Bob's Lost In Translation

In recent times, rapid economic development and technological innovation has impelled dominant global ways of thinking. The deterritorialising world breaks down spatial space and brings countries closer. Information exchange between countries becomes easier and national boundaries lose significance. Countries become increasingly integrated and interdependent and this leads individuals to move away from established cultural roots. The opportunities of the global world are enticing and can liberate individuals from current impoverished backgrounds. On the otherhand, the penetration of global ways of thinking does prioritise economic prosperity and this potentially leads individuals to moral corruption. The interplay between the word’s changing …show more content…
In Lost in Translation two disillusioned westerners, Bob the fading Hollywood actor and Charlotte the Yale navigate the superficiality of their urban surroundings in order to seek a meaningful relationship between themselves and with their environment. The out of focus buildings littering the opening scene and the close up shots of neon advertisements boards establishes the narrative in a disorientating setting. The advertisements proliferate images of luxury and transforms Tokyo from a permanent city into a fragmented assemble of urban spectacles. Bob’s disorientation amidst the megacity results from his disillusionment with his commodified surroundings. The once traditional city has become transformed into a global metropolis that is heavily influenced by forces of commercialization, westernization and capitalism. In addition, Bob too has become a commodity as portrayed by his dominating presence in the Suntory advertisements. His interactions with everyone except Charlotte reflect how he is perceived to equal the image presented by that advertisement suggesting that Japan is living in the ‘hyper real’ a theory supported by Jean