Arrival Flashcards
If you could see your whole life from start to finish ___ ___ ____ ____
Would you change things
Despite knowing the journey … and where it leads … I embrace it … __ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ____
And I welcome every moment of it
But now I’m not so sure I believe in ___ and ____. There are days that ___ ___ ___ beyond your life. Like the day they arrived
Beginnings and endings
Define your story
The ___ ___ hypothesis. It’s the theory that the language you speak ____ ___ ___ ___
Sapir Whorf
Determines how you think
We’re a world with no ___ ____. It’s impossible to deal with ___ ___ ___ ____
Single leader
Just one of us
Just a regular ___ ____ when aliens showed up - Paul Vermette (production designer)
Tuesday morning
This is ____ ___ _____. We are part of a larger whole
One of twelve
It’s a ___ ___ ___ game.
Non zero sum game
What kind of structure does arrival have?
A circular structure, where there is no end or beginning and in fact the beginning is the end and vice versa
Describe the kuleshov effect, and how it is used in arrival
The Kuleshov effect is a juxtaposition effect where the viewer derives meaning in the second scene based on what they saw in the first scene as they assume these events are chronological and put together the pieces. In the second scene of arrival, we assume Louise is grieving her lost daughter as she looks depressed af as we have just seen a montage of Hannah growing up and eventually dying, but in reality, she is actually just lonely and introverted as we find out at the end of the movie that hannah’s death is actually thelast event chronologically
How did Kuleshov discover and test the Kuleshov effect
He put the same picture of a mans face on for a few seconds after a first image. The first images were a girl in a coffin, a woman lying provocatively on a sofa and a hot plate of soup. Then the mans face cut in, with the same expressionless gaze. Given the first scene, viewers determined the man was sad, then lustful, then hungry. Of course different viewers were shown each one, but all of them assumed this even though the man was expressionless, based on what their mind has put together
What is special about Hannah’s name
It is a palindrome, reading the same forward and backwards. This is another fucken link to the fucked up circular structure of the film
How is flash forward used as a film technique in arrival
There are so many flash forwards throughout the film, gaining in frequency throughout the film as Louise learns the language. They are used to show events that will happen in the future, alluding to Louise’s ability to see the future and the circular structure and interconnectedness in the film. They provide a red-herring for the audience, producing a woah what really affect at the end of the film when they find out what their brain originally perceived to be flashbacks are actually flash forwards and those events haven’t happened yet
How is montage used as a film technique in arrival
The identical montages with identical music creates circular structure and interconnectedness in the film because the ending and beginning are exactly the same, just like a circle. The montage shows events and tricks or brain into perceiving the movie chronologically. The ending montage reveals the whole movies premise to us at the end of the film and finally shows the structure as circular. It disproves all the red herrings we have been subjected to throughout the film in terms of flash” backs” (forwards) and connects the storyline
How is music used in the film. Who is the musical director
Johan Johannson did the music. It is made with piano and voice loops, another nod to interconnectedness in the film. The opening and closing song that accompanies the two montages (On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter) also provides circular structure proof and connects the storyline. It reveals the interconnectedness throughout the movie as we are like woah what really when we hear the song starting again, but its actually because its the same scene, just with Ian able to be seen.
