The Story "The Use of Force" and the Film "Lost in Translation"

The Use of Force and Lost in Translation
Student’s name
Institution
The Use of Force and Lost in Translation
The Use of Force (1938) by William Carlos William is a short story about the conflict between a doctor and a child patient who has been suffering from a fever for three days now. The story narrates of the struggle that ensues before finally, he succeeds in making a diagnosis for fever despite the child’s resilience. Lost in Translation is 2003 film directed by Sofia Coppola about a lonely, aging movie star named Bob Harris and a young newly married Charlotte. They meet in a luxurious hotel in Tokyo when Bob is there to film a commercial and Charlotte is in the company of her photographer husband on a job there. As two strangers struggling to adapt to the Japanese culture for the first time, they find solace in the company of each other after the first meeting in the quiet hotel bar. Over the next few days, they form a bond that is unlikely as it is unfelt and meaning full. This paper seeks to highlight the similarities and the differences in style, themes and characters of the short story and the film.
The one common theme in the short story and the film is love for family. In the Use of Force, Mr. Oslo spent a fortune to have the doctor examine their daughter, three dollars in particular. The child had that began three days before, and her condition did not improve even when the mother gave her “things” (home-made medication). The parents were afraid that their daughter might die if not attended by a doctor. Although the parents seemed to be hurt by the doctor’s use of force, they had to beat with it since it had to be done. The father’s love for the daughter was demonstrated by his actions to let go at the critical moments. As the doctor put it, “The father tried his best, and he was a big man but the fact that she was his daughter, his shame at her behavior and his dread of hurting her made him release her just at the critical times when I had almost achieved success, till I wanted to kill him” (Williams, 2018). The mother was concerned for her daughter and even asked at some point “Do you think she can stand it, doctor!”
Bob Harris in Lost in Translation was married to his wife of 25 years. Although he was facing a midlife crisis, he loved his wife and children, and he is in constant communication. For example, after the party with Charlotte’s friends, Bob called his wife and tried to explain his feeling during the party. His took the advertising gig not because he liked it but because it was well paying. Charlotte loved and was devoted to her husband. She accepted to accompany him to Tokyo even though she had a career of her own; she had recently graduated in Yale school of philosophy (Coppola, 2003).
The title in both cases is descriptive of the events in the story and film. There is literally the use of force in the story as indicated by the title, The Use of Force. The doctor and father forcefully force the child to open her mouth for her throat to be examined after efforts by the mother to ask her nicely bore no fruits. In the movie Lost in Translation, many things are ‘lost in translation’ as Bob’s translator failed ...