Editing Tower of Babel (section)

==In popular culture==
* The "Babel fish" is a fictional fish in [[Douglas Adams]]' novel [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel)|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]], which can be placed in someone's ear for them to instantly understand anything said to them in any form of language. [[Yahoo!|Yahoo]] used this as a base for their "[[Babel Fish (website)|Yahoo! Babel Fish]]" online translation service.
* [[Pieter Brueghel the Elder|Pieter Brueghel]]'s influential portrayal is based on the [[Colosseum]] in Rome, while later conical depictions of the tower (as depicted in Doré's illustration) resemble much later Muslim towers observed by 19th-century explorers in the area, notably the [[Great Mosque of Samarra|Minaret of Samarra]]. [[M.C. Escher]] depicts a more stylized geometrical structure in [[Tower of Babel (M. C. Escher)|his woodcut]] representing the story.
* The composer [[Anton Rubinstein]] wrote an opera based on the story ''[[Der Thurm zu Babel]]''.
* American choreographer [[Adam Darius]] staged a multilingual theatrical interpretation of ''The Tower of Babel'' in 1993 at the [[Institute of Contemporary Arts|ICA]] in London.
* [[Fritz Lang]]'s 1927 film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]'', in a flashback, plays upon themes of lack of communication between the designers of the tower and the workers who are constructing it. The short scene states how the words used to glorify the tower's construction by its designers took on totally different, oppressive meanings to the workers. This led to its destruction as they rose up against the designers because of the insufferable working conditions. The appearance of the tower was modeled after [[The Tower of Babel (Brueghel)|Brueghel's 1563 painting]].<ref name="Bukatman">{{cite book |last=Bukatman |first=Scott |title=Blade Runner |url=https://archive.org/details/bladerunnerbfimo00buka |url-access=limited |location=London |publisher=British Film Institute |date=1997 |isbn= 0-85170-623-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bladerunnerbfimo00buka/page/n35 62]–63}}</ref>
*The Tower's story is replicated in the 1966 [[epic film]] ''[[The Bible: In the Beginning...]]''.
* The political philosopher [[Michael Oakeshott]] surveyed historic variations of the Tower of Babel in different cultures<ref name="Worthington 2016 p. 121">{{cite book |last=Worthington |first=G. |title=Religious and Poetic Experience in the Thought of Michael Oakeshott |publisher=Andrews UK Limited |series=British Idealist Studies 1: Oakeshott |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-84540-594-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMk0DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT121 |page=121f}}</ref> and produced a modern retelling of his own in his 1983 book, ''On History''.<ref>Reprinted as {{cite book |last=Oakeshott |first=Michael |chapter=The tower of Babel |editor-last=Clarke |editor-first=S.G. |editor-last2=Simpson |editor-first2=E. |title=Anti-Theory in Ethics and Moral Conservatism |publisher=State University of New York Press |series=SUNY Series in Ethical Theory |year=1989 |isbn=978-0-88706-912-3 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xnOMf9Yr0kgC&pg=PA185 |access-date=25 May 2018 |page=185ff |url=https://archive.org/details/antitheoryinethi0000unse |url-access=registration }}</ref> In his retelling, Oakeshott expresses disdain for human willingness to sacrifice individuality, culture, and quality of life for grand collective projects. He attributes this behavior to fascination with novelty, persistent dissatisfaction, greed, and lack of self-reflection.<ref name="Corey 2006 p. 130">{{cite book |last=Corey |first=E. C. |title=Michael Oakeshott on Religion, Aesthetics, and Politics |publisher=University of Missouri Press |series=Eric Voegelin Institute series in political philosophy |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-8262-6517-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/michaeloakeshott00core_0 |url-access=registration |pages=[https://archive.org/details/michaeloakeshott00core_0/page/n146 129]–131}}</ref>
* [[A. S. Byatt]]'s novel ''Babel Tower'' (1996) is about the question "whether language can be shared, or, if that turns out to be illusory, how individuals, in talking to each other, fail to understand each other".<ref>{{cite news |first=Andreas |last=Dorschel |title=Ach, Sie waren nicht in Oxford? Antonia S. Byatts Roman "Der Turm zu Babel" |work=[[Süddeutsche Zeitung]] 274|date=25 November 2004 |page=16 |language=de}}</ref>
* Science fiction writer [[Ted Chiang]] wrote a story called "[[Tower of Babylon (story)|Tower of Babylon]]" that imagined a miner's climbing the tower all the way to the top where he meets the vault of heaven.<ref>Joshua Rothman, [https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/ted-chiangs-soulful-science-fiction "Ted Chiang's Soulful Science Fiction"], ''The New Yorker'', 2017</ref>
* This biblical episode is dramatized in the Indian television series ''[[Bible Ki Kahaniyan]]'', which aired on [[DD National]] from 1992.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Menon |first1=Ramesh |author-link=Ramesh Menon |title=Bible ki Kahaniyan: Another religious saga on the small screen |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-the-arts/story/19891115-bible-ki-kahaniyan-another-religious-saga-on-the-small-screen-816711-1989-11-15 |website=[[India Today]] |language=en |date=15 November 1989}}</ref>
* [[Chris Huelsbeck]] has created an orchestral piece titled "Tower of Babel" which appears in ''[[Turrican II: The Final Fight]]''.
* The Tower of Babel appears in the 47th episode of the anime series ''[[Arabian Nights: Sinbad's Adventures]]''.
* In the 1990 Japanese television anime ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]'', the Tower of Babel is used by the Atlanteans as an interstellar communication device.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thesecretofbluewater.com/note7-i.htm|title=Nadia & Reality |date=13 June 2019|website=Tamaro Forever presents The Secret of Blue Water|access-date=13 June 2019}}</ref> Later in the series, the Neo Atlanteans rebuild the Tower of Babel and use its communication beam as a weapon of mass destruction. Both the original and the rebuilt tower resembles the painting ''Tower of Babel'' by artist [[Pieter Bruegel the Elder]].
* Argentinian novelist [[Jorge Luis Borges]] wrote a story called "[[The Library of Babel]]".
* 2017 comic book ''La tour de Bab-El-Oued'' (''The tower of Bab-El-Oued'') from [[Joann Sfar|Sfar]]'s ''[[The Rabbi's Cat (comics)|The Rabbi's Cat]]'' series refers to the Tower of Babel in a context of intercultural conflict and cooperation (Jews and Muslims during the French colonization in Algeria).<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.benzinemag.net/2017/12/15/chat-rabbin-tome-7-tour-de-bab-el-oued-joann-sfar/|title=Le chat du rabbin Tome 7 : La tour de Bab-El-Oued – Joann Sfar|date=15 December 2017|last=Debarnot|first=Eric|magazine=Benzine|language=French}}</ref>
* In the video game ''[[Doshin the Giant]]'', the final monument the island inhabitants can create is called the Tower of Babel,<ref name="KD1">{{ cite book | title=Kyojin no Doshin 1: Koushiki Gaidobukku (Doshin the Giant 1: Official Guide book) for 64DD version | date=2000 | publisher=Nintendo Co., Ltd. | isbn=4-575-16201-9}}</ref> which begins to sink the island. The titular Doshin the Giant then sacrifices himself to save the island.
* The 2023 video game ''[[Chants of Sennaar]]'' is largely inspired by the Tower of Babel.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eurogamer.net/chants-of-sennaar-review|title=''Chants of Sennaar'' review – a puzzling linguistic marvel|last=Donlan|first=Christopher|work=[[Eurogamer]]|date=2023-09-12|accessdate=2023-09-13}}</ref>