Post by DeepArcher on Feb 23, 2017 20:15:08 GMT
Referring of course to the Ted Chiang story that Arrival is based on.
I just finished it today, and thought it was excellent. I'm wondering how people here would compare it to the movie. I can't decide which I like more, but I think I have a slight preference for the adaptation. I was really impressed with the raw emotional power of Chiang's short story, how he was able to elicit the same emotions that the film did, and without the assistant of Max Richter. Story of Your Life definitely features much more development of both Louise's relationship with her daughter, as well as her relationship with Gary (Ian). I also love how Chiang's story went way more in-depth into the technicalities and logistics of their process (though it got a bit too science-y for me at points), but more specifically how he took existing scientific principles and related them to the overarching themes of his story.
Though I was stricken by how different the film and the story are, and I think a lot of the tweaks that the film made were for the better. For one, I much prefer the film's depiction of the Heptapods. I was really disappointed that the "shell" didn't even exist in the short story, for example. Story of Your Life really lacks the tension and intrigue that the first part of Arrival had, and that made it less engaging for me. And I just think that the way the film developed the Heptapods was better. They felt like actual characters rather than plot devices. Also, I preferred how Arrival limited the number of landings to just twelve. Story of Your Life felt too dense in that regard, and then didn't have the payoff that Arrival did in regards to how the Heptapods helped humanity. In fact, the story really doesn't offer any sort of conclusion for the Heptapods; they sort of take a backseat to the central relationships, which I disliked.
Both tellings of the story are great, and I think they're both essential because, as I noted, they each have their different storytelling strengths.
I just finished it today, and thought it was excellent. I'm wondering how people here would compare it to the movie. I can't decide which I like more, but I think I have a slight preference for the adaptation. I was really impressed with the raw emotional power of Chiang's short story, how he was able to elicit the same emotions that the film did, and without the assistant of Max Richter. Story of Your Life definitely features much more development of both Louise's relationship with her daughter, as well as her relationship with Gary (Ian). I also love how Chiang's story went way more in-depth into the technicalities and logistics of their process (though it got a bit too science-y for me at points), but more specifically how he took existing scientific principles and related them to the overarching themes of his story.
Though I was stricken by how different the film and the story are, and I think a lot of the tweaks that the film made were for the better. For one, I much prefer the film's depiction of the Heptapods. I was really disappointed that the "shell" didn't even exist in the short story, for example. Story of Your Life really lacks the tension and intrigue that the first part of Arrival had, and that made it less engaging for me. And I just think that the way the film developed the Heptapods was better. They felt like actual characters rather than plot devices. Also, I preferred how Arrival limited the number of landings to just twelve. Story of Your Life felt too dense in that regard, and then didn't have the payoff that Arrival did in regards to how the Heptapods helped humanity. In fact, the story really doesn't offer any sort of conclusion for the Heptapods; they sort of take a backseat to the central relationships, which I disliked.
Both tellings of the story are great, and I think they're both essential because, as I noted, they each have their different storytelling strengths.
