GENDER AND ITS REFLECTION IN CINEMA: A LOOK AT THE WOMEN REPRESENTATION IN JAPANESE AND AMERICAN CINEMA’S THROUGH REMAKES

This article aims to analyze similarities and differences in perception of women from the perspective of social gender in eastern and western cultures through a comparison of recent japanese horror films and their remake by hollywood. films considered in this study are ringu (ring, 1998) and honogurai mizu no soko kara (dark waters), both directed by hideo nakata, and their hollywood remakes directed by gore verbinsky in 2001 and by walter salles in 2005 respectively. this is expected to provide a discussion on changing gender roles in society and conservative concerns about it through horror films. it would also provide a look at how these perceptions differ or are similar in different cultures in the modern world where cultures gets closer through globalization. for that aim films are analyzed from the perspective of social gender and main characters in film are compared with a feminist approach. analyzed films are based on themes of a strong women becoming a monster and inability of single mother raising a kid. both the american and the japanese versions relate women’s liberation in modern world and her separation from traditional roles to negative developments. films do differ, in turn, in how they perceive the role of men in this transformation, with japanese version putting part of the blame on men who failed to keep women in their traditional roles.