this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Science Fiction

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spoilers ahead I felt like the character conflict arcs were contrived and ultimately the idea of learning a language makes you a pre-cog fell flat for me. In science fiction, the big idea goes 'woo!' or the characters go 'woo!' but in the case of Arrival, nothing really went 'woo!'

But maybe I'm wrong - what was I missing about Arrival?

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 2 years ago (9 children)

Arrival presents some good philosophical questions, and does so in an interesting setting. The top questions are:

  • How does language affect our perception?
  • If you knew your fate, would you still do things the same way?

As such it's qualitatively a good Sci-Fi film. Should it be ranked as one of the best? I don't know, and honestly I don't care, because such rankings are always subjective.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

How does language affect our perception?

Philip K. Dick is famous for saying 'reality is that in which, when you stop believing in it, does not go away.' Languages, perceptions, are still materially beliefs and changing beliefs doesn't change reality. I wanted to see HOW the language allowed you to perceive time and it never got there.

[–] SaucyGoodness 1 points 2 years ago

This is clearly not scientifically true. Sure we can argue to what extent linguistic relativity is true, but to say it isn't true at all? That's a pretty hot take.

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