Questions tagged [arrival]
2016's American sci-fi film, based on the short story Story of Your Life, Staring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker.
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Why didn't they change the future in Arrival?
Just watched Arrival and now reading reviews and discussions to comprehend the movie.
The aliens could see the future and know that they would need help from humans in 3000 years, that's why they ...
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1answer
86 views
What does Ian say to Louise after she went into the ship?
Can anyone help with a piece of dialogue in Arrival?
Louise has just met up with Ian after she goes in the ship alone. He wraps a blanket around her and ushers her into the pickup. She then explains ...
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1answer
238 views
Is Arrival's plot of rewiring one's brain by learning a new language based on reality?
In Arrival we see that learning a new language has done significant changes inside the brain.
Can learning a new language really “rewire your brain”? Was this plot point in the movie based on a ...
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1answer
145 views
What is the Hungarian name for “prodding us to fight among ourselves until one faction prevails?”
There's a scene in The Arrival where some important muckity-muck has the following exchange with Louise (Amy Adams):
Guy: We have to consider the idea that our visitors are prodding us to fight ...
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2answers
556 views
Is the tool given by the heptapods a gift, an imposition, a debt, a curse, other?
(Some spoilers ahead)
The plot of the movie Arrival (2016) is that aliens come to bring peace among humans and ask for a favor to be given back in the future. This is possible. But what if this is ...
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2answers
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Who installed the charge and why, in the explosion scene?
I do not understand the scene in Arrival in which Ian and Louise are coming back to the spaceship and during the communication with the aliens the charge exploded.
I did not notice who installed the ...
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1answer
732 views
Why did Arrival have a Horse Wrangler?
The credits of Arrival list Frank Gauthier as the film's Horse Wrangler. Why did the film need such a person? I don't remember any horses in the film. Were there horses in the background of a shot?
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0answers
92 views
How to explain this apparent paradox in “Arrival”? [duplicate]
(Here be spoilers)
Crucial events in the plot of "Arrival" involve:
Main character Louise learning from the Chinese General his wife's last words, as well as his phone number (that apparently ...
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1answer
211 views
Ian's breakthrough on the spacing of alien response
After the Heptapods give a huge number of circle-letters, Ian has a breakthrough, noting the spacing is even. He gives a number, which if I remember correctly was 0.083, or 0.83. It wasn't clear to me ...
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1answer
943 views
What could be the undetermined issue that aliens would be facing 3000 years in the future in the Arrival movie? [duplicate]
It's my understanding that the aliens came to our planet to teach us how to understand heptapod, their circular language and method of communicating. And they had an important reason. Being able to ...
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1answer
513 views
How does Louise even begin to understand aliens at all?
In Arrival, how does Louise begin to understand the aliens? There is absolutely no frame of reference or any common vocabulary between the languages.
How does Louise/translators decode a bunch of ...
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1answer
3k views
Arrival Non-zero sum game? [closed]
In Arrival, how is a non-zero sum game more "science-y" than a win-win game? A non-zero sum game can be all of win-win, win-lose, and lose-lose. How is this an appropriate term to use to describe a ...
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0answers
651 views
What does Louise write on the barrier with Abbott?
In the movie Arrival, Abbott starts tapping on the barrier so Louise will write on it. She tells Ian that she can't do it with both hands, which prompts Abbott to help her.
What do they write ...
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1answer
631 views
In “Arrival,” how does Louise communicate with the alien without visual aids?
In one of the last scenes of Arrival, Louise boards the ship on her own and communicates with the alien Costello simply by speaking English. In the previous scenes, she uses a computer monitor to ...
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1answer
1k views
Where did they say 3,000 years?
After watching Arrival, I read up on it. Many posts online talk about the aliens saying they'll need help in 3,000 years. So I watched it again when Louise talks to them 1-on-1. They only speak in ...
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1answer
416 views
Do Aliens intend to teach every human being the Universal language?
At the end of Arrival,
Costello tells Louise that they are going to need Humans' help in about 3000 years, and that's why they want to give a "gift" (weapon?) to them, to enable them to do that.
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1answer
2k views
Please explain what happened to Abbott at the end of Arrival
Almost at the end of the movie when Louise voluntarily goes to the shell and she meets Costello and asks about Abbott..and as a response Costello says
I was wondering if anyone knew more about this, ...
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1answer
379 views
Why did the aliens leave as soon as the strike was called back in Arrival (2016) [closed]
SPOILER ALERT: This was probably discussed before but if the Aliens did indeed come to pass on the 'gift' to humans, why did they leave as soon as the worldwide strike on their ships was called off? ...
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1answer
343 views
Where do these aliens come from?
I've seen Arrival but there are things that are not explained. In the movie, the aliens come from somewhere using the spaceship called 'shell'. Where do they come from, from what planet/galaxy? And ...
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1answer
495 views
How can the behavior of the aliens be explained?
After the alien spaceships arrived, first they were just waiting to be approached. As they are the ones that came with a mission, it makes sense that they should have been the active ones. Second, the ...
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2answers
2k views
Why did humanity need to work together to get the Aliens' gift if Louise had it already?
I didn't understand why exactly the aliens wanted Earth's nations to cooperate in order to receive.
It seems the gift was the language which allowed one to see the future, but Abbott and Costello ...
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2answers
964 views
Did the creators of “Arrival” intend to share a pro-life message?
