Thursday, April 19, 2018
Response to Arrival and Story of your Life
Please post your response to Arrival and Story of Your Life here by Sunday night. Your response should be no less than 250 words and can approach the topic from any substantive angle you wish. You might wish to discuss the way the story differs from the film, and how each reflects upon their medium. You might also want to address the use of science fiction as a genre, and how it is subverting and adhering to some of those conventions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Arrival and The story of your life was quite similar yet very different. Both play with time- flash forwards in between the present situation. The genre (scientific) and the overall point of the story remains the same, but it felt like two different stories to me from a certain perspective. From the start in the short story it was made clear about Hannah, and I actually could have picked up rather quicker that none of it had happened yet, if I hadn’t watched the movie first. Certain memories were not included in the movie such as the Hawaii trip that Hannah was so excited about in the story. Also some moments might have been misinterpreted by me but I thought the “Non-Zero Sum game” scene in the movie was quite cold and Hannah seemed mad, but in the book she seems nicer about it.
ReplyDeleteThe whole entire movie I got the impression that she died from Cancer or a sickness of the kind, and it was made clear when she had a flash forward about telling Hannah she shared with her dad a non-stoppable sickness. But in the story, she actually lived until 25 and died from climbing or another adventurous trip like such (from what I understood). These details make shift the story a little, but never away from the whole. Lastly, and most importantly, in the short story they never understand why the aliens came or left or what their purpose really was. But in the movie she actually gets “abducted” for a little and learns that they came to help humanity to work as a whole in return that humans would help them down the line- since they could predict the future. The short story does mention “gift exchanges” and I interpreted such as how the movie shows trade with aliens basically the entire time. Overall, I enjoyed both the movie and the story and even though I watched the movie, the story was no less interesting.
The movie “Arrival” and the story “Story of Your Life” had many similarities. Both used flashbacks and flash-forwards throughout the text and both were classified under the genre of science fiction. At the beginning of the movie, the audience thought what they were viewing was in the present, however, at the end of the movie the audience realizes that the beginning of the movie was the beginning of Louise’s book that she wrote starting from the day of the arrival of the aliens. As the movie goes on, there are numerous flashbacks to Louis’s daughter, who dies from an incurable disease, these flashbacks are key to the movie as they help Louise make important connections and discoveries that help her communicate with the aliens. The story starts in a similar way to the movie, with the narrator, Dr. Sarah Banks, addressing her unnamed daughter as Dr. Banks. The story and the movie both address the conception of the Louise’s and Dr. Bank’s daughters while in the perspective of in the narrative present. After the narrators discuss the process of the conception of their children, the story and movie shift into the past, and describe the events that lead up to the principle plot, the opportunity to join a scientific team that investigates the arrival of aliens, where they both meet their future husbands and father of their children. To no surprise, Louise and Dr. Banks both accept the offers and join the mission. At this point, science fiction conventions begin to enter the narratives, however, there is less violence shown in these narratives than in other science fiction narratives. In many science fiction narratives, the aliens end up “not coming in peace”, however in these scenarios, the aliens weren’t after humans, they were after help.
ReplyDeleteThe story "Story of your life" and the film “Arrival” are very similar as they tell essentially the same exact story. However, there are certain changes that make the movie and the story different from each other. The clearest differences stem from Dr. Banks’ daughter. In the movie we understand most of her story from the very beginning and the audience see’s that she dies due to a rare medical condition. In the story however, Dr. Banks’ daughter dies in a mountain climbing accident. In the film 12 different alien ships come down to earth and land in random places around the globe. The team would enter the ships and talk to the aliens there. In the story the aliens stay outside of Earth in its orbit, to communicate they send down the same glass that we see in the movie. A subtle difference are the names of the Aliens, in the film they are named Costello and Abbott; while in the book they are named Raspberry and Flapper. From the perspective of the audience I wonder if the names actually have any significance? The final difference I noticed was the difference in the fact that the movie included foreign world leaders. In the movie China, Russia, and Sudan are very hostile with the aliens. They state that they are going to attack the Aliens If they don’t leave in time; which creates a time rush and tension in the movie. However, the story doesn’t include these factors and the conclusion is not tense like this.
ReplyDeleteEven though both "Story of your Life" and "Arrival" overall tel the same story, they are quite different in their approach. Some of the main differences stem from the difference in medium. Arrival is very cinematic and has lots and lots of exposition and suspense while Story of your Life is much more to the point. Another main difference is how Story of your Life is much more clear in explaining what is going on, while Arrival is very mysterious and confusing up until the end of the film. This difference is apparent in many different ways including how in Story of your Life it goes into great detail explaining Fermat's Principle and how it explains the aliens language and their non-linear perception of time. Arrival is quite different and follows the conventions of a cult-classic style film where the film is mysterious and confusing up until the resolution at the end which some consider "mind-blowing." One other significant difference is the Arrival's resolution compared to Story of your Life. Story of your Life's resolution/ending isn't very dramatic and leaves the reader wanting a more intense ending as the aliens leave after giving Earth the gift of their language. Arrival chose to not explain the language until the end as well as intensified the resolution by having the aliens give them a "weapon" which is blown greatly out of proportion causing other countries to declare war on the aliens. Arrival also added how Dr. Banks basically saved the world through her understanding of the alien language, greatly dramatizing the film compared to the short story.
