Language-related popular films?

Thu Aug 17 15:47:16 UTC 2006

Great lists. Silly question, probably, but it might be a good idea to put
these on YouTube. Surely, the excerpts are short enough to count as fair
use, no?

On 8/17/06, Dr. Mark Peterson <petersm2 at muohio.edu> wrote:
>
>  I've done three columns on this for the SLA based on member
> contributions, over the years but Anthrosource doesn't archive Anthro
> Newsletter back that far.  Here are the films that were mentioned in the
> columns, along with credit where possible:
>
>
> BambiHas anyone watched Bambi's language acquisition process recently?
> B-b-b-birds?  Kate Riley
>
> Beavis and Butthead Do AmericaContains a humorous scene based on the
> prescription against using a preposition to end a sentence with.  Ronald
> Kephart, University of North Florida.
>
> Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
>
> There are wonderful moments when the protagonists struggle with the
> Spanish language, which they need in order to flee to Mexico.  Once there
> they manage to rob a bank with their obviously limited Spanish, but these
> limits become painfully obvious when they encounter real Mexican bandidos.
> A great excuse for linguists to see this classic again.  Marie-Lucie
> Tarpent, Mount Saint Vincent University.
>
> Canadian BaconAnd there's the scene from "Canadian Bacon" between John
> Candy and Stephen Wright.  Stephen Wright, playing a Canadian, says "What's
> this aboot?" and John
> Candy (or somebody else) says "We're going to knock that 'oot' out of your
> speech!"  Very funny.  Shana Walton
>
> Dances with Wolves
>
> Kevin Costner, oops I mean Lt. Dunbar, learns Lakota in absolutely no
> elapsed time between scenes.  Hal Schiffman, University of Pennsylvania.
>
> Dead Dog CafeOn a slightly different tack, CBC Radio One in Canada has a
> First Nations satire program called Dead Dog Cafe.  Usually there is a
> segment called Conversational Creein which the hosts teach non-Cree speakers
> useful Cree phrases like Please ask the chauffeur to bring the car around.
> Amusing for the dabbler and a spring-off point for undergrads who aren't
> ready to handle things like Hill's mock Spanish article right off the bat.
> For the one or two of you who may not live in Canada, text & Real Audio
> files available at the Dead Dog Cafe website:
> http://radio.cbc.ca/programs/deaddog/
> Jeff Deby, Georgetown University
>
> Encino ManFunny scenes of the caveman guy learning English after having
> been dug up (I'm told; I haven't actually seen this one).  Hal Schiffman,
> University of Pennsylvania.
>
> The FuneralIn this Japanese film by director Itami Juzo a couple views a
> video on "How to Have a Funeral" to learn the proper  things to say. Laura
> Miller.
>
> I Cento Passi
> A recent Italian film I Cento Passi,(directed by Marco Tullio Giordana)
> has quite a bit of dialect-standard Italian codeswitching as well as some
> English codeswitching.  Petek Kurtboke.
>
> PhenomenonJohn Travolta learns Portuguese in about 10 minutes, after being
> struck by lightning.  Hal Schiffman, University of Pennsylvania.
>
> TampopoIn this Japanese film by director Itami Juzo you find a noodle
> masterusing high-register tea-ceremony-like language and gestures to
> instruct a truck driver in the art of eating ramen.  Laura Miller
>
> Tas Notika RigaCodeswitching of Latvian and Russian is characteristic to
> Latvian TV film Tas notika
> Riga('It has happened in Riga').  Rita Urneziute, Vilnius, Lithuania
>
> Taxing Woman
>
> This Japanese film by director Itami Juzo has samples of Yakuza speechas
> well as a woman using so-called masculinespeech. Laura Miller.
>
> The 13th Warrior
>
> If you haven't seen The 13th Warrior, it's worth seeing the movie just to
> see Antonio Banderas learn a second language by just sitting around a
> campfire, no assistance from the native speakers, and immediately produces
> complex forms! I first saw this movie because a fellow linguist called and
> said, hey, you've got to come see this...  Shana Walton
>
> The 25th Hour
> Many years ago I saw The 25th Hour,a movie about Europe in the turmoil and
> aftermath of WWII.  The main character, a simple man who is uprooted by the
> war and thrown about by circumstances totally beyond his control, gave me
> the impression of being almost an idiot.  I was quite young when i saw this
> film and later realized that this impression was given because there should
> have been 5 or 6 languages spoken in this film, and of course the hero,
> played by Anthony Quinn, could not understand them, but since the same
> language (with varied accents, but all understandable) was spoken by all the
> characters in the film, it did not make sense that he, unlike the audience,
> could not understand what was being said.  An object lesson in how to gloss
> over language difficulties.  Marie-Lucie Tarpent, Mount Saint Vincent
> University.
>
> Wayne's WorldAnd then there's the scene from Wayne's Worldwhere Wayne is
> having a conversation about relationships with pop-star love-interest
> Cassandra. She is a native Cantonese speaker and Wayne has (rapidly)
> mastered Cantonese. In the scene, their deeply serious and reflective
> conversation is about the psychology of relationships and dependence, but
> the very lengthy English subtitles are co-ordinated with maybe only one or
> two words in Cantonese. It's a great take on linguistic relativity. Dr.
> Claire Cowie, University of Sheffield
>
> The Wild ChildIn Truffaut's The Wild Child / L'Enfant Sauvage  the issue
> is the acquisition of  speech, period.  Students love it [though it is a bit
> slow, in parts] and there are humorous / heart rending moments. Maria-Luisa
> Achino-Loeb, N.Y.U./Gallatin.
>
>
> Mark Allen Peterson and James Stanlaw
>
> Linguistic Moments in the Movies
>
> We are again approaching the end of the school year, when the strain of
> final projects, term papers and grading brings on exhaustion for professors
> and students alike.  Its time to break out the montage of movie clips you
