally believed that this "two Sadakos" plot point was conceived to create new reasons for the end result (Sadako thrown into the well), since the events as described in the "Lemonheart" novella, which Ring 0 was based on, relied rather heavily on Sadako's intersexuality.
The split between the two Sadako's in the film canon was detailed in a prequel Manga to Ring 0.
[edit] Sadako's appearance
The most recognizable image of Sadako is a shadowy woman whose face is covered in hair, crawling out of a television. This appearance is typical of Japanese ghosts, who are known as yūrei. Specifically, Sadako is a type of yūrei known as an onryō, a yūrei bound by a desire for vengeance.
Yūrei are Japanese ghosts, ones who have been bound to the physical world through strong emotions which do not allow them to pass on. Depending on the emotion that binds them, they manifest as a particular type of ghost.
Like many creatures of folklore, like vampires or werewolves, yūrei have a traditional appearance and follow a certain set of rules.
They are generally female, although male yūrei do exist. They wear white clothing, which is the color of clothing that corpses are traditionally dressed with in Japan. They have long, often unkempt black hair and white faces, which comes from Kabuki theater where each character has a particular type of wig and make-up that identifies them to the audience.
In addition to the standard yūrei appearance, Sadako is also an amalgamation of two famous Japanese ghosts, Oiwa and Okiku. From Oiwa, Sadako takes the single, mishapen eye. From Okiku, the style of murder, of being thrown down a well and then having the ghost rise from the well to seek vengence.
The success of the 1998 film Ring brought the image of the yūrei to Western popular culture for the first time, although the image has existed in Japan for centuries. This image is often used in J-Horror films, such as Ju-on (and its remake The Grudge), One Missed Call and Dark Water.
[edit] Sadako's powers
Sadako has a variety of psychic powers throughout all the Ring cycle books and films. The most famous is her ability to create the "cursed" video tape.
[edit] The videotape
In the films her method of killing with the video curse is not explained, but when someone is killed by it she is seen climbing out of the nearest reflective surface (the most famous portrayal of this being her crawl from a television screen) and approaching them. The corpses are discovered with looks of unearthly anguish on their faces, so it could be concluded that they "die of fright", i.e. a heart attack. In later films, the curse is explained in detail, and is discovered to in fact be a Virus. When someone watches the cursed tape (or something else carrying the curse) some of their cells DNA is changed to become that of the Ring Virus (i.e. a hybrid of Sadako's DNA and Smallpox's DNA). This travels through their body and (in most cases) causes a sarcoma to form on one of the arteries of their heart. After seven days (of contracting the virus), if the curse/virus has not been appeased the sarcoma detaches from the artery, and clogs it, causing heart failure.
[edit] Other powers
In Ring 0 Sadako exhibits a variety of abilities (mentioned above), including telekinesis, the ability to kill people instantly with psychic powers, healing abilities, ESP, and possibly the ability to split herself into two beings and merge them again.
Due to her curious new biology, Sadako also seems to be able to resurrect people (with some help from a genetic scientist) at the end of Spiral.
In Ring 2 it is discovered that Sadako was alive in the well for 30 years, dying shortly before she was uncovered in the previous film by Kazuyuki Asakawa. This implies that she had remained alive until she imparted her curse onto the tape, meaning that she also had superhuman endurance and longevity, as well as inedia (the ability to live for extended periods without nourishment).
In the original Japanese films, Sadako's tapes caused the victims of the videotape to have odd and malformed images when photographed. This remained until their death when Sadako enters this world and returns. Alongside this, the victims also caused a strip of paper in a science flask to absorb more water than usual, even spilling onto surfaces outside the flask, without tipping it or applying pressure. This occurs after the victim holds the flask and concentrates on the water for a few seconds.
Lastly, she managed to impart her curse onto the video tapes, showing the ability of projected thermography.
[edit] Influences and references
As stated earlier, Sadako's image is based on that of Oiwa; the legend, based on a real incident occurring in the 17th century, has similar elements to that of Sadako. Sadako is also based on the life of early-20th century psychic Sadako Takahashi, who in 1931 was studied by psychologist Tomokichi Fukurai for his book, Clairvoyance and Thoughtography.
Sadako, in turn, was the source for Park Eun-Suh from the Korean remake, The Ring Virus. She was also the main influence on Samara Morgan from the American remake, The Ring and its sequel, The Ring Two; like Sadako, she was born with supernatural powers, and was murdered by someone close to her (her foster mother.)
The character S-ko from the Guilty Gear video game series is based on Sadako. This is supported by a special attack by the character Zappa, which causes S-ko to reach out and grab at the enemy. If caught, the victim is made to view a tree blowing in the wind while kana appears before the screen cuts to blaring static with an eye in the center.
