Welcome to Internet Stuff, a daily newsletter about interesting stuff from the internet. If you like the idea of a new rabbit hole every morning, consider subscribing!
I’ve spoken before about Pachinko, the Korean-Japanese TV adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s lovely novel. Apart from its gentle portrayal of the immigrant struggle, there’s another thing the show does masterfully. It uses different colored subtitles for Korean and Japanese. It’s subtle, but adds so much context. To non speakers, it may be difficult to distinguish between the two. But in an occupied territory, and to immigrants everywhere, language is politics and can be used to alienate or to reconcile.
In a similar vein, FX’s Shogun is an adaptation of James Clavell’s classic 1975 novel.
Shogun uses the unique position of a translator as a plot device. I’ll let Nerdwriter1 explain:
Highly, highly recommend the show for Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada’s brilliant performances and the fascinating portrayal of feudal Japan. I found the subtleties of the culture so interesting that I read the novel, and even downloaded Duolingo:
If not a trip to Japan, I’d like to atleast do a rewatch of the show in a year’s time, to see if knowing the language a little bit improves the viewing experience. Think about that - a TV show has got me to make a year-long learning committment and maybe even some international travel. That’s the power of art!
Shogun was fantastic! The world building in particular was brilliant.
I've not read the source novel but have heard it could feel a little anachronistic now.