Lost in Translation in Global Discourse and Movement towards Sustainable Development

By Khine Yin Thaw

The article argues that global sustainability narratives remain “lost in translation” by privileging Western perspectives over local knowledge

Introduction

Orientalism was invented by European people who perceived the Eastern people as “the Orient” and as exotic and mysterious (Said, 1979, p. 1). And this Said’s Orientalism is still echoing in the current age, while it is believed that the world is moving towards sustainable development altogether. Lost in translation, as a contemporary artwork, illustrates this concept of Orientalism through artistic and narrative styles that are based on the Western perception. This essay will discuss some of these styles, including media dynamics, cultural binaries, misrepresentation, and incomprehension between Western and non-Western characters of the film, and connect these patterns with those of global discourse and movement towards sustainable development.

Media Dynamics

To describe orientalist media dynamics, it is the first to analyse current global media culture that emphasises the West’s imagination of ‘the East’ being exotic and mysterious (Said, 1979, p. 1). Lost in Translation serves as a contemporary artwork that subconsciously manifests Orientalism. There are controversial discussions surrounding Western loneliness and Eastern exoticism in this film. The film first tends to portray the unfamiliarity of American protagonists with Japanese culture with “dazzled humility” (King,2005, p.46). However, the film continues to portray Japanese characters as stereotypical Orient with the visuals including neon signs, bowing, strange customs, making them look unfamiliar and exotic, ultimately leading to “ bemused condescension” (King,2005, p.46). These visual settings and discriminatory scripts have spoken for Japanese culture from Western perceptions instead of the actual culture (King,2005, p.46). Said (1979) mentions that this cultural narrative is “ the corporate institution” in which the West controls the narrative and declares the statements about the Orient (p.3).

The pattern of orientalist media portrayal can be found in ingrained sustainable development discourse and agreement of the present and the past. Alagoz (2024) mentions in his “ Sustainable Orientalism” article that the notions of sustainable development and mutual benefits were visualised with the semi-naked African woman and the dressed European man: man exchanging finished goods and woman exchanging raw materials (p.139). These visuals aimed to promote “a gigantic colonial fantasy” of Europe and its territorial occupation of Africa and the Middle East for their economic sustainability, Alagoz (2024) further clarified (p.138). In the name of mutual benefits, the motives of the picture have manifested Orientalism by dominating the European features of a fine-dressed man and quality products in exchange for low-cost raw materials. This depiction influenced the narratives of geopolitical dynamics of post-colonisation, which are still mirroring cultural representation today. Said (1979) also mentioned this dynamic that “Orientalism is not just academic but a 'distribution of geopolitical awareness' through media, literature, art” (p.12).

Cultural Binaries

The intuitive argument countered from the West could be Occidentalism, which is the opposite of Orientalism. This term means Eastern people perceiving the West as rational: both of which are “man-made” (Said, 1979, p.5). This perception is depicted in the scenes of Lost in Translation, where Japanese characters look strange and confused by what the two Western protagonists are talking and where the male character is the tallest one in the elevator. However, most of these portrayals, such as East being the short and mysterious workers, and not subtitling the Japanese language, are mainly from the American characters that the images of “the cityscapes and curving off-ramps” are rendered like a tv screen to depict the western protagonists’ confusion and lost in translation of the signs (King,2005, p.48). Furthermore, this cultural domination is described by Said (1979) as Orientalism, separating the world into two: the Orient and Occident (p. 2). And, he further states that Europe found its cultural identity and strength in differentiating itself from the Orient (Said, 1979, p.3).

The similar cultural dichotomies between Western and Eastern states found in sustainable development, but in a different direction, are called Green Orientalism and Brown Occidentalism according to Heurtebise (2023, p.121). That means the West is in charge of all the environmental issues, climate change, and ecological disruption, such as global warming and loss of biodiversity (Heurtebise, 2023, p.125). Since the effects are not green, it is referred to as “brown,” leading to Brown Occidentalism (Heurtebise, 2023, p.125). On the contrary, Green Orientalism, being a self-identified term by Asians, is regarded as “holistic harmony” and “environmental wisdom,” unlike the European dualistic nature and capitalist (Heurtebise, 2023, p.125). The article continues to label this distinction as ‘Culturalization of Anthropocene" in Chinese Ecological Civilization that puts ecological crises as cultural binaries rather than augmenting these two (Heurtebise, 2023, p.126). However, what Alagoz (2024) defines as these cultural binaries is that the dividing lines between West and non-West show high and low cultural strength for developing economic and territorial highlighting the Western cultural domination (p.140).

Misrepresentation and Incomprehension

As the last part of assessing Lost in Translation in parallel to current sustainable discourse, the focus lies on the lack of cultural comprehension between Western people and non-Westerners. There is a hospital scene in the film where the Western protagonist has imitated and mimicked the question of a Japanese grandma since he did not understand it (King,2005, p.46). The highlight of what turned the tables is Western people imitating the Japanese language. However, it is rebutted with the fact that there was a lack of understanding or translation of the Japanese language, and this incomprehension in film ultimately leads to linguistic insignificance and undermining local power and knowledge (King,2005, p.48). This proves Said’s assertion that “ the relationship between Occident and Orient is a relationship of power, of domination…. hegemony” (Said, 1979, p.5). This point has been mirrored in Sustainable Orientalism, which is assessed by “ the circulation of thoughts” in the Western sustainability metrics (Alagoz, 2024, p.149). The imagination of sustainability is still ingrained as achieving the lifestyles of the First World without mere consideration of local culture and knowledge of non-Western (Alagoz, 2024, p.149). Thus, there is a need to address this cultural domination and binaries and work on representing the truth of both Eastern and Western cultures. And, it is claimed by Heurtebise (2023) that transcultural environmentalism as a solution means “transcending cultural specificities and linguistic barriers” (p.142).

Conclusion

In conclusion, Lost in Translation, in its attempt to portray loneliness and isolation of the Western protagonists surrounding the Eastern people, manifests Orientalism by dominating media portrayal, misrepresenting culture, and lacking linguistic comprehension. These ingrained trends mirror the discourse and agreement surrounding global sustainability, and this needs to be addressed by augmenting cultural binaries and breaking linguistic incomprehension to shape the actual sustainable development of the world.

References
Alagöz, G. (2024). Sustainable Orientalism: Hegemonic discourses for environmental sustainability and their transmission to non-Western habitats.
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7ww6h030
Heurtebise, J.-Y. (2023). Green orientalism, brown occidentalism, and Chinese ecological civilisation. Asian Studies, 21(1), 63–86.
https://journals.uni-lj.si/as/article/view/11669/11985
King, H. (2005). Lost in translation. Film Quarterly, 59(1), 12–21.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fq.2005.59.1.45
Said, E. W. (1979). Orientalism. Vintage Books.

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Khine Yin Thaw is a Bachelor of Arts student at Parami University, United States.

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