The Chaos in "Babel"
====================
Wolran Kim
January 2014
The title, Babel, is a tower built by Noah’s descendants (probably in Babylon) who intended it to reach up to heaven. God foiled their plan by confusing their language so they could no longer understand one another; “Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Oxford Annotated Bible, Gen. 11.9).
From this origin, “babel” also means chaos, incompletion, and confusion of voices and other sounds. If the whole world had only one language, would every country have the same culture and better communication with each other? Maybe not, because culture is made not only by language, and communication is a much more complicated matter in connecting with personal and social status and psychological effects. As a good example of this issue of the relationship between culture and language, South and North Korea show an interesting case.
Since South and North Korea were divided in 1953, their standard language gradually differed more and more from each other. As a result of 60 years of separation, South Koreans can immediately recognize North Korean by their speech, and North Koreans generally understand approximately 60% of South Koreans. 60% comprehension is quite a low percentage within the exact same language. The 40% disparity surely comes from the different cultures in politics, social systems, education, and technology.
This film shows how culture is interpreted between different countries and situations. Interestingly, lack of communication seems to be a much bigger issue in the same family and society rather than between different languages; a language difference is easily solved with a translator, but there is no translator for different opinions and cultures. A tragic incident that began from the sound of gunfire in the desert in Morocco shows stories of four different countries’ people in Morocco, the U.S., Mexico, and Japan. These people are curiously interrelated with the gun, and suffer in their individual dooms. The film shows that universal human feelings do not need an interpreter, being the motive in the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible.
One gun causes a group of unrelated people to engage as cog-wheels, and they match as a puzzle in the end. All the different languages of English, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, sign language, and even body language, in this movie could seem as one from the chaos during the collapsing of the Tower of Babel era. Everyone is suffering from the lack of communication extending over the other side of the world; Richard and Susan who came traveling to Morocco for comfort after the loss of their child, Amelia who crosses the Mexican border with Richard’s two children in order to attend her son’s wedding, Chieko who is deaf and traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother, and Yussef and Ahmed who have a secret about their shooting aimed the tour bus.
These characters seem different and contrasting with various cultures and languages, but they all show the same process of how they overcame the problem of mutual understanding. In fact, they are all facing the same kinds of incidents and the lack of communication, which are connected delicately and destined without any faults.
In Mexico, Richard and Susan’s twin children suffer and face death in the desert. Richard’s impatient answer that the Mexican nanny, Amelia, should cancel her son’s wedding is a one-sided view and another misunderstanding, because the nanny never knew about Susan’s sudden injury. Also, both of Amelia’s decisions are wrong, and these mistakes bring a worse situation to the kids; she takes the children out of the U.S. without their parents’ permission, and lets her intoxicated nephew drive back to the U.S. the same night of the wedding. However, Richard actually allowed Amelia to go to her son’s wedding because Susan’s sister would be able to watch the twins.
Amelia did not know until the next morning that Susan’s sister couldn’t take care of them. Thus Amelia is forced to take the children with her. Amelia’s expulsion from the U.S. is a legal step because she had been working illegally, but her life was in the U.S. for the last 16 years. She seems to be a scapegoat of an unreasonable legal system. Both Amelia’s situations are totally not understood personally and socially. The scene of the killing of a chicken by twisting the neck off and the boy’s shocked face are a vivid situation of the culture shock.
In Morocco, the two brothers’ competition of firing the gun is actually an accidental discharge, but it is misconceived as a terrorist act to the U.S. government. The Moroccan government is pressured to apprehend the culprits, and the police fatally injure Ahmed during the chase of his family. Richard and Susan have strained their marriage significantly as they struggle to communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame from their third infant child’s death.
They experience a culture shock while Susan is treated by a local veterinarian. Here, the veterinarian suggests that an old woman’s drug is the significant treatment for Susan, and this shows how drugs are used differently in legal and illegal purposes in different countries. Richard also has troubles with communication to the outside of the village because there is only one telephone in the village. Political issues between the U.S. and Morocco prevent quick help for Susan as well.
This married couple eventually overcomes their problem, while there are unfortunate gunshots and dangerous situations in a foreign country. This couple shows that the lack of communication does not occur from a language barrier or different cultures but, rather, within relationships. The other tourists on the bus leave without them because of fear of the heat and further attacks of terror. Humanism and accountability are often disregarded in dangerous situations.