In addition, many other video games and anime series have had references to Sadako and/or Samara. The game Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly (Zero 2 in Japan), has a ghost with long, black hair which crawls out a well. The PC game Stone Smash has a Sadako-like character named Junketsuko hidden in one of the levels. Also, in Silent Hill 4, the player encounters a ghost named Cynthia, who bares a striking resemblance to Sadako. In We Love Katamari, a Ghost item resembling Sadako can be rolled up out of a well (of course, the well can be rolled up too). In the PC shooter F.E.A.R., the character Alma looks a lot like Sadako and has similar psychic powers. Alma is often panned as "just another Sadako ripoff" despite the strong differences in their backstories.
During both the animé and manga versions of Great Teacher Onizuka, there is a reference to Sadako. In one such episode, a joke "tape" is made which resembles the cursed tape to scare some unwitting Gundam nerds in a "haunted" abandoned hotel. Contrary to the time limit, however, a teacher dressed as Sadako appears out of the darkness to scare the nerds (to a very similar effect!) as soon as the video is finished. A manga called Gantz (and therefore the anime made after it) features a mysterious stalker girl looking much like Sadako. In the anime/manga Muteki Kanban Musume, a teacher named Tomoko Kayahara resembles Sadako, at least upon the other characters' initial observances of her. In August of 2000, The Ring: Terror's Realm was released on Dreamcast, that played much like Resident Evil. It portrays a world where the cure to Sadako's virus resides in virtual reality. All references are primarily from Ringu.
Sadako was later spoofed in a skit on episode Operation Rich In Spirit of the Cartoon Network series Robot Chicken. In the skit, a man at a dating service is told to watch any of a number of videotapes which eligible women have recorded. The man chooses The Cursed Videotape and watches in horror as Sadako crawls out from the TV; however, just as she is about to strike, she pulls back her hair, revealing an attractive young woman with blue eyes, commenting about she loves "long walks, sunsets, ponies -- so long as they don't keep me up at night" and "nice, Catholic men." The screen fades to black, shortly after the scene returns with the man on the ground, having been scared out of his wits before sardonically wondering "if she puts out." While some have stated this to be Samara instead of Sadako, it is not likely due to Samara's age, however, Sadako never had to deal with horses keeping her up at night either. Most likely is a nod to both Ring entities.
There is also a SIM card commercial in the Philippines that includes Sadako. A man approaches a well and wishes for a "hot chick", then tosses a coin into the well. A beautiful girl enters and dive into the well to retrieve up his coin. She adds coin to her money, to load her mobile phone. When the guy throws another coin, Sadako crawls out of the wishing well holding his coin. The man screams and runs away.
Additionally, Sadako is referenced in a number of recent works in several countries and languages; Eun-Suh and Samara are also referenced, but a lesser extent. Lastly, because of the similarities, images of and references to Oiwa, Sadako, Samara and Eun-Suh are sometimes confused for one another.
Like many aspects and symbols of Japanese pop culture, she has also been referenced by 2ch and 4chan in memetic fanart depicting her in a more positive or cute air (a fan-art/j-pop flash video is presented as an example, see the External Links section below), these memes also depict her in the guise of other anime characters (if they have long black hair or not). She has been called "Japan's most popular psychic ghost."
According to some literary trend in which recognized authors and wannabe writers create stories based upon or making references to pop culture icons, in 2005 an unknown story teller from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, with San Luis Potosi City Hall support published a short story based upon Sadako and related with the video piracy in Mexico City. This story was entitled "El circulo brillante" (The Coruscant Circle) and it doesn't mean to be a horror but a black humor fantasy about Mexican video piracy and the evil within the human being. (With information taken from the newspaper "San Luis Hoy" 11/16/2005. Edited in Spanish. Weblink scan: http://www.uaslp.mx/Sintesis/imgsin/sin161105slh1.jpg)
[edit] Portrayals
The Sadako, Eun-Suh, and Samara characters are played by a number of different actresses:
[edit] Sadako
- Rie Inō - Ring, Ring 2
- Hinako Saeki - Rasen
- Ayane Miura - Ring Complete
- Akiko Yada - Ring: The Final Chapter
- Yukie Nakama - Ring 0: Birthday
[edit] Eun-Suh
- Du-na Bae - The Ring Virus
[edit] Samara
- Daveigh Chase - The Ring, also archival footage in The Ring Two
- Kelly Stables - The Ring Two
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Sadako Flash - A flash-based pop-music video showcasing various anime/manga fan-art adaptations of Sadako.
- the ringworld - Fansite covering all aspects of the Ring series.
- the Ring AREA - Contains the cursed videos of the Ring cycle and their scene-by-scene analyses, as well as lots of other useful information.
- Ringu at the Internet Movie Database
| The Ring Cycle |
|---|
| Novels: Ring | Spiral | Loop | Birthday |
| Japanese Films: Ring 0 | Ring | Ring 2 | Rasen |
| American Films: The Ring | Rings | The Ring Two | The Ring 3 |
| Korean Films: The Ring Virus |
| Curses: Samara Morgan | Sadako Yamamura | Eun-Suh Park | The Video | Towel-Headed Man |
| Misc: Anna Morgan | Moesko Island Lighthouse | Hideo Nakata | She Is Here | Koji Suzuki | Terror's Realm |