ReplyDeleteWhile based on the short story “Story of Your Life,” written by Ted Chiang, the movie Arrival, directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Eric Heisserer expresses the main characters gift in a different way. Divergent of the short story, the movie portrays the flash forwards that the main character has often as a flash back. Because the movie is a film rather than text, it does not allow tenses unless it is shown as a flash back even thought they do not mean to, there is no other way around it. In the short story, using the tenses to describe her visions allows the audience to see that the main character has the ability to see short clips of the future. At the beginning of the movie, these visions appear as flash backs until the end when the audience hits the realization that they are about the future and that the whole movie plot happened before her daughter was even born. The translation of her visions is lost being in a different form of entertainment. Writing and stories are very different than films. However, in the film, the flash forwards also had a different shift on their own. The happy “memories” had a warmer set verses the sadder ones had a blue tint to them. Overall, the short story was able to show simply that the vision she was having were from the future when the movie was not able to do so. Watching the movie initially, the audience thinks that everything with her daughter happens before the first main scene when she is going to teach her college class.
ReplyDelete"Arrival" and "Story of Your Life" tell very similar stories. However, the stories are told in very different ways. Arrival tells the story in a very non linear way. For almost the entire movie the audience has very little no idea what is going on. The movie is filled with short confusing clips of what appear to be flashbacks, but by the end of the movie, you realizes these flashes are actually from the future. This suspense is what makes the film so great. The audience is on the edge of their seat almost the entire time waiting for answers. When you finally receive those answers, the movie makes sense and gives you almost an overwhelming feeling of relief. “Story of Your LIfe” on the other hand was much more straightforward. You understand how the story is being told from the very beginning. Changes in the tense of the writing can make it confusing at first, but then make it clear when you understand what is happening. This way is much different and adds different benefits to the story. Understanding the story better makes the story easier and more fun at times. While watching the arrival, I often felt discouraged annoyed that I could not figure out what was going on. If I wasn’t watching as part of a class assignment, I probably would have given up and not finished the movie to be honest. I see the merits of both forms of storytelling, on one hand you have an understanding of a great story and can appreciate it the whole time, on the other, you are very confused, but the pay off at the end is huge when it all comes together.
ReplyDeleteFrom Arrival and Story of Your Life I thought both were very different. There were times when both shared similar aspects but both also come from the science fiction genre. Both movie and short story tell a tale about aliens coming down to earth with non-violent intents. All in trying to understand the aliens and flash forward memories. But both tell different perspectives in the tale one from Hannah and the other Dr. Banks. There are also many differences from the movie and short story that I think make them very different. For instance, the way Hannah dies are portrayed fairly different in both stories. In the movie, she’s said to have died from cancer whereas in the story she dies at the age of twenty-five. These are two very different outcomes because in the movie she’s portrayed to be at least younger than twenty. The reason why I think the movie chose the route in changing someone’s death is so that the audience isn’t too tied up with Hannah. Not a lot is shared about her at all besides that she’s Dr. Banks daughter. This is so the audience can be more surprised in the end but still not have that deep connection with another character that isn’t needed. But this also fits perfectly into the typical movie story mold. Movies don’t have a lot of time to give information on all the characters. Even though Hannah played a large role in the short story she still had a role in the movie. Even though her role isn’t that big in the movie she still needed to get the point across and have an effect on the audience so. Changing her age and keeping her unknown really made the movie focus on Dr. Banks and the aliens and not a whole other story.
ReplyDelete“Story of Your Life” which is a short story and the movie, “Arrival” are two science fiction pieces that tell a very similar story of aliens coming to Earth. They both tell a story of aliens coming to Earth and how the alien’s language was an important key to the story. However, In the movie there was 12 space ships that landed on Earth, yet in the short story the aliens stayed in Earth’s orbit. In both “Story of Your Life” and “Arrival” use flashbacks and flash forwards in time to add to the dramatizing story both tell. Another difference between the two pieces are the names of the aliens, in the movie being named Costello and Abbott; while being called Rasberry and Flapper in the short story. The film is very drawn out and mysterious while the short story is pretty much straight to the point. Watching the movie you are very confused on what is going on because of all the flashbacks and flash forwards however in the short story because of the use of tenses you can understand the past present and future with more ease. This confusion adds to the grand end of the movie while with the short story the end of it as not as suspenseful.
