For the first time since ETV began, Renan and Bill examine a film that is actually in theaters at the time of recording: Denis Villeneuve's ARRIVAL, starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Forest Whitaker. It is not every day that Hollywood releases a sci-fi movie aimed at adults, let alone one that messes with your head like this one does, and it's certainly rare for a film to be built around linguistic theory. Also in this episode: other big budget "puzzle" films and how they get made; examining the work of the Nolan brothers, Twin Peaks and Westworld in particular; the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and Fermat's principle of least time; the short stories of Ted Chiang (and George Saunders, for good measure); and Bill has a bit of a cold, so bear with us here.
Film links:
Arrival at IMDb Arrival at Wikipedia Story of Your Life at Wikipedia LA Times on alien language development The Verge on Arrival's plot twist Eric Heisserer on writing Arrival THR on Arrival's journey to screen Wired on Ted Chiang The Ringer on Arrival as a puzzle Sapir-Whorf hypothesis at Wikipedia Fermat's principle of least time at Wikipedia Emily Rome on Arrival and linguistics Evan Narcisse on the necessity of Arrival Arrival and the US election by Jia Tolentino Rod Dreher on religious aspects of ArrivalShow links:
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