Highlights
- Simlish language is a key component of The Sims culture, presenting a challenge for the upcoming movie adaptation.
- Finding a balance with Simlish dialogue is crucial for the success of The Sims movie.
The Sims franchise is reportedly set to receive its own movie adaptation. While making The Green Plumbob into a box office hit is a mouthwatering possibility, the Simlish language poses an obvious obstacle. The cute Simlish babblings are an essential component in the cog of what makes The Sims' culture wheel roll smoothly, and the movie wouldn't be complete without the dialect appearing in its conversations. The big question remains how to implement it.
"Sul sul" and "Dag dag" have marked the start and conclusion of just about every interaction between Sims since the franchise launched in 2000, becoming synonymous with the series over the years. Besides the allure of housing customization elements and building virtual relationships—either through Sims' Neighborhood Stories or playing out an imagined narrative—listening to Sims' conversations lends a transfixing and cozy element to its gameplay. To fully capture the franchise's magic in the upcoming movie, Simlish has to be featured creatively and in a non-intrusive way.
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Game of Thrones Could Hold the Key to a True Sims Adaptation
Although very little is known about The Sims' movie besides scant production details, there are more than a few storylines that are available to unravel in a cinematic setting: the inexplicable disappearance of Bella Goth, the potential serial killer in Olivia Specter, or even the Von Haunt Estate mystery fires. LuckyChap's production role behind the Barbie and Saltburn mega-successes should give The Sims fans a measure of confidence in a quality story, regardless of the direction it chooses. However, the language element could take a leaf out of Game of Thrones' book.
The cultural aspect of the storyline followed the Targaryens across the Narrow Sea into the lands of Essos, where Valyrian was widely spoken. By only including a few translations of the text (and, of course, the infamous "Dracarys" war cry), HBO created a fluent, non-intrusive mix of English and the fantasy language, which contributed to its immersion. Relating this to The Sims movie, LuckyChap has a blueprint from this model that can adapt similarly.
LuckyChap Needs to Find a Balance with Simlish
The studio could choose to render it entirely in Simlish, but this impractical approach would be overly reliant on subtitles to succeed and would still be tacky to keep up with. Rather than taking the easy way out and discarding the language entirely, using a few phrases, just like Game of Thrones' almost poetic insertions of Valyrian in high-tension moments, could do the trick. Ending conversations with the enthusiastic tune of "Dag dag" can suffice to embody Simlish culture.
It's hard to imagine a rendition of The Sims that wouldn't struggle to maintain its cultural X-factor without Simlish in its dialogue, no matter how elegant depictions of the City Living apartments of San Myshuno or the lush getaway islands of Sulani could be in a movie setting. Conversely, going overboard and dominating conversations with the fictional language could be a turn-off for viewers who don't fancy keeping up with subtitles. Finding the perfect balance is essential to the movie's success, and slick one-liners and greetings could be all it needs.
