This paper will discuss a film that clearly illustrates the idea of ethnocentrism. It will try to identify and to and to highlight the process and concept of ethnocentrism through the ideas and thoughts conveyed by a film thru its viewers. It will also try to provide a holistic account of a film using the ethnocentricity as a model and as a guide in truly comprehending the film.
The film that was chosen was the film entitled “Lost in Translation” starring Bill Murray as Bob Harris and Scarlett Johansson as Charlotte. Bob is an aging Hollywood actor on the downward slope of his career who went to Tokyo to record a whiskey commercial and to finally salvage his career. Charlotte meanwhile is the wife of a famous photographer who is always busy shooting his talents. Because of loneliness, alienation and depression in a foreign land, they met up in the hotel barroom creating a bond of friendship between the two. This film clearly illustrates and gives emphasis to the concept and process of ethnocentrism. On the textbook and other academic papers, ethnocentrism is defined as the tendency to view another society’s culture through the eyes of the culture that you belong. To make it clear, ethnocentrism refers to the viewing, interpreting and comprehending a specific culture by looking at it through the perspective and standards of the culture that a person belongs to. This concept refers to the judging and evaluating of a specific culture using the criteria and benchmark advocated by the culture of the person who is observing.
In the humble words of this student, ethnocentrism refers to the prejudging the intricacies of a strange and alien culture. It refers to the judgment passed by an individual to a strange culture without truly understanding the meanings and concepts behind that culture. It can also means the act of evaluating a culture based on a person’s preconceived idea and concepts that he/she learned from his/hers society. Since a person is using his own culture as a benchmark in judging and analyzing other cultures, there is a tendency to judge and label cultures as inferior or substandard. Ethnocentrism would turn into violence and hate when there is a move to eradicate, suppress or force people to overlook their own culture in favor of a “superior culture”. Ethnocentrism in its extreme form would also mean the suppression and killing or people which are judged as having inferior cultures.
The title of the film evidently illustrates the central point of the concept ethnocentrism. The film discusses the clash of cultures that happen between East and West and between the United States represented by Bob and Charlotte and Japan represented by the Japanese society composed of the ordinary businessmen and workers. The phrase “Lost in translation” refers to the feeling that is felt by the two main characters when they are tossed into an alien and strange culture and society. The term “lost” would not only mean the physical confused feeling but would also mean the emotional reaction and sense when you are staying in a society where they don’t understand all its aspects. Bob and Charlotte therefore are lost both physically and emotionally inside the Japanese society.
The film’ plot was engaging and appealing since the story is directed towards the discovery and the budding relationship between Bob and Charlotte and the way that they used the setting and the situation to fully know each other. Friendship and discovery between the two is nicely done since the backdrop is a people and a society that they don’t fully comprehend thereby giving full emphasis and importance to the two main characters. The character also use the effectiveness of the time to fully forward to the viewer the sense of lost and bewilderment experienced by Bob and Charlotte. In the film, there are scenes that depict that they are exploring the city at night. The atmosphere and mode of these specific scenes contributes to the gloominess and unhappiness that is felt by the two main characters experiencing this aspect of their visit to a foreign society. Darkness and night in the film reflects the pessimism, despair and misery of Bob and Charlotte while they cling to each other since the two of them “culturally” knows each other. The setting and the location of the place also reflects the mood and feeling that is being conveyed by the film. Throughout the film we can here several scenes where Japanese is spoken without any subtitles or English translations. We can see billboards, signs and advertisements that are written in Japanese. These visual treats are frequently captured by the camera to sincerely express and communicate the feelings of the two main characters to the viewers. These scenes reinforce the idea of being “lost”.
The character of Bob and Charlotte is well developed in the film. We can clearly see the misery that is felt by Charlotte when her husband does not spend time with her in Tokyo. We can see the confusion in Bob face when he listening to the comments and suggestions issued by director and other Japanese while he is filming the whiskey commercial. The two main characters met as strangers but ended up friends by exploring the city and the society that they are thrust in. In their conversations we can see that the two characters revealed their inner side. We then are told of the failed marriage between Bob and his wife and his forgetfulness with his son’s birthday and the humiliation received by Charlotte with his photographer husband.
Ethnocentrism was clearly illustrated by the notion of the gajin in Japanese society. Bob, Charlotte and other foreigners visiting Japan is considered as a gaijin which literally means “outside person” or a person or individual who is ignorant of the culture and tradition of Japan. We can see the two characters making fun of the different aspects of Japanese society by making fun of the way Japanese speak and their small stature. In some scenes the film visibly pans a scene where Bill Murray is standing tall and being compared with the short stature Japanese businessmen in the backdrop. The film also underlines the ethnocentricity that is present in the American thinking since the film illustrates a Japanese downtown area with bright lights flashing billboards with Japanese businessmen wearing suits and tie. It is therefore safe to assume that the Japanese society had accepted the American notion on the idea of progress and development. This attitude is contradicted meanwhile by the conducts of the two main characters in making fun, misinterpreting certain aspects of the Japanese culture.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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