Arrival (2016 Film) Literary Elements

Arrival (2016 Film) Literary Elements

Director

Denis Villeneuve

Leading Actors/Actresses

Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Mark O'Brien

Genre

Science-Fiction

Language

English

Awards

Arrival won the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing and was nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Production Design

Date of Release

November 11th, 2016

Producer

Shawn Levy, Dan Levine, Aaron Ryder, and David Linde

Setting and Context

Montana, the United States

Narrator and Point of View

Throughout the point of view of narrator Dr. Louise Banks

Tone and Mood

Apprehensive, Sad, Solemn, Exploratory, Revelatory, Mysterious, and Energetic

Protagonist and Antagonist

Louise vs. Communication

Major Conflict

The conflict of the film is Louise's struggle to figure out the Heptapod language before other nations (all of whom are struggling to communicate with each other and the aliens) do.

Climax

The climax of the film occurs when the bomb that was planted by rebellious soldiers goes off, thus damaging the Heptapod ship.

Foreshadowing

The soldiers' coup is foreshadowed early on in the film Ian and Louise's love interest is foreshadowed early on in the film.

Understatement

The transformative nature of the Heptapod language is understated throughout the film.

The communication issues between the countries is understated throughout the film.

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

While not innovative in filming or lighting or camera techniques, Arrival was incredibly well-shot and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Cinematography.

Allusions

Allusions to science (there are a wide variety of scientists throughout the film who use scientific jargon and allude to science-related things), literature (predominately the short story on which this film was based, but also Slaughterhouse Five), the Bible (the Book of Revelation and references to end of the world, specifically), science, mythology, linguistics (some of the terms/processes' used by Amy Adams' character), popular culture, other films, history (the history of supposed alien contact and of the United States, especially), and technology.

Paradox

The aliens have not attacked humans and remain peaceful yet the humans feel threatened and nearly attack the ships.

Parallelism

There are no significant instances of parallelism in Arrival.

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