My Favourite Stories - Part 6: Arrival

In the first post of this series I’m doing on my favourite stories, I said that I would attempt to keep spoiler alerts to a minimum. Unfortunately I won’t be able to delve into Arrival without giving some major spoilers. I highly encourage anyone who hasn’t watched this film to do so at their earliest convenience. In fact, do it even if it’s inconvenient to you.

I’ll also quickly mention that a large amount of the credit for this story should go towards Ted Chiang, who wrote the original short story that Arrival is adapted from. 

I mentioned previously that Interstellar is a masterclass in how science should be merged in fiction. If that movie was sci-fi 101, then I consider Arrival to be sci-fi 201.

The film serves as a brilliant example of the extent to which language defines and shapes the way we perceive reality. It’s a concept which makes sense in theory, but Arrival demonstrates the extent to which we are so deeply nested in the framework of our language, to the point that when Louise learns the heptapod language, it alters the way she perceives time. What an absolutely brilliant use of science fiction to portray a philosophical concept.

Furthermore, what really gives this film a spot in my top 12 are the themes beneath the science fiction. Crazy as it might sound, I believe Arrival is a film that champions the character of the Virgin Mary. Specifically, I see Louise as an embodiment of this biblical archetype.

This is somewhat apocryphal, but I believe Mary knew that her son would die before she did based on Simeon’s prophecy that “a sword will pierce through your own soul also” [Luke 2:35]. In spite of this, she raised him as a loving mother, even to his death.

This is analogous to what Louise went through. After learning the language of the heptapods, she starts to see time unfold in a non-linear fashion. She sees her future self having a daughter named Hannah, and witnesses that child dying at eighteen years old from an incurable illness. In spite of this, Louise decides to marry Ian and give birth to Hannah anyways. 

It might seem like an irrational choice, but it’s really a testament to the strength of her character, that she is willing to put herself on a path to endure one of the worst kinds of tragedies imaginable, because the experience of being a mother was worth it enough to make the inevitable devastation worth it in the end.

At the centre of Arrival is a fundamentally life-affirming message. That in spite of the pain and suffering which defines reality, getting to be alive is still an immense privilege, even if it ends too soon.