2B: Paralanguage of Beloved Fictional Film Characters

Abstract

A lot of beloved fictional characters in film could certainly just use “normal” languages to communicate; instead, they use very obvious paralanguages at times. There are many features and aspects that contribute to understanding why paralanguages work for characters like Maximus and Pascal, Groot, droids from Star Wars, and Ewoks, but the main ones are sound, pitch, and body language; these three aspects in particular drive the ability of paralanguage as a means of communication for these characters. The reason for this is because these three things alone trigger very specific emotional responses that make them the characters we adore, fear, and love regardless of if they are good or bad. Normal language can be a hit or miss with emotional pull, but with the specific emotional ties paralinguistics brings to the scene, it becomes clear why designers use it, which is why people have stuffed animals of the famous robot WALL-E and not necessarily Jamie Lannister from Game of Thrones. These paralinguistic creatures create emotional responses that make them memorable and these same paralinguistic features allow for us to understand what they are saying, even though they may not even utter a single word.