Polycules, love languages and "foreign" language films go mainstream
The latest language news + what to watch, read and listen to
Greetings, Aisling here.
And just like that, it’s February: the month of love, lust and connection through Cupid’s arrow. Actually, make that multiple arrows because polyamory is the word these days, with Molly Roden Winter’s memoir More: A Memoir on an Open Marriage causing quite the stir. As a lifestyle that is no longer reserved for hippies and Mormons, you know it’s ‘hot’ when there is a full spread in NYMag on “ethical non-monogamy” and how to navigate “polycules” (that’s three or more people who are connected romantically and/or sexually). As such, with so many people in the relationship, it’s no longer live, laugh, love - it’s “living, laughing, loving, and doing lots of therapy” to quote the journalist Allison P Davis. But do be careful with the therapy-speak.
Could this have to do with love languages? Scientists are sceptical that they even exist. Or maybe we’re just greedy, as the embrace of multiple loves is rising in tandem with our obsession with longevity (she says from her early-30s perch). From micro longevity retreats with banker-turned-monks to Marina Abramovic being touted as a longevity guru, it seems to be quite the buzzword as we settle into 2024, though the term itself has been around since the 1610s, when it originated from the Late Latin longaevitatem.
And with so many years ahead of us, there’s no excuse: it’s time to learn that second language if only to reap the health benefits. Studies suggest that being bilingual can delay the onset of Alzheimer's by up to five years. And here’s the thing: the age at which you start learning another language is less important than how often you speak it. According to Caitlin Ware, a research engineer at Broca Hospital in Paris who studies bilingualism and brain health, the cognitive benefit is from having to inhibit your mother tongue, which your brain is forced to do if you’re trying to recall the right words in another language. “So if the second language is used a lot, you’re getting that cognitive training,” she says.
While some of us progress with learning another language, others are reviving those considered extinct. A scholar is recovering an ancestral language from the mountains of Mesopotamia while in Argentina a man spent nearly two decades resurrecting the indigenous language Chaná. The Argentinian in question, Blas Jaime, worked with a linguist to build a dictionary of roughly 1,000 Chaná words. It’s just one part of Argentina’s fraught reckoning over its history of colonization and Indigenous erasure.
Speaking a language that is more in tune with the land and our environment is the subject of this piece on why we need new words to describe nature. In highlighting how our word choices can shape thought—for example, how the United Nations refers to seas and oceans as “marine resources”— journalist Becca Warner indicates that it’s only natural that people would think of nature as a machine, a quantifiable capitalist entity. She is clearly onto something given that this recent UK poll showed that only a quarter of the people interviewed clearly understood the terms “green” or “sustainable”.
Oscar nominations are out and the verdict is in: foreign language films have gone mainstream. With Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest in the running for Best Picture, this is certainly a big change in gears given that only four foreign-language films were nominated in the category between 2000 and 2018. Celine Song's Past Lives, a drama about lost love that plays out in both Korean and English, is also among the Best Picture nominations. With more international members in The Academy’s ranks in the wake of the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite campaign as well as the retitling of the Foreign Feature Film category to International Feature Film ("foreign to whom?" as author Michael Schulman asks), progress is slow but steady. And of course, you can’t mention movies today without a reference to streaming services, as they play a big role in bringing foreign language films to global audiences. This year’s Society of the Snow, a Spanish film about the 1972 Andes plane crash and nominated for Best International Feature Film as well as Best Hair and Make-Up, is available to watch on Netflix. Just make sure to skip the dubbed version and turn on the subtitles!
What I’ve been up to:
Reading: Love Me Tender by the French author Constance Debré, which tells the story of a mother who loses custody of her son after leaving her husband and embracing her lesbian identity. I was completely swept up in this taut auto-fictional work of someone who fails to conform to the idealised role of ‘woman’ and ‘mother’. Simmering underneath is the uncomfortable truth that without her son in her life she has more time to dedicate to her writing.
Watching: I’ve finally started watching The Sopranos. David Chase’s vision of modern-day mobsters in America is sensational and just as enjoyable to watch 25 years after it was created. One word they keep bandying about is ‘goomah’ which refers to the men’s mistresses. Further research shows that this derives from the Italian for comare meaning godmother, in other words, a person who provides for the other’s emotional and physical wellbeing.
Recording: I recently started a podcast with screenwriter Lela London called She’s Having an Episode celebrating all of TV's best female characters. From Phoebe Buffay to Arabella Essiedu, we explore what makes these characters great, the journey they went on, and everything we learned from them.
Listening: To the podcast series Death of An Artist. Revolving around the artist couple Ana Mendiata and Carl Andre, the latter was charged with murdering the former, splitting the art world in two. Thirty-five years later, curator Helen Molesworth revisits Mendieta’s death and the trial that followed, and interrogates both the silence and the protest that ensued. Riveting.
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Aisling O’Leary is an Irish freelance journalist based in London. Her writing has appeared in Vogue, The Times, The Irish Independent and The Irish Times. You can follow her on Instagram @itspronouncedashling
Julia Webster Ayuso is a Spanish-British freelance journalist based in Paris. Her writing has appeared in Time, The Guardian, The New York Times and Monocle. You can follow her on Instagram @jwebsterayuso