> have cobbled together based on last years May SLA column, presenting films
> and television programs that feature sublime and ridiculous representations
> of human speech.
>
> Whats that?  Youve already shown those clips?  Not to worry.  The
> following film and television suggestions should meet your needs for some
> time to come.
>
> Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
>
>
> Dr. Evil, who has traveled back in time 30 years, uses 1990s slang of
> African American origin (talk to the hand,you ain't all that,gansta rap)
> while extorting money from the president of the United States in 1969.
>
>
> Enterprise Two Days and Two Nights(May 15, 2002)
>
>
> On leave, Hoshi Sato, the communications officer (who speaks 40 languages)
> meets a stranger who shares her passion for language. After 24 hours with
> Hoshi, the stranger
> speaks impeccable English.  Hoshi fails to learn his native language,
> though -- she asks him to speak a little more slowly and he says that if he
> spoke more slowly that would change the meaning.  They end up having a
> one-night stand, thus communicating on a nonverbal level.
> The Limey (1999)
>
>
> Terrance Stamp is a British criminal who travels to California to avenge
> his daughters death.  His Cockney is unintelligible to most Americans.  At
> one point, he tries to convince a California police chief that they are
> after the same thing but from different directions, employing some Cockney
> rhyming slang like "china" for mate (china plate = mate). After his speech
> the chief confesses he couldn't understand a word he said.
> Never Been Kissed (1999)
>
>
> David Arquette, the cutest boy in school, coins a new slang word and tries
> to get his friends to use it. These scenes offer a good way to illustrate
> the difference between slang and dialect, which many students have
> difficulty teasing apart.
> Sesame Street
>
>
> Theres a scene that makes a great discussion starter on language
> acquisition in which Ernie tries to teach a baby to say his name, and it
> does not work.  I cant locate the episode number, but the clip is used in
> Acquiring the Human Language: Playing the Language Game,the second volume of
> PBS program The Human Language, now available as a video series.
>
>
> Star Trek: "Metamorphosis" (Nov. 10, 1967)
>
>
> This episode introduced the concept of the universal translator.  This
> handy device renders linguists unnecessary, as it automatically translates
> every nuance of language on the basis of a set of "universal" concepts (one
> of which is the distinction between male and female, which even sapient
> energy clouds apparently share).
>
>
> Star Trek: The Next Generation: Darmok(Sept. 30, 1991)
>
>
> The universal translators dont work on the Tamarians in this episode,
> which is built entirely around an effort to communicate.  It turns out the
> Tamarians communicate entirely by metaphors that refer to their own myth
> cycles (how does one construct a myth cycle without a language?  Its a
> Tamarian secret).  The Tamarian captain Darmok teaches Enterprise Captain
> Picard this language of metaphor through the interesting pedagogical
> technique of kidnapping him and forcing him to ritually act out one of the
> myths (unfortunately, it is one in which two heroes become friends by
> defeating a monstrous beast with just their knives).  Once Picard gets the
> hang of it, he teaches the alien the myth of Enkidu and Gilgamesh.
>
>
> What Planet Are You From? (2000)
>
> This film about an alien from an all-male planet come to earth to attempt
> to impregnate an earth woman may not be top-notch comedy but it includes a
> number of great scenes about male-female language differences.  There is a
> scene of alien men being trained how to pretend to be listening to earth
> women.  Later in the film is a scene in which a revised course (based on
> fieldwork) is presented.  The film also includes several scenes of the alien
> on earth applying compliments in inappropriate contexts. Thanks to William
> O. Beeman (Brown University), Carol Hayman (Austin Community College), April
> Leininger (UCLA), and Leslie C. Moore (UCLA) for suggestions.
>
>
>
>
> At 02:19 PM 8/15/2006 +0800, Kerim Friedman wrote:
>
> Teaching in Taiwan, I find my students do not have the English ability
> necessary to follow films like "American Tongues" and "Cross Talk" -
> but many Hollywood films, and some documentaries from the Discovery
> Channel and National Geographic, etc. are available here with Chinese
> subtitles at the night market. Which brings me to my question: Can
> anyone think of popular films (contemporary or classics, US or
> foreign) with language related themes that might be suitable for
> teaching? I've thought of a few, but I'm not too happy with the list
> so far:
>
> Windtalkers (2002)
> Pygmalion (1938)
> The Unconquered (1954)
> Enfant sauvage, L' (1970) (many more such films about feral children
> are listed at http://www.feralchildren.com )
> Children of a Lesser God (1986)
> Ishi: The Last Yahi (1992)
> Lost in Translation (2003)
> The Conversation (1974)
>
> I almost added Blazing Saddles for the Yiddish-speaking Indian chief,
> but then thought better of it...
>
> Obviously some of these films are better than others (as far as
> teaching is concerned) - but I just wanted to put something out to jog
> people's minds. Send your suggestions to me at this address (off
> list): oxusnet [at] gmail [dot] com.
>
> I'm traveling for a while, but I'll edit together all the suggestions
> and mail it back to the list  (and on the web) when I get back.  When
> you send your suggestions please state how I should list your name and
> affiliation if I post this list publicly on the web.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Kerim
>
> --
> ____________________________________
> P. Kerim Friedman
> Department of Indigenous Cultures
> College of Indigenous Studies
> National DongHwa University, TAIWAN
> http://kerim.oxus.net/
> ______________________________
>
>

-- 
Alexandre
http://enkerli.wordpress.com/
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