Esperanto in popular culture

Categories: Esperanto media

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The constructed language Esperanto has been used in a number of films and novels. Typically, this is done either to add the exoticness of a foreign language without representing any particular natural language, or without 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 English-language media

In Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator (1940), the signs, posters, and so forth in the ghetto are in Esperanto.[1] In Gattaca (1997), the intercom messages are in Esperanto. The television series Red Dwarf postulates a future in which Esperanto is widely spoken along with English, so much of the signage visible in the series is written in both languages. The movie Blade: Trinity (2004) is set in a generic city which writer/director David 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.

The Stainless Steel Rat novels by Harry Harrison (an Esperanto speaker) also postulate a future where Esperanto is spoken, and a small fraction of the dialogue is in Esperanto. The language is also used in the setting of Philip José Farmer's Riverworld novels, as well as in stories by Poul Anderson, Mack Reynolds, John Brunner, John Barnes, and other science fiction writers (Harlow 1996).

In the video game The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Esperanto makes an appearance in the form of a book, N'Gasta Kvata Kvakis, which is written in a coded form of Esperanto.

In the video game Katamari Damacy, the King of All Cosmos character briefly speaks in Esperanto. In the sequel, We Love Katamari, his fascination with Esperanto has expanded some.

Reference

• Harlow, Don. The Esperanto Book. Self-published on the web (1995-96).
• Brownell, Ginamme. "Speaking up for Esperanto". Newsweek, Aug. 11, 2003. p52.