The ending of Arrival (2016) seems to me to be an argument for the pro-life movement and I've seen several opinion articles claiming the same thing.
For Example - New York Post: Amy Adams In Arrival ...
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2answers
2k views
Would the 18 months later conversation between Louise and General Shang still be the same after the events of the movie?
Would the 18 months later conversation between Louise and General Shang in Arrival still be the same after Louise having accessed the information from that conversation before she "physically" reaches ...
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2answers
6k views
What exactly happened to Louise's first husband in Arrival?
In Arrival, as I understood Louise's husband had abandoned her and her daughter. However, I feel like I've missed on the true reason why. We see that he is not with the family from the early ...
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1answer
613 views
How could Louise tell this to the Chinese General?
How could Louise be able to tell the Chinese General his wife's last words on the phone in the present while he told her that in the future?
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2answers
3k views
What does the bird symbolize in Arrival?
What does the canary in the cage, seen inside the Alien ship, and brought by the human scientists, refer to or symbolize?
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3answers
335 views
What are the units for these numbers?
In the movie Arrival, Ian decoded the final diagrams on a computer. The computer shows these diagrams.
They contain only numbers and no units at all.
What are the units for these numbers?
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1answer
293 views
Did the moment when the Chinese general tells his phone number actually happen? [duplicate]
In the movie Arrival, the main character has dream-like premonitions of events that happen later.
She also has what is apparently a premonition in which she meets the Chinese general at a formal ...
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1answer
465 views
Why did the humans not communicate pictorially to the aliens in Arrival?
If I was confronted with someone who could only communicate through symbols, my first instinct would be to also communicate through symbols. In fact the entire basis of many languages is pictorial (...
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1answer
1k views
Are the black circles in Arrival just random shapes?
In Arrival, the heptapods have a specific written language that is based on black circles.
A single circle can be a word, a group of words or even a sentence. In the movie there are very complicated ...
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2answers
34k views
What was the other translator's version of the Sanskrit word for war?
Early in Arrival, Louise is originally rejected by the military as the lead translator. She asks the Colonel in charge to pose a question to the other translator about the Sanskrit word for war.
The ...
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1answer
1k views
What did the aliens need help for?
In the movie Arrival the aliens say that they will need help in 3000 years. What for? Is it implied or mentioned in the movie because I didn't catch that part. Is it mentioned in 'Story of Your Life' ...
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1answer
381 views
At the end of Arrival Ian is standing looking out over the lake. Does he wave?
At the end of Arrival we see a hazy view of Ian looking out over the lake from the view of the inside of the house he shares with Louise. She taps on the window. Then it looks like he gives a slight ...
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3answers
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How does this work in Arrival
I once asked a question about the time line of an incredibly complex time travel movie on this site and received some incredibly elegant explanations. I'm wondering if you guys can explain Arrival too....
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2answers
771 views
What does Ian say to Louise when she asks him if he would repeat his future?
At the end of the film Arrival (2016), what does Ian say to Louise when she asks him if he would repeat his future?
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1answer
2k views
Why did the aliens arrive on Earth with such a large head start in Arrival?
So, the aliens will be in trouble and will need humanity's help 3000 years after their 1st Arrival on earth. So, why did the aliens arrive on Earth so much in advance?
Question Context 1: Jesus ...
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2answers
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What did Louise say to the Chinese President in the movie Arrival? [duplicate]
In the movie Arrival, Loiuse, played by Amy Adams says something to the Chinese President, which he claims were his wife's words. I think she is speaking Mandarin but no subtitles are
provided. What ...
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9answers
63k views
Why would Louise telling the Chinese commander about his wife's last words change his mind?
In the future in Arrival, the commander says that he changed his mind about going to war with the aliens because Louise called his private number and told him his wife's dying words. My question is ...
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1answer
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What is the win-win word said in the film Arrival?
In one of the visions, Louise's daughter asks her the definitive word to describe a win-win situation. What was the answer Louise told her daughter?
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5answers
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Why was Louise the only one who advances her mind?
I just watched Arrival. A great Movie and quite deep on many levels too. Requires watching a few times. Anyway, we see that as Louise learns the alien language, she starts seeing the future, or rather ...
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2answers
1k views
Why did Louise forget she had called the Chinese commander?
In the closing scenes of Arrival, we see events taking place long after the main timeline. There is a grand celebration where many of the key players are meeting.
But Louise doesn't seem to remember ...
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2answers
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Why does Louise see Hannah even before they arrived?
In Arrival the aliens changed Louise's perception of time. So she only should've had visions of Hannah (her future daughter) after the aliens taught her this new way of seeing time. But in the movie, ...
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2answers
3k views
Why do the aliens of Arrival choose to be coy with communication?
For the record, I absolutely adored Arrival (2016). I found it to be rich in substance as well as concept, all of which only bolstered by fine visuals and fine acting. It was a brilliant piece of ...
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1answer
1k views
Reasons for the aggression act [closed]
Arrival (2016) is definitely one of the best sci-fi movies I've ever watched.
The photography, acting, and writing are superb. Every little detail was taken care of.
BUT, there's one scene (and the ...
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5answers
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How do we interpret Louise's memories in Arrival?
In Arrival, Louise (Amy Adams) appears to have vivid memories throughout the movie. Partway through the movie, we find that at least some of them involve events from the future. One in particular ...
