ENG4U0 – FILM STUDY – ARRIVAL (2016) –

* Based on Story Of Your Life by Ted Chiang

PART ONE – (20)

– For each of the following vignettes, write down twenty (20) jot note impressions for each protagonist based on their: race, physicality, mindset, age, gender, culture, location, behaviours, actions, cliches and stereotypes).

Louise Banks:

• She is female
• Louise is a linguist professor
• She exhibits boldness when it comes to accomplishing the goal of learning the language of the extraterrestrial heptapods
• She is a visionary as she learns the language of the heptapods as a means of acquiring the ability to perceive the future
• Her notable cliché is “You can understand communication and still end up single.”
• She is patient as she does not engage in making quick conclusions about the heptapods
• She is determined as she does everything to learn the language of the heptapods
• She experiences a physiological alteration following her learning of the heptapods’ language
• She is intelligent as she views issues objectively and embrace decisions based on logic
• She insists on dialoguing with the aliens
• She believes that forging a relationship with the aliens will help them to understand the heptapods
• She has the preface of her book written that language serves as the first weapon to be drawn in conflicts
• As a means of stopping war, She tells the Chinese leader’s wife that war does not result in winners, but only leads to widows
• She manages to convince the Chinese leader not to attack the aliens
• She is confused by the aliens’ use of the word “weapon” and later learns that it means “gift” in the heptapods’ language
• She later informs the team or political leaders about the meaning of the word “weapon”
• She envisions her daughter showing her a photo of her dad and mom
• She imagines talking to her daughter who asks her about the connotation of a given word
• She imagines giving birth to her child or baby
• She imagines having a daughter with cancer

Ian Donnelly:

• He is a physicist
• He was recruited by the US military to establish the reason for the heptapods to come to earth
• He is a gifted or talented scientist who handles his work with seriousness
• He has the ability to remain calm even in most unfamiliar circumstances
• He possesses a warm sagacity of humor
• He is willingness to embrace a risk for an endeavor in which he robustly believes
• He insists on knowing the reason for the alien’s visitation of the earth
• He believes that logic and math can help uncover the reason for alien’s visitation
• His role exists in acting as a second narrator who delves into details of their team’s linguistic findings
• Contrary to Louise, he insists on getting answers about the aliens immediately
• Initially, he focuses majorly on science as a solution to analyzing the heptapods’ arrival’
• He later teams with Louise to understand the aliens
• He acknowledges Louise as fate’s gift
• He brings Louise to light as woman as well as a scientist
• He considers his acquaintance with Louise the most outstanding occurrence of these days that transcends comparison
• He asks Louise about perceiving dreams via the foreign language’s lens, thereby giving the audience the cue concerning the nature of such dreams
• He became married to Louise
• He and Louise had a child together following the heptapods’ departure of the earth
• Louise shares with him the foresight granted to her by the heptapods language
• His marriage with Louise ended due to the foresight associated with the heptapod language that he acquired from Louise

Colonel Weber:

• Head of the military forces
• He is a powerful military leader
• He is very clear and prompt in issuing order
• He employs language mostly within the security defense context
• His mission is to observe and secure the ship of the heptapods
• He insists on knowing where the aliens originate from
• He is not interested in learning how to communicate with the aliens
• He is Pessimistic as he does not believe that the job of learning the language of the heptapods will be a success
• Considers war a means to having peace
• He chooses Louise for the task of translating the language of the heptapods
• He generally supports Louise
• He is a trickster considering that he lures Louise to go to the remote movie-making location where the spaceship of the aliens hovers
• In some situations, he doubts Louise’ comprehension of the aliens’ language
• He believes in Louise’ ability to effectively teach the word for “weapon” to the aliens
• He is cooperative and a team-player as he constantly consults Louise on issues regarding the aliens’ language
• He has good command of the military warfare equipment as evident in the scene where he informs Louise and Ian about the ship known as The Shell.
• He is secretive as he declines to take Louise to witness the confidential project in Montana
• He is considerate and reasonable as he agrees to take Louise to Montana as this could help in understanding the aliens and their language
• He is cautious not to introduce the aliens to numerous vocabularies like “defeat,” “opposition,” and “victory” could conclude them to warfare as opposed to the world peace
• He is swift and resolute as he insists on moving quickly to address the problem of the aliens as a means of avoiding a major catastrophe to humanity

Agent Halpern:

