References to Esperanto , a Constructed Language , have been made in a number of films and novels. Typically, this is done either to add the exoticness of a foreign language without representing any particular ethnicity, or to avoid going to the trouble of inventing a new language. In Science Fiction , Esperanto is often used to represent a future in which there is a more universally spoken language than exists today.
- In '' (2004) is set in a generic city which writer/director David S. Goyer nevertheless wanted to represent as bilingual (as many cities are worldwide), so the second language spoken in this nameless city, and visible on most of its signage, is Esperanto. In addition, a character in ''Blade'' is seen watching Esperanto-language film '' Incubus ''.
- In the '', the following dialogue ensues:
: ''You see Babs, I told you music was the universal language!''
: ''And here I thought it was Esperanto!''.
- In the 1997 movie Gattaca , announcements within the Gattaca building are given in Esperanto.
- In Nickelodeon's cartoon '' Danny Phantom '', the Anthropomorphic ghost wolf Wulf is a character who speaks only Esperanto, however fractured and grammatically incorrect, in the episode. The character Tucker explains to the other main characters what Esperanto is and where it came from, but said that (presumably reflecting its reputation as obscure) nowadays it is mainly "a way for geeks to communicate with other geeks."
- On the UK sci-fi Sitcom '' Red Dwarf '', Esperanto is officially an international language, and all signs on the walls of the ship are written in both English and Esperanto (for example, "Level 147/Nivelo 147"). People are expected to be reasonably fluent in Esperanto; while characters Kryten and Lister appear to be able to speak it (or at least understand it), Rimmer has been trying to learn it for eight years and is still "utterly useless" at it. While this part of the show was prominent in the first two series, it was dropped from series 3 onwards.
- Another British comedy, The Last Salute , about the Automobile Association , or ' AA in the 1960's showed the unit supervisor as dreaming of the new post-war Great Britain and Europe as being a Worker's Paradise of sorts, with Esperanto as the universal language. Despite there being no evidence of this outside of his own aspirations, he persisted in speaking the language to his long-suffering team at briefing sessions, and to the point of conducting lessons.
- The Introductory Video for the Video Game Final Fantasy XI features choral music with lyrics in Esperanto. According to its composer, Nobuo Uematsu , the choice of language was meant to symbolize the developers' hope that their online game could contribute to cross-cultural communication and cooperation. Unlike many similar Massively-multiplayer Games which dedicate individual "copies" of their virtual worlds to players of a specific area or primary language, FFXI is deliberately designed to force players in all regions to share worlds.
- There are two instances of feature films being entirely performed in Esperanto. '' Angoroj '' (Esperanto for "Agonies"), 1964, was the first feature film to be produced entirely in Esperanto; '' Incubus '' (with English and French subtitles), a 1965 black and white horror film directed by Leslie Stevens and starring a pre-'' Star Trek '' William Shatner , followed. The earliest film to incorporate spoken Esperanto was the thriller ''State Secret'' 1950 , with Douglas Fairbanks Jr ., who starred as an American surgeon contacted by the authorities of Vosnia, an Eastern European dictatorship, to perform a rare operation on their leader. The language spoken in "Vosnia" is Esperanto.
- The earliest film (not of feature length, however) to utilize the language was titled "Antaŭen!" ("Onwards!"), a silent Esperanto publicity film before World War II .
- More rarely, it is used jokingly, referred to as a " Geek language", such as the usage seen on occasion in the animated series '' Danny Phantom '', where the only characters who speak it are either self-described "geeks", or a particular ghost (who is apparently more fluent in the language than the human characters, as evidenced by the difficulty Tucker Foley had in translating said ghost's comments into English). The language is also mentioned in the DVD commentary for the '' Firefly '' episode "The Train Job"; when Kaylee Frye slides out from under a console, writer Joss Whedon says this is "Esperanto for Mechanic".
- The name of the beverage Yakult is derived from ''jahurto'', an archaic form of the Esperanto for " Yoghurt " (the modern word is ''jogurto'').
- Composer David Gaines' (b. 1961) Symphony No. 1 is subtitled "Esperanto", and features a mezzo-soprano soloist singing in Esperanto. It has been recorded by the Moravian Philharmonic.
- In '' Castle Infinity '', an early MMORPG where the world is populated by creatures who speak "Dinosaur", Esperanto was used. Throughout the game, characters exclaim "Sin Gardi! Estas Cerbo Suksoso!" which translates as "Look out! It's a Brainsucker!"
- Words and phrases in Esperanto are used several times in the artwork for the Radiohead album '' OK Computer ''. It is also used several places on the current version of their website.
- '' on Sonic Youth Records (SYR) in 1998, with all titles and credits in Esperanto.
- The Japanese Manga by Chigusa Kawai , '' La Esperança '', notes that its characters use Esperanto (although, for readers' benefit, it has been translated into English/Japanese/French, etc...). The words on Cecile's letter to Erwin (volume II) can be clearly seen as actual Esperanto.
- In the video game by Bethesda Softworks , an in-game book titled ''N'Gasta! Kvata! Kvakis!'', often found carried by necromancers, contains Esperanto text on which several transformations have been applied.
- In 1970, Richard Corben wrote and illustrated a fantasy story entitled "Rowlf" (aka "The Story of Rowlf") that was published in ''Voice of Comicdom'' issues 16 & 17. The story is about a dog who, through a magic spell gone wrong, is rendered half human/half dog and must rescue his mistress from demonic invaders who all speak Esperanto. The work was reprinted in three parts in '' Heavy Metal '' Magazine, issues 32-34 in 1979 and 1980.
- Harlow, Don. The Esperanto Book . Self-published on the web (1995-96).
- Brownell, Ginamme. "Speaking up for Esperanto". ''Newsweek'', Aug. 11, 2003. p52.
|