The gun is a gift from Chieko’s father when he was on a hunting trip in Morocco, and this connection of the rifle shows the further story about a deaf girl, Chieko, in Japan. She was traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother, and was bitter towards her father. She was also frustrated sexually, following an unsuccessful attempt at socializing. Here, the gun is misunderstood as black market involvement, not a gift, and Chieko blames her father for her mother’s suicide.
She tries to communicate in her social relationships through sign language, and overcomes her loneliness and trauma through sexual expressions. A small medium, a rifle, connects all the different people in the different countries and cultures. Exchanging gifts is one of Asian culture, but this little behavior brings tragedy and chaos. The favor of a gift transfers to a weapon of terror (actually an accident) in two brother’s hands in Morocco; such is the butterfly effect. These four different stories show identical themes of dealing with communication.
The images of the border of Mexico and the U.S., including the CCTV, look like a modern version of the Tower of Babel somehow. It is because the boundaries between the countries prevent people’s desire such as God suppressed human’s rebellion. The glittering night views and skyscrapers of Tokyo show the cultural and regional differences contrasted with mountainous Morocco and the desert terrain of the border of Mexico. The figures of the family and village of Morocco also show the contrasting culture with the Japanese girls’ family, volleyball team, deaf community, and youth group in a big city in Japan.
The scene of reconciliation between Chieko and her father in the night view of Japan and selfish behaviors of tourists in Morocco show uncovered emotion of modern people’s loneliness. It is interesting that the case begins with the thoughtless behavior of mere children, and the struggling of people seem to be the chaos after the Tower of Babel collapsed in the Bible. The film Babel shows a new perspective for communication among different cultures and situations, as well as language barriers.
Every character in Babel has a different culture and language, as well as nationality. Culture is an inherent property with the use of tools of humans to be distinguished from animals. A culture consists of complex elements such as language, ideas, beliefs, customs, norms, systems, technology, and courtesy. Presence and use of culture are due to attributes characteristic of humans and the ability of symbolic thinking. Culture develops from instinctive behavior to various actions, and this pattern is transmitted and learned through generations and individuals.
Culture that has been established in this way, has its own life and co-exists within human society. As an example, a small tool develops into a symbol of authority, and relationships between people extend into marriage. The relationship between family and society is bound by duty and moral responsibility, and each community and country has unique systems and organizations. However, despite the uniqueness of culture, fundamental communication of humans starts from humanism transcending language and culture barriers as shown in Babel.
====================
Wolran Kim
January 2014
The title, Babel, is a tower built by Noah’s descendants (probably in Babylon) who intended it to reach up to heaven. God foiled their plan by confusing their language so they could no longer understand one another; “Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Oxford Annotated Bible, Gen. 11.9).
From this origin, “babel” also means chaos, incompletion, and confusion of voices and other sounds. If the whole world had only one language, would every country have the same culture and better communication with each other? Maybe not, because culture is made not only by language, and communication is a much more complicated matter in connecting with personal and social status and psychological effects. As a good example of this issue of the relationship between culture and language, South and North Korea show an interesting case.
Since South and North Korea were divided in 1953, their standard language gradually differed more and more from each other. As a result of 60 years of separation, South Koreans can immediately recognize North Korean by their speech, and North Koreans generally understand approximately 60% of South Koreans. 60% comprehension is quite a low percentage within the exact same language. The 40% disparity surely comes from the different cultures in politics, social systems, education, and technology.
This film shows how culture is interpreted between different countries and situations. Interestingly, lack of communication seems to be a much bigger issue in the same family and society rather than between different languages; a language difference is easily solved with a translator, but there is no translator for different opinions and cultures. A tragic incident that began from the sound of gunfire in the desert in Morocco shows stories of four different countries’ people in Morocco, the U.S., Mexico, and Japan. These people are curiously interrelated with the gun, and suffer in their individual dooms. The film shows that universal human feelings do not need an interpreter, being the motive in the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible.
One gun causes a group of unrelated people to engage as cog-wheels, and they match as a puzzle in the end. All the different languages of English, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, sign language, and even body language, in this movie could seem as one from the chaos during the collapsing of the Tower of Babel era. Everyone is suffering from the lack of communication extending over the other side of the world; Richard and Susan who came traveling to Morocco for comfort after the loss of their child, Amelia who crosses the Mexican border with Richard’s two children in order to attend her son’s wedding, Chieko who is deaf and traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother, and Yussef and Ahmed who have a secret about their shooting aimed the tour bus.
These characters seem different and contrasting with various cultures and languages, but they all show the same process of how they overcame the problem of mutual understanding. In fact, they are all facing the same kinds of incidents and the lack of communication, which are connected delicately and destined without any faults.
