The Fisher King and Lost in Translation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Fisher King and Lost in Translation - Essay Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that in the movie ‘Fisher King’ sound is at the heart of the story of Jack Lucas, who was a radio personality. As a radio personality, he connected with his audience via sound. Sound and music were the vehicles with which he propelled his radio career. At the start of the movie, we see Jack using canned sounds in order to stage his show, to cue his callers and to basically project a kind of online personality that was intelligent, quick thinking, and generally upbeat. The use of certain tracks such as ‘Hit the Road Jack’ seems handpicked to convey a kind of carefree attitude, and it is unfortunate that this carefree attitude also resulted in Jack giving a piece of advice that he did not reflect much about, but which led to the caller translating what Jack said literally and open-firing on a crowd in a yuppie restaurant. It turns out that Robin Williams was there with his wife, and it was because of Jack’s advice that Robin Williams’ wife was killed by gunfire. Here the diegetic sounds at the beginning are canned but very relevant to the story. One can see too that the lyrics to the song ‘Hit the Road Jack’ seem in hindsight to have been a premonition of things to come for the man. He would literally hit the road after being traumatized by the shooting in the restaurant, realizing that is was his advice on the radio that led the man to commit the crime. He had been undone by a sense of guilt and went on a downward spiral. In a later scene, with Jack trying to get Parry hooked up with Lydia, the movie again resorts to this diegetic formula in the form of Jack staging a â€Å"radio show†-like audio atmosphere to get Lydia to sign up to Anne’s video service. Again here the diegetic elements are orchestrated to reinforce the fundamental messages and themes of the story, of Jack using a radio show atmosphere to redeem himself from the rest aurant massacre that he believed he had a part in, by coaxing the caller/murderer with ill-conceived nonchalant advice. The radio show formula is the key diegetic element in this part of the movie.