Flight would also be fruitless, since, like gods that control space and time, the visitors would be omnipresent. To fight would be fruitless, although some lesser humans, usually those controlling vast arsenals and with bad judgment, would try. And, like all gods, they would be adored or feared.Īn invasion or, better, a visitation from such creatures would thwart the usual fight-or-flight instinct. To get to our small planet, they would have to have technologies that, to us, would seem like magic - like Arrival's 1,500-foot-high metallic cocoon-shaped monoliths that hover effortlessly in midair, defying gravity and capable (from hints in the plot) of faster-than-light travel. Especially if the contact were direct, if members of the species were to come all the way here, mysteriously, purpose unknown. To survival.Ĭontact with an alien intelligence would be, perhaps, the most transformative experience for our species.
Death, loss, despair, loneliness, perseverance, wisdom, love. The audience around me was stunned silent at the end of Arrival, the new movie about a visit from advanced extraterrestrial beings based on Ted Chiang's short story.Ī movie about language, about how to communicate with creatures vastly different from us, left people in the seats speechless. Spoiler alert: This post refers to key elements of the movie. I am so glad I discovered his work and I can't wait for him to release another short story collection.Jeremy Renner as Ian Donnelly and Amy Adams as Louise Banks in the film Arrival. The word "thought-provoking" gets thrown around a lot by critics but it really is the best way to describe Chiang's stories.
My other favorite stories would have to be "Liking What You See: A Documentary" (a Black Mirror-esque story about tech that blocks people from recognizing the physical attractiveness of other people) and "Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom" (a story that explores how glimpes of parallel universes and our parallel selves would affect how we act in our own world). I loved "Story of Your Life" even more than the movie I felt I learned so much about language and communication, but it also explored heavy themes like love, grief, destiny, and free will. When someone mentioned to me that the film Arrival (Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner) was based on a short story, I was stoked to read it.
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