Arrival is a fabulous new take on alien-invasion movies. This is no shoot ‘em up cowboy space movie, although there are elements of bad humanity that wants to revert to the use of force in paranoid defence. It’s a more thoughtful and intelligent take on the genre.
Actually, it’s not an entirely new take. Contact with Jodie Foster was a bit similar. The aliens don’t arrive on Earth in that movie, but they do make contact with humanity by replying to the drivel we send out into the universe thanks to S.E.T.I. At least, we think so. Is it really aliens, or is the the rich old douchebag?
In ‘Contact’, it’s up to a mathematician to decipher the alien communications. Foster’s character is, of course, the right person for the job, but she becomes the hero only by default. She is constantly shunted aside by the middle-aged white guy who, through no superior intellect or skill, has risen to power over Foster and is the one the government and public listens to.
It doesn’t help that Foster plays her character as an anxious nelly unable to stick up for herself or even articulate arguments as to why she should be the one to lead the team. (Maybe that’s meant to be ironic because she’s the most qualified to communicate with the aliens, but humans are another matter?)
I’m thankful that we’ve come to a point where gender is not an issue. In ‘Arrival’, Amy Andrews’ character Louise, a linguist, is called upon by the government to lead a team to try to communicate with incomprehensible aliens. She’s put in charge of a team in exactly the same way the male lead is put in charge of another team. There is no mention or judgement of her femininity (note, I mean this in terms of the pure definition of the word — her female state of being — not in terms of girlishness). She just is recognised as the best person for the job at hand.
However, her femininity permeates the movie. She bonds with the aliens in a way that reflects the higher emotional intelligence that women tend to have (I know, this is a sweeping statement, but research backs it up). Her role as a mother is integral to the narrative; it’s the way we are shown that, through learning the alien’s language, she’s assimilating their ability to experience time as non-linear.
Rather than focus on the ‘aliens are a problem that need to be solved’ masculine view of the trope, the movie focuses on the potential relationships that can be forged both with the aliens and between human factions.
It’s a thoughtful movie about language and communication and relationships, not paranoia or ‘us or them’ mentalities or destruction.
