Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza w Poznaniu

Linguistic Landscape in Film Works and Video Games

This paper examines how linguistic landscape, the visible language on signs and public displays, functions within fictional works, specifically films and video games.

• The paper argues that linguistic landscape, the visible language on signs and public displays, can be used by filmmakers and game designers to convey politics, economies, and identities in invented worlds, drawing on the established view that it reveals social structure and language hierarchy in real societies.
• The analysis is qualitative and case-based, based on close readings of two films (Blade Runner, 1982) and two video games (Deus Ex, 2000; Fallout 3, 2008) rather than on survey data or statistical sampling.
• In Blade Runner, dense neon advertising and a mix of English, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish signage express concerns about corporate capitalism and globalization, tied to Reagan-era economic policy.