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Ojibwe Star Wars Dub Gives “New Hope” to Indigenous Language Advocates
It’s not often that Manitoba gets the chance to host the premiere of a globally known franchise like Star Wars. But last Thursday, members of Anishinaabe communities gathered in Winnipeg for the world premiere of an Ojibwe language dub of the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope (or, Star Wars: Anangong Miigaading).
The project is a partnership between the Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council, the University of Manitoba, Disney/Lucasfilm, and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, with support from the Canadian government. It is only the second-ever translation of the film into an Indigenous language, after a Navajo translation was completed in 2013. People involved in the project hope that it will show Ojibwe as a modern, living language, and encourage its use and preservation.
As reported by the Globe & Mail, the project owes much to the involvement of one family. Project lead Maeengan Linklater (Dakota Ojibway Tribal Council), who spearheaded the initiative, is a lifelong Star Wars fan: he saw the original film twenty times in theaters. He enlisted the help of his relatives to bring his goal to life. His mother, Pat Ningewance Nadeau, is an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba and served as lead translator for the script. And his son, AJ Muldrew, who plays Luke Skywalker, was destined for the role – his middle name is “Jedi”.
The team spent two years working on the translation, which required the creation of new Ojibwe words to represent terms that have become an everyday part of English, such as “lightsaber” or “the dark side”. The Force, the spiritual power in Star Wars, became “Mamaandaawiziwin”, roughly “the wonderful thing”. With highly variable syllable counts between English and Ojibwe, one translation challenge was making sure each character’s lines didn’t overrun the time of the English dialogue.
Once the script was complete, the project recruited Ojibwe-speaking actors from both Canada and the United States in January. The actors spent ten days in Winnipeg this spring recording their lines, with final processing being done by Lucasfilm in California.
Ojibwe speakers hope that the movie will encourage wider use of their ancestral language. While Ojibwe is Canada’s third most spoken Indigenous language, it is considered severely endangered. One of the greatest difficulties in language preservation is encouraging its use by younger generations. Linklater himself feels profound sadness that he does not speak Ojibwe, despite his mother’s efforts, and he ensured that his son began learning the language when he was ten.
By fusing Ojibwe traditions with popular culture, advocates hope to reach new audiences and encourage pride in Ojibwe culture. Dustin Morrow, who voiced Obi-Wan Kenobi, is a University of Minnesota linguistics PhD student and member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. Morrow learned Ojibwe as a second language, and believes that mass media will be critical to securing the language’s future.
Star Wars is a good vehicle for this philosophy. It has particular thematic resonance for some Indigenous people, who see its story of resistance echo their own struggle against imperialism and colonialism. That symbolism was intentional on the part of creator George Lucas, who has previously stated that the film’s rebel protagonists were inspired by the Viet Cong’s success against superior American forces.
The film will began a limited theatrical release in Winnipeg and select other markets on Saturday; afterwards, it will be available on Disney+. |
Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25 