I just finally screened Arrival (2016, Denis Villeneuve) and felt compelled to express some thoughts I had on it. For me, there are some seriously profound aspects of the film but I also had some issues with the film as well:
A Utopian Element
In his tremendous work Imaginary Communities: Utopia, the Nation, and the Spatial Histories of Modernity, Phillip E. Wegner says “narrative utopias” “have material, pedagogical, and ultimately political effects, shaping the ways people understand and, as a consequence, act in the worlds” (xvi); indeed, as Wegner goes on to say, “we use diverse narrative forms to make sense of—indeed, to make—our world (xvii)…. [U]topian texts helped how their readers understood and acted in the world in far more profound ways as well” (xx). What Wegner is saying here is just so profound, since it suggests the profoundly transformative potentialities of utopian narratives. Now, while I wouldn’t say that Arrival is a utopian narrative per se – indeed, I think in part it is dystopian – I would argue that it has a utopian element in it. In the aliens pushing humans to work together and ultimately succeeding, Arrival gives us a window into what a species solidarity might look like. Indeed, the one silver lining of most alien invasion films is how it forces humanity to end nation-state divisions and come together collectively as a species. That Arrival is one of the uncommon alien films where the aliens don’t come to take us over or annihilate us makes this species collective movement one not of necessity but choice, a truly utopian shift in being in the world and one that to my mind should be our most progressive visionary horizon!
Breaking down the self/Other divide
Dystopian Elements
As I suggest above, Arrival also has disturbing but revealing dystopian elements to it as well. I see this in the way that the film does the typical thing of alien films, cynically suggesting that much of humanity will react with hysteria, hostility, and irrationality. (And can I just say how incredibly irrational it is to even think that an alien species that is just so advanced is one we would even want to have a conflict with if we can avoid it! Every time I see this knee jerk reaction in aliens-come-to-earth films, it at the same time seems like a contrivance, such a reaction being so incredibly stupid and unbelievable, and, yet, why do I also think that some humans would indeed react this way?!?) In this way, the film (and many like it) posit a deeply troubling aspect of humanity, this continuing disturbing self/Other divide, where anyone different than the self is seen as “Other” than the self and thus subject to innate acts of negation whether that be in terms of actual hostility (e.g., think about how African Americans have been treated throughout history to the present) or in terms of more passive aggressive suggestions of superiority. Alien films that give us friendly aliens hyper-emphasize this self/Other divide, the aliens acting more as figurative allegorical entities (though I believe that a “first contact” possibility exists), a device that in effect holds up a mirror to us and in this reflection reveals this dysfunctional self/Other divide, a crucial barrier to a real utopian breakthrough that the film also strives to get us to see as what should be our larger goal. The other ingredient to this dystopian view of humanity is its utter lack of critical thinking — and how such a way of thinking is absent from our collective cognitive reactions — the absolute crucial ingredient for any advancement towards a more utopian sensibility. We see in the film how humanity acts with fear, ignorance, and paranoia, which, in turn, translates to a lashing out at the perceived source of these deeply self-destructive, pathological modes of cognition. Ingrained critical thinking – critical thinking implanted in the formative years of our youth – is the absolute cure of such pathological cognition, which, in turn, is why we need to implement critical thinking into our school curriculum immediately! In short, in other words, Arrival screams out to us that we as a species woefully lack the cognitive tools to advance ourselves as a species and thus we better figure this lack out less we end ourselves through this self/Other divide and lack of critical thinking. (In this way, again, the alien presence acts as not only a real scenario but, more importantly, as a way to see something fundamental about ourselves.)
American exceptionalism
More Dystopia….
Finally, one element in the film that I have an issue with. What was so initially refreshing for me was how the film’s source of intrigue stems not from some overt dramatic conflict gimmick (e.g., making the alien presence a threat) but rather via this challenge of figuring out how to communicate with an alien species so different from us. But, of course, that isn’t enough for mainstream films needing to make a lot of money. That is, mainstream films typically have to manifest a largely contrived gimmick to give the film a dramatic suspense element. In this case, they make the end note to the puzzle of what the aliens are trying to convey to humanity a race against full out aggression from China, Russia and other countries against the aliens. It takes the miraculous endeavor of Louise (Amy Adams) to stop this self-destructive moment: She figures out the “gift” of the aliens in the nick of time and this “gift” of seeing the future allows her to figure out a way to reach the Chinese president and get him to re-open channels of dialogue with the United States. What is just so frustrating with this contrivance is that it just perpetuates ideological tropes that actually impeded the utopian dimension that the film stresses, e.g., that China and other countries need this miraculous intervention by American exceptionalism (represented by the exceptional Louise, and by the way, I am in no way denigrating the character of Louise, who I just love, especially as she is brilliantly played by one of my favorite actresses, Amy Adams!) instead of figuring it out for themselves. So, in other words, this added suspense contrivance is not only annoying because it is a gimmick to give the film an unneeded suspense element but it is deeply problematic because it perpetuates ideological norms (American exceptionalism versus the lack of exceptionalism of Others) that perpetuate this self/Other divide!