The intercultural conflicts reflected in the movie Babel

The intercultural conflicts reflected in the movie Babel

Abstract: The movie Babel released in 2006 tells a story in which a gun caused a series of happenings in different countries. Babel's theme is profound and full of multiple meanings. Analyzed from the perspective of intercultural conflicts reflected in the movie, this essay reveals the underlying reasons and causes and makes the conclusion that today's world is filled with barriers on language, mind, and cultural assumption, but we can overcome them by showing humanity and empathy.

Key words: babel, barriers and intercultural conflicts

Introduction

The tower of babel is a story told in the Book of Genesis of the Bible. According to the story, a united humanity of the generations, speaking a single language and migrating from the east, came to the land of Shinar, where they resolved to build a city with a tower whose top may reach unto heaven.

Turris Babel from Athanasius Kircher

United States

United States

But God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, so that they would not be able to return to each other, and they left off building the tower, which was called Babel "because God there confounded the language of all the Earth". [1] This is the story about Babel which is also the name of an international drama film, portraying multiple stories taking place in Morocco, Japan, Mexico and USA. After watching this informative and thought-provoking movie, several pictures were lingering in my mind for a long time. Apart from those impressive stories happened in different areas, the theme, the underlying connection and the intercultural conflicts reflected all have an enormous impact on my understanding about intercultural communication. Before long, I still held the belief that "the world is flat" [2] and that global village is practically beneficial to all the residents. It seems...