In Mexico, Richard and Susan’s twin children suffer and face death in the desert. Richard’s impatient answer that the Mexican nanny, Amelia, should cancel her son’s wedding is a one-sided view and another misunderstanding, because the nanny never knew about Susan’s sudden injury. Also, both of Amelia’s decisions are wrong, and these mistakes bring a worse situation to the kids; she takes the children out of the U.S. without their parents’ permission, and lets her intoxicated nephew drive back to the U.S. the same night of the wedding. However, Richard actually allowed Amelia to go to her son’s wedding because Susan’s sister would be able to watch the twins.
Amelia did not know until the next morning that Susan’s sister couldn’t take care of them. Thus Amelia is forced to take the children with her. Amelia’s expulsion from the U.S. is a legal step because she had been working illegally, but her life was in the U.S. for the last 16 years. She seems to be a scapegoat of an unreasonable legal system. Both Amelia’s situations are totally not understood personally and socially. The scene of the killing of a chicken by twisting the neck off and the boy’s shocked face are a vivid situation of the culture shock.
In Morocco, the two brothers’ competition of firing the gun is actually an accidental discharge, but it is misconceived as a terrorist act to the U.S. government. The Moroccan government is pressured to apprehend the culprits, and the police fatally injure Ahmed during the chase of his family. Richard and Susan have strained their marriage significantly as they struggle to communicate their frustration, guilt, and blame from their third infant child’s death.
They experience a culture shock while Susan is treated by a local veterinarian. Here, the veterinarian suggests that an old woman’s drug is the significant treatment for Susan, and this shows how drugs are used differently in legal and illegal purposes in different countries. Richard also has troubles with communication to the outside of the village because there is only one telephone in the village. Political issues between the U.S. and Morocco prevent quick help for Susan as well.
This married couple eventually overcomes their problem, while there are unfortunate gunshots and dangerous situations in a foreign country. This couple shows that the lack of communication does not occur from a language barrier or different cultures but, rather, within relationships. The other tourists on the bus leave without them because of fear of the heat and further attacks of terror. Humanism and accountability are often disregarded in dangerous situations.
The gun is a gift from Chieko’s father when he was on a hunting trip in Morocco, and this connection of the rifle shows the further story about a deaf girl, Chieko, in Japan. She was traumatized by the recent suicide of her mother, and was bitter towards her father. She was also frustrated sexually, following an unsuccessful attempt at socializing. Here, the gun is misunderstood as black market involvement, not a gift, and Chieko blames her father for her mother’s suicide.
She tries to communicate in her social relationships through sign language, and overcomes her loneliness and trauma through sexual expressions. A small medium, a rifle, connects all the different people in the different countries and cultures. Exchanging gifts is one of Asian culture, but this little behavior brings tragedy and chaos. The favor of a gift transfers to a weapon of terror (actually an accident) in two brother’s hands in Morocco; such is the butterfly effect. These four different stories show identical themes of dealing with communication.
The images of the border of Mexico and the U.S., including the CCTV, look like a modern version of the Tower of Babel somehow. It is because the boundaries between the countries prevent people’s desire such as God suppressed human’s rebellion. The glittering night views and skyscrapers of Tokyo show the cultural and regional differences contrasted with mountainous Morocco and the desert terrain of the border of Mexico. The figures of the family and village of Morocco also show the contrasting culture with the Japanese girls’ family, volleyball team, deaf community, and youth group in a big city in Japan.
The scene of reconciliation between Chieko and her father in the night view of Japan and selfish behaviors of tourists in Morocco show uncovered emotion of modern people’s loneliness. It is interesting that the case begins with the thoughtless behavior of mere children, and the struggling of people seem to be the chaos after the Tower of Babel collapsed in the Bible. The film Babel shows a new perspective for communication among different cultures and situations, as well as language barriers.
Every character in Babel has a different culture and language, as well as nationality. Culture is an inherent property with the use of tools of humans to be distinguished from animals. A culture consists of complex elements such as language, ideas, beliefs, customs, norms, systems, technology, and courtesy. Presence and use of culture are due to attributes characteristic of humans and the ability of symbolic thinking. Culture develops from instinctive behavior to various actions, and this pattern is transmitted and learned through generations and individuals.
Culture that has been established in this way, has its own life and co-exists within human society. As an example, a small tool develops into a symbol of authority, and relationships between people extend into marriage. The relationship between family and society is bound by duty and moral responsibility, and each community and country has unique systems and organizations. However, despite the uniqueness of culture, fundamental communication of humans starts from humanism transcending language and culture barriers as shown in Babel.