‘Arrival’ Video Essay Examines How the Script Helps Us Further Understand Ourselves — Watch
In his latest Lessons from the Screenplay video, YouTube user Michael Tucker takes a look at Denis Villeneuve’s “Arrival,” the film adaptation of Ted Chiang’s short story “Story of Your Life.” He focuses on the changes made to the original story by screenwriter Eric Heisserer and the further tweaks made by Villeneuve and editor Joe Walker, “in order to bring the essence [of the story] into the cinematic realm.”
READ MORE: ‘Arrival’ Screenwriter Eric Heisserer on Writing the Unfilmable Story
“Pure, thoughtful science fiction is never just about aliens or other worlds, or exciting visions of the future. At its core, hard sci-fi is about humanity, our hopes and fears, and behaviors,” Tucker says at the beginning of the video, adding that Chiang’s short story “is a great example of exactly this kind of science fiction.”
READ MORE: The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 21st Century, From ‘Children of Men’ to ‘Her’
In his video, Tucker examines “how a story about characters trying to understand an alien species was designed to let us further understand ourselves.” Check out the video essay below.
