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summer movies The Universal Translator How Hollywood represents foreign speech: a video slide show. Posted Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010, at 9:59 AM ET
Like many contemporary American films, Eat Pray Love is a casually multilingual affair. After Liz (Julia Roberts) leaves New York for Rome, she makes a point of learning Italian, and director Ryan Murphy depicts her at various stages of comprehension, from a stammering negotiation with her landlady to a breathlessly fluent, restaurant-ordering triumph--accompanied by subtitles as needed. Dwelling on Liz's Italian serves to illustrate her newfound curiosity. It is both realistic and dramatically functional. But when she gets to India and Bali, and becomes preoccupied with spiritual growth, Murphy stops focusing on Liz's language skills. Locals conveniently speak to her in English, and there's nary a subtitle east of Rome. To continue reading, click here. Eric Hynes is a New York-based writer and the host of the Reverse Shot Talkies.Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Do Nazis Have the Right To Put Up a Sign Next to the Holocaust Museum? Only You Can Save Edith Wharton's Home. And Willa Cather's. And Jackson Pollock's. No, America Is Not Turning Into Japan | Advertisement |
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Culturebox: The Universal Translator
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