Selfish sack of shit sees into the future, where her and that Marvel dude have a kid, only for her (the kid) to die slowly of cancer. “BuT i HaVe ThE mEmOrIeS!¡”, and you tortured an innocent child who didn’t have to exist because YOU FUCKING KNEW SHE WAS GOING TO DIE OF CANCER, YOU BITCH!
The movie uses the bootstrap paradox model of time travel: there is only one timeline, and events can’t be changed, because any attempt to change the timeline had already happened. She only was able to see her child’s future because the child was born. If she had made a different decision in the future, she would never have seen the visions in the past.
See also: Terminator 1 (not the sequels,) Predestination, 12 Monkeys, Tenet
I thought the point was the inevitability of it all. She could see it, but couldn’t change a thing. At least that’s how I perceived it at the time. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
So I’ve read the short story it’s based on several times (The Story of your Life by Ted Chiang) and it’s more explicit about how it works. It’s only possible to comprehend Heptapod writing if you can think like they can. Likewise learning their language also helps you think like them, which is also pretty true about real languages
Heptapods do not have a linear observation of time. They observe their entire life simultaneously. However that doesn’t mean that they don’t believe in free will or choice. They come to Earth because they know at some point in the future the humans will be important. Amy Adams’ character in learning Heptapod also learns to view time non-linearly. It’s not permanent and tends to come and go the more immersed she is in the language. That’s how she knows the secret phone number to call the Chinese general, that’s how she knows what will happen to her daughter, and her marriage. However since she knows it like a Heptapod does, she has no desire to change it. Like how Abbott doesn’t try to stop his own death
I think it is seeing time as the result of the free will, and acknowledging that the decisions that will be made are those that you will make at that point in time, not that some external force predetermined what your choice would be. So time is still linear, but it is linear based on the decisions you will make that you experience simultaneously with decisions made at other times that might not be the same because of free will.
She chose of her own free will with the context of knowing how it would play out. She couldn’t change the future any more than she could change the past, because she was experiencing both at the same time.
I have the same objections, but I still think it’s an excellent movie. I like how they made first contact feel authentically weird, and didn’t try to turn it into a special effects extravaganza.
Strongly suggest you read the “story of your life”, it’s freely available on the Internet (or check it out from your local library!)
It doesn’t add terribly much, but there is a little bit of clarity/another perspective on the mechanics of the aliens, it’s similar to certain characters from dirk gentlys holistic detective agency.
Arrival
Selfish sack of shit sees into the future, where her and that Marvel dude have a kid, only for her (the kid) to die slowly of cancer. “BuT i HaVe ThE mEmOrIeS!¡”, and you tortured an innocent child who didn’t have to exist because YOU FUCKING KNEW SHE WAS GOING TO DIE OF CANCER, YOU BITCH!
The movie uses the bootstrap paradox model of time travel: there is only one timeline, and events can’t be changed, because any attempt to change the timeline had already happened. She only was able to see her child’s future because the child was born. If she had made a different decision in the future, she would never have seen the visions in the past.
See also: Terminator 1 (not the sequels,) Predestination, 12 Monkeys, Tenet
The ending to 12 Monkeys is my favorite time travel movie ending ever.
I thought the point was the inevitability of it all. She could see it, but couldn’t change a thing. At least that’s how I perceived it at the time. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
There was a line towards the end: D: “Why did Dad leave?” M: “He said I ‘made the wrong choice’”
My interpretation was that she could have prevented it, but chose not to.
So I’ve read the short story it’s based on several times (The Story of your Life by Ted Chiang) and it’s more explicit about how it works. It’s only possible to comprehend Heptapod writing if you can think like they can. Likewise learning their language also helps you think like them, which is also pretty true about real languages
Heptapods do not have a linear observation of time. They observe their entire life simultaneously. However that doesn’t mean that they don’t believe in free will or choice. They come to Earth because they know at some point in the future the humans will be important. Amy Adams’ character in learning Heptapod also learns to view time non-linearly. It’s not permanent and tends to come and go the more immersed she is in the language. That’s how she knows the secret phone number to call the Chinese general, that’s how she knows what will happen to her daughter, and her marriage. However since she knows it like a Heptapod does, she has no desire to change it. Like how Abbott doesn’t try to stop his own death
I think it is seeing time as the result of the free will, and acknowledging that the decisions that will be made are those that you will make at that point in time, not that some external force predetermined what your choice would be. So time is still linear, but it is linear based on the decisions you will make that you experience simultaneously with decisions made at other times that might not be the same because of free will.
She chose of her own free will with the context of knowing how it would play out. She couldn’t change the future any more than she could change the past, because she was experiencing both at the same time.
I have the same objections, but I still think it’s an excellent movie. I like how they made first contact feel authentically weird, and didn’t try to turn it into a special effects extravaganza.
Strongly suggest you read the “story of your life”, it’s freely available on the Internet (or check it out from your local library!)
It doesn’t add terribly much, but there is a little bit of clarity/another perspective on the mechanics of the aliens, it’s similar to certain characters from dirk gentlys holistic detective agency.