Alejandro González Iñárritu’s kaleidoscopic 'Babel' puts an end to a twist of fates trilogy that previously began with 'Amores perros/Love’s' a Bitch and '21 grammos/21 Grams'. Like these, it plays with time to recount stories linked by a terrible incident , i.e, here the unintentional shooting of an American traveller by two Moroccan children. Its title obviously refers to the Genesis episode occurring in the city of Babel: Noah and his sons want to erect a tower to reach the skies but they soon get punished by God who creates different languages dividing human beings. As language is the fundamental source of any interchange, one may conclude from the title that the first topic Babel sets out is related to communication. This essay aims to display how the film deals with this latter theme with reference to, first, the narrative structure and, finally, some audacious film techniques. Since this paper is limited, we will only discuss this issue from a broad perspective.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Narrative Structure and the Theme of Communication
- Diegetic Construction
- The Butterfly Effect
- Globalisation and Communication Breakdown
- Film Techniques and Communication
- Non-Dubbed Disposition
- Visual Techniques: Color, Framing, and the Hands Motif
- Conclusion
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This essay analyzes how the theme of communication is portrayed in Alejandro González Iñárritu's film, Babel (2006). It examines the film's narrative structure and specific cinematic techniques to demonstrate how the director conveys the breakdown of communication in an increasingly globalized world.
- The interconnectedness of seemingly disparate events across geographical locations and cultures.
- The barriers to communication, including language, cultural differences, and technological limitations.
- The impact of miscommunication and the resulting consequences for individuals and societies.
- The film's use of non-linear storytelling and visual techniques to represent the complexities of communication.
- The exploration of globalisation and its effects on human connection and understanding.
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introduction establishes the focus of the essay: an examination of the theme of communication in Babel. The main body explores the film's narrative structure, explaining how the interconnected stories, despite their temporal and geographical distance, reveal a pattern of communication breakdown. The analysis then delves into specific cinematic techniques employed by Iñárritu, such as the use of non-dubbed dialogue, visual motifs (color, close-ups, hand gestures), and sound bridges to emphasize the complexities and challenges of communication in a globalized world.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu, communication, globalisation, miscommunication, narrative structure, cinematic techniques, non-linear storytelling, cultural differences, language barriers.
- Quote paper
- B.A. Caroline De Groot (Author), 2011, “I'm deaf, not blind”, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/187414
