FILM STUDY – ARRIVAL (2016) –

November 12, 2022AdminSamples

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.