• He is a member of the task force at the heptapods’ arrival site in Montana
• He possesses direct line to the US’ president
• He attempts everything to ensure America’s safety
• Determined as he does everything to ensure America’s safety
• Obedient as he follows orders from the president
• Loyal as he takes his initiatives from the president as opposed to Louise
• He believes that the aliens are prodding humans to fight among themselves until only one group prevails
• He believes that we live within a world with many leaders
• He delves into the details of addressing the problem of the aliens including understanding the atmospheric differences within heptapods’ ship
• He is cooperative as he works with an Australian scientist to establish the atmospheric differences within the alien ship
• Considerate as he agrees with the decision made between him, Dr. Kettler and Colonel Weber to allow them to continue working without suits based on their achievement or progress
• He expresses his curiosity over the possibility of the aliens being hostile
• He is informed considering that he reminds Louise concerning the different responses of other countries regarding the employment of the word “weapon.”
• He demonstrates his prowess in working with modern technology including monitoring other countries using video monitors
• His inquisitive nature is shown when he emphasizes the significance of finding the meaning of the phrase “offer weapon”, as used by aliens as a means of de-escalating the situation
• He is a team-player as he works with the military leaders, Louise, and Ian, as well as the Australian scientist to address the alien problem
• He is reactive as he responds swiftly by shooting couple of soldiers, who responed to the sensationl coverall on the television by acting on their own
• He is adamant as he is reluctant to embrace Louise’ discovery that the heptapods are compelling humans to work jointly so as to properly employ the aliens’ gift.
• His pessimistic attitude is evident when he tells Louise that it too late to prevent global war despite sharing the information about the aliens’ language with other sites
• He believes in himself as he refuses to accept the discovery by Louise and Ian about the heptapods’ perception of time, and instead opts to stick to addressing the problem from a competitive viewpoint

General Shang:

• He is the film’s anti-villainous key antagonist
• Head of defense forces of China
• He holds the world’s most superior nation, which in the film’s context is China
• He is an authoritative military leader
• He possesses a more powerful language that actualized any time relative to Colonel Weber
• He tends to employ language cautiously
• He is protective of his country, China
• He is willing to adopt any means necessary including overruling superiors to safeguard his country and people
• He is serious when dealing with other people as evident when he responds to Louise’ call to talk about the dying words of his wife
• He is a major influence or domino to other countries as they follow whatever he does
• Impatient as he quickly concludes that heptapods have a mission of waging war on earth
• He rallies other nations to militarize with the aim of fighting back the heptapods
• He employs Mah-Jong to comprehend the heptapods’ language
• He is daring as he makes a public threat and statement, demanding the heptapods to leave the territory of China or risk being destroyed
• He is guilty of misjudging intentions and overreacting
• He is considerate as he agrees to Louise’ reasoning about the ability of war to make women widows
• He later thanks Louis for stopping him from waging an attack against the aliens
• He plays a decisive role in the stoppage of the war with the aliens when he announces his willingness to share China’s intelligence about heptapods with America
• He is social and cooperative as he attends an global ball celebrating peace and unity
• Honorable and kind as he changes his mind when treated with respect

PART TWO – HOW DOES LANGUAGE SHAPE OUR REALITY? (5)

• Explain how director Denis Villeneuve present the film’s premise that people do not all experience the same reality? Meaning, we live on the same planet, we breath the same air, but what we perceive shifts and changes based on the words and grammar we use to describe them to ourselves and each

The notion that individuals do not have a similar experience of reality is conveyed in the scene where Louise, Ian, and Weber are in the plane discussing different ways of understanding the aliens. Louise states that the best approach is to comprehend the aliens’ language and establish a relationship with them. Ian argues that they should focus on understanding how the aliens arrived on earth, whereas Weber proposes that they should focus on knowing where the aliens come from. Therefore, it can be noted that even though the three individuals are humans with the same goal of addressing the problem of the aliens, each of them has a different perception of the best way of dealing with the heptapods.

PART THREE – THE POWER OF COMMUNICATION (5)

• Explain how the film presents the idea that communication, not battle or combat, is the only way for humanity to avoid destroying itself.

Communication enables different parties to understand each other including their intentions and finding a common ground for a lasting peaceful coexistence. As a result, humanity can avoid destroying itself. The film demonstrates this notion through the approach adopted by Louise. While everyone is pessimistic about the heptapods and unwilling to communicate with the aliens, with some such as General Shang proposes war against the aliens as a means of having peace, Louise emphasizes communication. She believes that this approach will help in building a positive relationship with the aliens and enhance humans’ understanding of the aliens. She later learns, through communication, that the heptapods have no ill intentions against humans. For instance, she learns that the word “weapon” means gift in the aliens’ language. The political leaders in the film were worried when they heard the aliens talking about “weapon” and the they thought that the heptapods had come for war. As such, the movie excels in highlighting the role of communication in eliminating misunderstanding that may jeopardize peace and lead to humanity destroying itself by opting for battle

PART FOUR – BREAKING DOWN CHRONLOGY (5)

• Explain how Villeneuve structured the plot in this interpretation of Ted Chiang’s Why were these changes made and what was the intended impact on the viewer?

Villeneuve’s structuring of the plot of Arrival is faithful to some intents of Chiang’s narrative, but with changes in certain plot elements, which move the film. These changes are absent from Chiang’s story. For instance, the film muddies or fails to clarify the exact location in time of the opening of the movie.  As such, the audience is left to presume that Louise Banks, who in this case is the protagonist’s child, has demised followed by the commencement of the movie’s forward action. The film employs the audience’s own preconceived ideas concerning how time or the story-time operates, as a means of enhancing the audience’s understanding of the film and its plot. Human beings are hardwired through their languages to linear chronological or sequential reasoning and the film permits the audience to remain there until it does not. The audience fails to suspect the mystery associated with the movie’s order of events until it begins learning about a novel way of experiencing time. Being alien creatures, the heptapods do not experience time in a linear manner but rather concurrently. As such, their written language occurs in multidimensional form. Therefore, the meaning is modified by the dimension, which is more evident in the short story relative to the film.

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