The Treatment of Silence and Communication in “Lost In Translation” Dennis Odhiambo College

Lost in Translation as a romance film that subverts the typical romantic tropes of the genre offers a new take on affection and the power of the unspoken. The 2001 film focuses on the interaction between two central characters, actor Bob Harris (Bill Murray) and the college graduate Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) while exploring motifs of loneliness, emotional schism, and cultural dislocation. Both Bob and Charlotte share the disillusion of their individual lives and relationships which is amplified by the unfamiliar place. Subsequently through their similar yet dissimilar existential crises considering their age difference they form an unconventional bond or rather a romance. With Tokyo as the backdrop, Coppola handles the sort of miscommunications that arises in a foreign territory due to language barriers and cultural differences. Through this, the film’s framework is basically about communication in its entirety and how the spoken word can usually be misinterpreted or sometimes be deficient in our daily interactions and relationships. Henceforth, expressing the shortcomings of vocal communication in this particular context and even in totality considering how many verbal communications can sometimes feel lacking and...