Arrival and the Problem with Philosophical Thought Pieces in Film

Having finally gotten around to watching Arrival, a film nominated for an impressive total of 8 Oscars I was not left disappointed. I’m going to spend much of the second half of the article discussing it’s limitations and so I want to begin by really emphasising how much I enjoyed it. The limitations which I’ll discuss later are not reasons why this was not a good film but why this film will not be joining other pieces of Science Fiction, such as District 9, Inception and Ex Machina, in the very highest echelon of my personal favourite films. The main reason being that it is limited by being far too focused on introducing the audience to a particular philosophical idea rather than exploring that idea in more depth or simply using it as a framing for other, more film friendly, themes.

So, to start with, why Arrival is a very good film. I was very taken by the much more intelligently crafted form of tension throughout the film when compared with more blockbustery Sci-Fi classics. In Independence Day, for example, the aliens come to earth and very quickly declare their intentions by blowing up almost everything in sight, most famously the White House. In War of the Worlds (not that i’m classing Tom Cruise’s version in anyway a classic) there is, maybe, a five minute scene of confusion and curiosity as average citizens gather to inspect the mysterious pods before said pods proceed to zap and harvest them all. I’ve always thought that this is somewhat of a waste of the science fiction genre, these films could have substituted aliens for a foreign power and had the same plot. Science Fiction, and alien invasion in particular, should try to deal in the unknown: Arrival does this poignantly. The first 30-45 minutes is abuzz, not with chaotic crowds screaming their heads off as they run for their lives, but a real sense of bewilderment, disbelief and non-understanding. This certainly makes for a slower film than those I have already mentioned but certainly a much more tense and interesting one. As the story develops it becomes clear that the bigger danger here is not the Aliens but humanities itchy trigger finger as the mystery of the aliens causes ever escalating panic amongst the leaders and citizens of the world.

In the middle of all of this, working desperately to find an answer before it is too late, is our main character. Amy Adams plays Professor Louise Banks a leading linguist who is recruited to try and establish communication with these extra terrestrials. Adams does a good job but not one which necessarily demands an Oscar nomination as others have argued. Not out of any weakness found in Adam’s performance but simply from that fact that there isn’t enough too the role to make a nomination compulsory. We also have Jeremy Renner’s character, Ian Donnelly, who is a scientist…….and does science…. until he doesn’t. I thought his character was going to provide a counter point to Banks’ more moderate, language based, approach but he quite quickly seems to gets on board with her plans. Abandoning his attempts to understand how their maths or physics work and leaving me an bit unsure as to his purpose. There is a character twist, regarding Renner’s character, at the end of the film but it seems rather unnecessary in that the story of Adams’ Professor Banks would have been just as effective (not particularly) in conveying its message of savouring the good moments without it.

Certainly I can easily see why Arrival has done as well as it has in this years award nominations. It’s a good story, with some intelligence behind it and is very well directed. However there is something stopping it from being a film that i would want the watch again or give too much more thought too and it is a problem I’ve found with other films too.

It seems to much like a philosophical thought piece in that it is too centred around its ambition to introduce the audience to a concept or idea which they may or may not already be aware of. In arrival it is the idea that language shapes how our brain works and how we perceive the world around us. Another recent example would be Batman vs Superman’s use of the God paradox: that God can not be all good and all powerful at the same time. When something like this becomes the focal point of a film I am always somewhat conflicted as to my response to it. In some ways I admire that it is assuming and demanding more intelligence in its audience than the average movie yet the film can often become too much about that particular idea and this often prevents any sort of engagement from me on a more personal level. This means that I find it easy to place them above the more mediocre fils but can not, however well done, place them amongst my favourites. I tend not to take anything away from these films and so have no desire to revisit or give much more thought towards.

As mentioned, Arrival revolves around the idea that the language that we use has a interdependent relationship with our view of the world and how our mind perceives it. A real life example of this is the observation that a certain tribe who have lived amongst the forest of Papau New Guinea have many more words for green than we do and far less for blue. Given a particular two colour wheels they can easily pick out a green which, to English speakers, looks the same as the others whilst they can’t distinguish between the blues, one of which looks obviously different to us. This is all because of language. Films can certainly be a good introduction to ideas like these but rarely go much deeper than a surface level explanation leaving me to question whether this is really the best medium for it. That is not to say films should avoid it.

As I’ve already said, I value films which do. I just find them limited in their impact. A film like Ex Machina is much more successful by using a couple of philosophical queries as a framing or backdrop to a fantastically told story, not allowing these ideas to dominate the film and bog it down but using them as a springboard to elevate it onto a higher level.

For me a great films main priority should be conveying message on something that can not be taught in the classroom. Ideas and themes like love, revenge, fitting in or letting go. Arrival is a very well made film but focuses too much on these key idea to effectively convey a message which would elevate it into a higher band of films which I’d say I love.