This is a short clip from the Japanese cartoon Sailormoon that was shown many many years ago. Sailormoon is a cartoon from Japan which was subsequently dubbed in English and shown in several other countries. The clip I obtained was shown on New Zealand television. It is translated and dubbed in English. There are other versions of this clip in Cantonese and Chinese.
This is one of my favorite scenes from the cartoon because within the few short minutes, there’re many climaxes. In fact, people who don’t know what the cartoon is about would more or less infer the content from the gestures, body language and other uses of symbols in the cartoon. The expressions from the characters provide us with some knowledge about what’s happening. Since communication does not necessarily have to be verbal, we would see that some important parts are put across by actions.In the beginning, one of the main characters, Tuxedo Mask, was lethally attacked and instead of using dialogue to convey the message that he’s in pain and dying, they show his hands shaking, and beads of perspiration dripping down from his temple.
Hence, the audience would infer that he is at his last breath.The cartoon also cleverly uses hints to tell us what is going to happen. For example, they stressed on Sailormoon’s teardrop, which we would realize eventually that it triggered the revelation of the Moon Princess. Since this cartoon is targeted at children, the language is kept very simple. More often than not, the characters’ expressions are exaggerated to put across the intended message.
Having said all that, you would realize that I have used the power of language to animately describ the scene from the clip. Verbal communication is present in our lives daily, so much so that we often overlook it. The clip used language to give each character a name, so we can define the identity of the character and distinguish it from other characters.
For example, the name Tuxedo Mask suggests that the character might be a hero in the cartoon as his name is powerful and strong. Perhaps, I might have come to this conclusion because I’ve attached the things he does in the cartoon to his name. This is also a powerful element of naming and identity. Also, he often wears a tuxedo and a mask to remain unrecognized.
The black cat in the cartoon is called Lunar. According to Adler and his colleagues (Adler et al., 1998), the name of a person can influence how we perceive them. This is extremely true. If I were to meet a person called Lunar, I would immediately think of the black cat in Sailormoon. And I would perceive the person based on the characteristics of Lunar. The same can be said of the name Garfield. Everyone knows of the cartoon cat, Garfield, who is a lazy and fat cat. If an employer decides to hire someone called Garfield, who is incidentally on the heavier side of the scale, he would somehow think that this worker is lazy. This is inevitable as the impression of the name Garfield is deeply imprinted in all of our heads.
Language is also important in relationships. In the clip, you would see that in Tuxedo Mask’s last moments, he used language as a tool of communication to tell Sailormoon his last wishes. Hearing Sailormoon’s pleas for him to stay alive, he would also realize that she loves him. Even though they communicated for a rather short time, they used language effectively and within that short period of time, they managed to “tell” each other how much they liked one another. Words are something we often take for granted but are very crucial in transmission of messages. Let’s examine the words Sailormoon used towards Tuxedo Mask. In the clip, she said this: “No!! Tuxedo Mask!”, “Tuxedo Mask, no, please don’t go!”, “Dear Darrien”, “You can’t go, you can’t!” Without watching the clip, just by examining these words, one would come to a conclusion that whoever is speaking it, cares a lot of the other person. Thus, it is essential to take caution in the words we use as it can affect the message and its meaning.
In the clip, you would also realize there is an obvious lack of slang. In translation of the cartoon, they must have removed some language exclusive to the Japanese community. They did this for a very good reason. Slangs are language-based barriers which are mainly meaningful to a particular group and are usually used in informal situations, or when we are speaking to a community of people who understand it and would feel “closer” to the conversation because of the slang. During translations, one would usually note that slangs are not translated as it is sometimes impossible to, or because it is not necessary as it does not affect the main message.
Here’s something to think about: Are we using verbal communication effectively in our lives everyday?
OMG! Jp, I din know you liked Sailormoon?
Isn’t it a bit too exaggerated?
I find that the character’s emotions are like over emphasised, just like Pokemon….
Comment by Shamini — January 27, 2008 @ 9:56 am