Lost In Plain Sight

What does it mean to be lost in translation? It is not just being lost in country unlike your own and surrounded by a language you do not understand. It is about being lost in the world and trying to find your own place within it, a place where you belong. The place doesn’t have to be one of a particular location; it can be a connection one has with another person in the same situation. Lost in Translation is not a film just about being lost in language and miscommunication between cultures, but also between people in one’s own surroundings; one does not have to go to another country to be lost in what is being said and done around them, it is easy to get lost in what others are doing and while trying to find a place that they fit into.

First thing one will notice about the film Lost in Translation is the miscommunication that is found between Bob Harris, Charlotte, and the people they are surrounded by. The fact that Sophia Coppola has filmed the movie in Tokyo, surrounded in a language that the main characters do not understand is an idea that was perfectly executed. Bob and Charlotte are lost in the culture and language around them while all they are trying to do is find themselves. Had the film taken place in America, the idea of being lost would not have been as strong of a message as it was, the idea of one not knowing what is being said and done around them is confusing and at times frightening. This can be seen when Bob Harris is filming his commercial for whiskey, he doesn’t really know what the director is asking of him and when the director does speak, and the translation of what he said just doesn’t seem to give enough context based on how long he was speaking for. Thus Bob Harris has to work on instinct and his own interpretation of the director’s reactions to him. Not only is Bob Harris lost in Tokyo, he is lost in his own family and the life he has at home, it is becoming one that he is estranged from and he is becoming unfamiliar to his own family. When he does talk to his wife, although he understands what his wife is saying, he does not understand why his life is unravelling the way it is. It is best stated by Randy Martin in Where Did the Future Go? What is happening “The home would revert to its originary Greek status as oikos–the root of economy–now the scene where money not flesh would be constantly fondled as all manner of futures (pensions, kids educations, debt disbursements, home mortgages) would be worked over into the wee hours”. Bob kids are getting used to him not being home, it also seems that his wife is beginning to feel this way as well; she has become concerned with nothing that is going on in Bob’s life other than the fact that she is trying to remodel his office and cannot obtain the right carpet. Bob is unconcerned with his office, he could care-less what it looks like, he wants to know what his family is doing, one can tell that if he had his choice, he would not be in Tokyo, he would be at home. But in order to maintain their life and his status of being famous, he must take these odd jobs in other countries in which lead him to being lost in the world around him. Bob has become a stranger to his family, he is a stranger in Tokyo, he is confused by all around him and finds solace in Charlotte; a women who is experiencing some of the same problems as he is.

When we meet Charlotte, we see her as a shy lonely woman who is trying to spend quality time her husband even though he has to work. Although she is with her husband in this strange world, she is lost because he spends most of his time working and leaves her to entertain herself. Charlotte, like Bob, is trying to find her way in this strange world, and not just the one in Tokyo but the marriage world itself. Charlotte went to Tokyo with her husband because she had nothing else to do and wanted to spend more time with him, but it has turned out that she is spending more time alone.  The time that she spends thinking and trying to hang out with friends, but she is coming to realize that her time there is one of finding herself and trying to figure out if the life that she has chosen for herself is the one that she really wants. The bond she creates with Bob is one of commonality, on the surface they both know that they are lost in this strange country, they are unsure of what is going on around them, they do not know the language, but they find that they able to make the best out of it by finding the world around them is only as good as they make it. In Cultural Space and Urban Place The New World Disorder it states that “Space is a construction and material manifestation of social relations which reveals cultural assumptions and practices” meaning that the world around Charlotte is one that she has created. She has the ability to change the loneliness she feels, and the feeling of being lost by changing her social relations; this is done through the relationship she builds with Bob. What makes this relationship different from the ones that she has with her friends and even that which she has with her husband is that this one is built upon common experiences in the current world they are in. She has found that she is not the only one that feels the way she does about being in this strange place, both of them are dealing with social relations and with their personal relationships with their spouses. Bob is nearing the end of his marriage, whereas Charlotte is just beginning hers, both offering a new perspective on what could be in the future.

Though many people can understand as to why both Bob and Charlotte felt lost during their time in Tokyo, it is also important to see that they weren’t just lost in Tokyo, they were lost in their everyday lives. Both of them have family and friends around them and still they found that the connection they made with a total stranger was and I stronger than what they could have formed with their own families.