“25 Languages” or “25 Languages and Dialects”?Īs a linguist, however, I am also baffled at Disney’s choice of the title “25 Languages.” Through this video, Disney has subtly asserted what a “language” is. But to only have six Asian languages seems a little…odd. Of course, perhaps these are the markets for which Frozen was dubbed, meaning that these regions dub more frequently than do others. Of the twenty-five languages, nineteen are European or American of European origin, with only five of those from Eastern or Southeastern Europe. The languages that Disney chose, for the most part, assert Eurocentrism, particularly Western Eurocentrism. After all, doesn’t “25 Languages” sound rather nice? Either way, there must have been some executive decisions as to which languages would be included. For example, the Arabic version, which was not included in the original video, has a very different vocal style. Or perhaps Disney chose twenty-five versions that sound like similar voices to create the illusion of having only one voice. Perhaps the other languages weren’t ready at the time of dubbing. There were a total of forty-three international dubs of Frozen, and Disney released the remaining versions of “Let It Go” in a compilation album entitled Let It Go: The Complete Set. However, I should note that I don’t know how Disney chose these languages. The 25 Languagesīut what happens when Disney does this? Before answering, let’s consider languages included in the video, as the captions say:ĭisney’s selection of the twenty-five languages is somewhat problematic.
#FROZEN SONG IN FRENCH MOVIE#
By presenting a popular song from a popular movie in multiple languages, Disney showed people that different languages carry meaning as well, which would especially help Anglophone American audiences who aren’t exposed to many world languages. The Multilanguage “Let It Go” VideoĪs a response to the enormous popularity of “Let It Go” (and perhaps as part of the campaign to win the Oscar), Disney released a multilanguage version of the song, trumping it as “Let It Go” in “25 Languages.”īefore I go any further, I want to make something clear: Disney’s choice to make both versions of this video is wonderful. Anthony Sheppard, a musicologist at Williams College, demonstrates, various musical and cinematic elements work to give the song power both in and out of the film. In the months between then and the Oscar ceremony, “Let It Go” took pop culture by storm (no pun intended). “Which one do you think?” my friend asked. Īs the end credits of Frozen rolled the first time I saw the film, I turned to one of my friends and said, “This movie is going to win the Oscar for Best Original Song.”
What better way to introduce myself as a blogger than to have a post combining two of my greatest passions: film and language? Today, I take a closer look at Disney’s popular multilanguage video of “Let It Go” from Frozen. By natalie Film, Language, Music, Online Video 4 Comments
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