Temba, his arms open

[asakiyume]

wakanomori announced last night that we had to watch a particular episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Darmok." It had come up in a discussion of Japanese poetry translation--relevant, because part of what makes translation of Japanese poetry difficult is its reliance on shared cultural references and metaphors to convey meaning, and the episode is about the Enterprise's encounter with the Children of Tama, an alien people that the Federation has never been able to communicate successfully with. The universal translator is no good, because the Children of Tama communicate entirely in cultural references and metaphors, and these are unknown to the Federation.¹

The aliens beam Captain Picard and their own captain, Dathon, down to the planet El-Adrel, where Dathon assiduously repeats pertinent cultural phrases ("Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra," "Temba, his arms open," "Shaka, when the walls fell"), trying to make Picard understand.

The way in which understanding finally dawns, and what happens after that, is very effective and moving and involves Picard reading from the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Picard remarks at one point, "In my experience, communication is a matter of patience, imagination. I would like to believe that these are qualities that we have in sufficient measure." Those words of hope and confidence filled me with pathos, thinking of where the world is today.

Anyway. It's a good episode. I recommend it.


¹ As the tall one observed, "They talk entirely in memes." Unsurprising, then, that the episode has generated memes of its own--like this one, featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

It is funny now! And okay, maybe some cultures do have it more, but all cultures can understand it--would you say that's accurate?

My father agrees with you about the Bible, and back when he was teaching American literature (he's retired now; has been for quite some time), he was aware that the generations of college kids he was teaching were less and less familiar with the references that would have been completely familiar to, for example, Nathaniel Hawthorne's audience, or Mark Twain's, so he took to explaining them, e.g., "So when Hawthorne says 'serpent' here, he's referencing the serpent that tempted Eve, the first-created woman, according to the Bible story in Genesis." That way he could feel the class had the background knowledge to get what was going on.