ReplyDeleteArrival and Story of Your Life both have the same plot but are told in different ways and with minor differences in scene details. In the movie Arrival, from the start there is a sense of confusion. The opening scene is that of a new born being held for the first time by her mother. Then out of nowhere, this seemingly ordinary female professor, Dr. Louise Banks, becomes a major asset in interacting with the Heptapods that have landed on earth. Among those brought to figure out why the aliens have come is physicist Ian. Towards the end of the movie, they both come to understand their language and their purpose on earth which is to give humans the understanding of their language and in return they will need help in the future. We also see many flash backs of the same child throughout the movie while she grows and then dies from what seems cancer. We also do not understand till the end that that child featured in the flashbacks is daughter of Louise and Ian. As for the Story of Your Life, from the beginning you can more so understand that the recounts of this young girl are scenes from the future so therefore flash-forwards. The understanding of the alien’s language also seems to come sooner with less climax. It’s all more evenly explained rather than some things being more emphasized than others. Also, there is the small detail that their daughter dies from a climbing accident rather than cancer in the short story. All in all, I loved both of the mediums in which they are told but can appreciate the movie more for you must pay attention to every small detail unlike other movies to really understand the end.
ReplyDeleteThe movie "Arrival" and the short story "Story of your life" are both very similar pieces. Both pieces have essentially the same story with the same themes of science fiction and time warping. We see in both families the main character being a woman with a daughter that has passed away very young. This woman was also married to a man that she use to work with when these aliens came to earth and gave her the power to think freely in time. These aliens called heptapods are the main focus of both stories and the reason Louise can freely think in time. A very large difference between the stories is that in the short story "Story of your life" it is made clear from the beginning that Louise is fully aware that she can think freely in time. On the other hand, in the movie Arrival Louise is often confused in the story about this daughter she keeps having thoughts about. It becomes clear later in the story that Louise had been flashing forward and thinking about the daughter she had with her ex-husband Ian, and had not been flashing back as the movie first seemed to portray her thoughts. Both mediums were a very good story. Although the short story had the ability to go into more details about the characters and their family, I feel that the movie had a better twist when the audience and Louise realize her free time thinking abilities.
ReplyDelete“Arrival” and “Story of Your Life” have the same story line, but they are two very different pieces. The two pieces are both about Louise Banks and her experience with the heptapods that appeared on earth. Louise was hired to help translate their language. To do this, she had to teach them some English. In both pieces, Louise talks about parts of her daughter’s life. Her daughter dies at a young age. In the short story, her daughter dies by falling off a cliff. However, in the movie, her daughter dies of cancer. We can tell from the beginning of the story that her daughter's life has not yet been lived. It is in the future. It is hard to tell that this is the case in the movie. In the movie, it seems like her daughter has already passed. The movie and short story show the heptapods in different lights. In the movie, to attract a larger audience, they made the heptapods seem more intimidating. They are able to do this by using intense music and dark lighting. “Story of Your Life” states that the heptapods are not here to harm the humans. They can easily state this with words. Another simple difference between “Arrival” and “Story of Your Life” are the names of the heptapods. This is a small detail, but it shows how the two pieces vary. “Story of Your Life” is much more detailed than “Arrival”. There is a much bigger emphasis on the story of her daughter in the short story then in the film.
ReplyDeleteArrival and Story of your life are very similar stories being told, both encompassing the life of a young woman, Louise, and the experiences she encounters with aliens visiting Earth. She is called upon by the government to attempt decoding the language of the aliens in order to communicate. Throughout the movie (Arrival) and the short story (Story of your life) memories of her daughter occupy Louise's mind. She is permitted to interact with the aliens that were on American soil, using different exercises to learn the "heptapods" language and establish their intent. Discovering that in knowing the language, she was able to perceive time in a non linear fashion. In the movie, the memories Louise experiences of her daughter are glimpses into her future life she would lead. Louise is confused by the thoughts she keeps seeing of a daughter and ex-husband, only learning in the end that she would discover the true gift of the Heptapod language given to humanity. In the short story, Louise is aware from the very beginning that she is having memories of the future. Both stories follow a similar timeline, while in the end of the movie Louise has a revelation of what she has been experiencing during her work with the extraterrestrials.
ReplyDeleteBoth Arrival and Story of your life share strong similarities with regards to the overall plot and structure of the story. But the use of film in offers many differences to the audience. For example, in Arrival the audience is not aware that the visions she is seeing are in the future and you are led to believe that they take place in the past for the majority of the movie. However, in the short story it is clear that the events she is seeing are yet to take place. Other differences that are present are how her daughter is to die. In the film she gets a rare disease while in the story she falls off a cliff. The major similarities between the two are that she is hired by the government to help translate what the Heptopods want. Both mediuems are great but I enjoyed the film more because you can sense the tension between the nations and the stakes seem real. In the movie it also is directed in a way that offers the audience high levels of suspense. These factors coupled with the twist at the end of the movie made me enjoy it. In the movie also the reveal of the heptopods is a very big deal as they are being shrouded in mystery by the government and the news casts. Another strong point the movie offers I feel is the soundtrack and use of music to enhance the experience.
ReplyDelete