Movie Review_ Background & Setting

Arrival is a movie with science fiction genre directed by Denis Villeneuve.This movie set in a realistic world with concerned about free will and personal responsibilities. As in the movie, the aliens land on earth to help humans by sharing the language, which the linguist Louise Banks and physicist Ian Donnelly work together to decipher the reason of aliens “Heptapod” land on earth.

In my opinion, Arrival is a setting which a combination tenses of past, present and future use to reflect shifts in time. It is not about the time travel but existing both inside and outside of time. The beginning were not the past, but the flash forwards and Louise has foresees the future and makes a choice in present.

There is another world inside the spacecraft which it is zero gravity. Louise and Ian communicate with the “Heptapod” with those logograms to understand the aim of aliens arrive on the earth. The objective of this movie are clear enough which it focused on the communication in different languages and levels and also the cooperation to understand the alien.

From the understanding of he setting in USA, the climate of the movie is in spring, where the greenery is still plentiful. Besides, the people in the movie are fully aware of their surrounding and society. As from the world in this movie are facing a challenge which 12 spacecrafts land in different locations around the world. Society around the world are terrifying and feel their life are being threaten. Besides, they all are living as in a society and there are hierarchies in which to keep it balanced, each of them playing a seemingly insignificant role to prop up this frail norm facade.

The society in the movie have same kind of economy like us, which each of them with a specific yet individually insignificant role in society. For example, Louise as a linguist and Ian as theoretical physicist. The government and military hold the main power with a democratic system in the movie. The main character in the movie have sufficient knowledge and information towards the circumstances they are facing.

In this global economy world, global and universal ethnics are necessity. As in the movie, the society have the same ritual as us, where people work, communicate, having meal, hangout as usual to be considered as socially acceptable. In the society, all seeking individuality, yet proven time and time again to just be manufactured as to be part of society.

In conclusion, Arrival bring an important message which it pointing out the attitude and mindset of current society. As we know that, emotion are important in this world as it plays a role in how we think and behave. We cannot live in a world without any emotion, because the emotion will pressure us on taking action and influence our decisions making. This is a movie that force viewers to reconsider which make us truly human, so it worth for the audiences.