The film’s the thing: film translation and its effect on a silent, edited and full text Hamlet

Resumo

Translation is, at its best, a difficult path to tred, especially in a global, multicultural society. A word that defines an object may be in need of careful consideration and modification, not only to convey its individual meaning, but also to place it in the concept or intent when linked with others words forming a thought. The process is particularly complex when pairing a word with an image as is done in film. In the 1960’s, the American television classic, Star Trek, added new words as well as additional meaning to old words in the English lexicon. The definition of these words was clearly given in visual images that can still be recalled today. A typical exchange of dialogue may read: Captain, according to my tricorder, there is no intelligent life on this planet. Beam him up, Scotty. Energise.