Apocalypto is a 2006 historical adventure film, written and directed by Mel Gibson. The film depicts Native Mayan culture before the first contact with Spanish Conquistadors. The director has proclaimed that the movie accurately portrays typical Mayan societies. However, its plot, has been harshly criticized. Native communities and researchers focusing on Maya culture, especially, felt that the film’s portrayal did not do its subject justice. Analyzing the piece from the adaptation’s point of view, I would classify it both authentic and inauthentic at the same time. While the filmmakers went out of their way to shoot at historically Mayan locations, and hire actors of Native American descent, the representation of ancient cultures is inaccurate. As highlighted by anthropologists, it works in reinforcing pre-existing stereotypes about Mayan tribes. Savagery and violence are made the central point of the film, which neglects the technological and social developments of these peoples. The inability to properly adapt the history and culture of Maya may have a connection with the fact that the writer and director of the film is not especially connected to Mayan culture of informed about its peculiarities. As discussed in the book “A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures in American History”, adaptations of Native American history often require connection and consultation with peoples from these communities, as well as extensive research. Texts like Popol Vuh, in comparison, can tell the reader much more about what Native Cultures considered important. Understanding of the world, social relationships and daily life are all much more easily translated through historically significant texts, rather than movies.
Discussing the Sacred Book of the Maya, interesting conversation regarding the nature of translation can also be had. When reading translated text, the input of the translator is often not apparent, however, it is the driving force behind potential interpretations of the source material. As seen on pages 66 and 67 with lines such as “Then all the tribes were sad because they couldn’t understand one another”, translation can be used to give character to writing. A translator interprets the mood and emotions of the people they write about according to their own perceptions and knowledge. However, this also means that the general reliability of meanings within translation comes into question. Within other religious or cultural texts, such as the Quran and the Bible, translation can also often change, adapt or distort original meanings of the text. During translation, the initial work inevitably comes through the lens of human perception, coming out as a changed material.
Bibliography
“Fatawa – the Accuracy of the Different Translations of the Quran.” Dar Al-Ifta Al Misriyyah. Web.
Grove, Tim. A Grizzly in the Mail and Other Adventures in American History. Lincoln: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2014.
Montejo Víctor, and Luis Garay. Popol Vuh: A Sacred Book of the Maya. Toronto: Goundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2009.
Strauss, Mark L. “Bible Translation and the Myth of ‘Literal Accuracy.’” Review & Expositor 108, no. 2 (2011): 169–93.
Weismantel, Mary, and Cynthia Robin. “’Apocalypto’ a Distorted View of Maya History.” Northwestern University News, Last modified 2007. Web.