Denis Villeneuve’s 8-time Oscar-nominated movie, “Arrival (2016)”, takes the traditional sci-fi genre spectacle and spins it into a masterpiece with profound commentaries of language, communication, and its influences on empires faced with the unknown. These commentaries, I noticed, are strikingly similar to that of Dr. Lewis’ theses of language being a “partner to empire”. The movie itself states “Language is the foundation of civilization. It is the glue that holds a people together. It is the first weapon drawn in a conflict” as it’s thesis (through character quote), and from then on takes the viewer on a roller coaster of situations to prove it, some of which are described below.
Dr. Lewis’s main thesis: “language is a partner to empire,” is chiefly proven through the interconnectedness of empires and vitality of language in the modern world when the aliens appear on the earth. Upon the aliens’ multiple appearances across earth’s surfaces, the world comes together and scrambles for answers from each UFO. To no avail, the aliens speak another language, creating a solid language barrier. The humans bridge the gap with world class-linguist, Louise Baker, the protagonist responsible for communicating and teaching/learning language with the aliens (in the Montana, U.S.A UFO). Without language, there be no way to build such civilizations up, connect them together, or learn from/teach new civilizations (like the aliens). This would show the more positive side that of language that both Dr. Lewis and director Villeneuve see in languages effects on empire- its ability to inspire growth, ability to learn, create civilization/ order, etc. However, the multiple civilizations have different agendas, and the difference between empires is what highlights ‘the negative portion’ of language and empire: the effects of when the language bridge is severed.
“Arrival” sets up many binaries amongst the world that are bridged by language: the “Mr. science and Ms. Language” dichotomy of the main characters, terrestrial and extraterrestrial, geographic and cultural differences between nations, but the biggest contrast highlighted is between army and civilization. China shows how they are the worst in linguistic approach as they teach their aliens language through mahjong tiles, a game binding language with competition in this learning case. The problem that arises is that every situation on earth is taught as a win/loss situation to the aliens, leading to possible military competition— as explained by Louise Baker in the movie: “if all I give you is a hammer… everything’s a nail”
This is where we may see the more pessimistic potential that director Villeneuve sees in language, a characteristic that dr. Lewis would call “the replication [or destruction] of empire.” In the same way that Caliban was taught language and only got out the ability to “curse” out of it, teaching the aliens with win/loss scenarios was a bad way to go about teaching the aliens language. It could easily lead to conquest or destruction of humanity in one way or another, a thought that the Chinese had been paranoid of since the alien’s arrival on earth.
to make matters worse the Chinese’s paranoia catalyze the biggest problem in the movie when they decide to cut communications between the nations and mount for war when the word “weapon” merely makes an appearance in their communication with the aliens. This brings a new angle to the negative effects of language to empire: it’s ability to destroy in its absence. The tensions rise and are stoked with the chinses stubbornness and lack of communication which leads to the rest of the stations across the globe to also cut their ties with the world and essentially initiate this whole nuclear war scare founded on miscommunication and a subsequent severance of communication.
These are either positives or negatives of language depending on how you look at it. On one hand, it helps in its presence but on the other, it destroys in its absence. But there is no debate that, through both the evidence described in the movie that language has both the ability to destroy and build connections in humanity. In Arrivals case alone, director Denis Villeneuve’s hope is that the world would be more like the linguist, less like the military general, and bridge the gap.
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