Just had a discussion with some friends who laid an entirely different angle on it to me. I'd thought all the scenes with the daughter were in the past, but they were in fact in the FUTURE. Her learning the new language gave her the ability to see time as the Aliens did and so it wasn't a twist that we saw Jeremy Renner as her EX, we were seeing the beginning the of the relationship.. Puts the story in an entirely different light...
In reply to stroker:
Wasn't that obvious? I mean, that's what the whole scene with the general hinged on.
***MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT**
**MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT**
*MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT*****
That was the whole point of the movie. The aliens were going to experience a major crisis in 3000 years that they needed humanity's help to overcome. In order to provide that help, humans needed the ability to think outside of time like the aliens did, which is why they came to earth.
***End MASSIVE SPOILER**
**End MASSIVE SPOILER*****
In reply to Beer Baron:
It went right over my head. I thought the daughter scenes were in the past and the Easter Egg of the story was that Jeremy Renner had been her husband in the past and left (only to be thrown together with her in the new situation), which was only acknowledged at the end of the movie (aka "the twist"). I never claimed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer...
well, it's already available for pre-order on Amazon
One of the things that was not entirely clear to me with the movie is HOW she acquired her new skill. There was no evidence that anyone else learned, but it's seems like that was the implication. Of course doing so would likely drive some crazy. Maybe it was only necessary to understand the aliens and there motivation and allow here to convince others (leaders etc).
I don't think they mentioned it in the movie, but in the story the aliens were giving gifts of technology, presumably so that humans can use it in 3000 years to help the aliens. If it's not in the movie, it does leave a bit of a hole.
aircooled wrote: One of the things that was not entirely clear to me with the movie is HOW she acquired her new skill. There was no evidence that anyone else learned, but it's seems like that was the implication. Of course doing so would likely drive some crazy. Maybe it was only necessary to understand the aliens and there motivation and allow here to convince others (leaders etc). I don't think they mentioned it in the movie, but in the story the aliens were giving gifts of technology, presumably so that humans can use it in 3000 years to help the aliens. If it's not in the movie, it does leave a bit of a hole.
In the movie the only gift the aliens were giving is the ability to see the future, which people obtain by learning their language, because our perception of time is defined by the languages we use you see...rolleyes
Maybe Louise was the only person who knew the alien language well enough to read and write it unassisted. The other characters always used the computer program.
But hey maybe people can now look into the future to see what they've made in the future and then use that information to create that technology in the present. The same way Louise learned the dying words of the Chinese general's wife.
I believe the logic was that language shapes the way we think and learning another language rewires things in our brains. Being able to think natively in the alien language rewires paths in your brain to be able to perceive time in a non-linear fashion.
Louise got the ability because she is the only person who spent all her time really immersing herself in trying to truly understand the alien language. Presumably she's also more inclined to understand new languages as part of being a world leading linguist. She reaches a point where she becomes fluent in it, even dreaming in it.
Yes, I know this is a completely unrealistic conceit, and it essentially amounts to magic. I'm fine with a story, especially SF, having what amounts to magic as long as it is logically consistent within the rules created for the universe the story is in.
aircooled wrote: One of the things that was not entirely clear to me with the movie is HOW she acquired her new skill. There was no evidence that anyone else learned, but it's seems like that was the implication. Of course doing so would likely drive some crazy. Maybe it was only necessary to understand the aliens and there motivation and allow here to convince others (leaders etc). I don't think they mentioned it in the movie, but in the story the aliens were giving gifts of technology, presumably so that humans can use it in 3000 years to help the aliens. If it's not in the movie, it does leave a bit of a hole.
They went over both in the movie. The ability for Louise to experience existence of all time was supposedly linked to her mind already being predisposed to understanding language and the movie fact that learning a new language can change the actual brain functioning. Think of it as how in english we can indicate something happened in the past by how we use "happen/happened/happens/will happen" Versus how this would be communicated in French or Chinese. Another way to think about it is thinking about the literal translsation of "I don't speak English" In French it would be "I speak not English." In chinese I think it goes, "I not know say know British voice". So Louise was able to start experiencing time differently due to her learning the language changing her brain patterns. I got the idea that the reception was for some center to collect those that gained the ability to learn more.
Regarding the help, the tools I understood were more than just the time experiencing but the human race needed to learn the time experiencing thing to figure out the tools. So the center was created for humans to study the tools.
Also the concept behind the movie is that Louise was the first human to learn to speak and think in the alien language due to her special talents and work.
She then wrote a book in how to speak the alien language and began teaching courses in it, which would spread the ability to other people. (This isn't actually shown in the movie, but is strongly implied happens after the events of the movie.)
This thread has enabled me to see into the past and I don't speak/read/think in an alien language.
Advan has some serious turbo lag.
This is one of those movies you really want to watch more than once to get it's full effect.
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