Listen to me Babble The Effects of Postmemory on Villeneuves Arrival

The term postmemory was introduced by Marianne Hirsch in 1992. Originally a

concept applied to Holocaust survivors and their children, it is now applicable to describe the

trauma suffered by an individual, distant from the original witness, through memories, stories,

and behaviors from the past. Or the future, in the case of Villeneuves Arrival.

Arrival ultimately deals with a character who tries to find closure after experiencing

trauma thats passed down from a different point in time of her life. Linguist Dr. Louise Banks

faces the decision whether to fulfill the future that she knows is going to happen, or choose not to

have a relationship with her husband, Ian Donnelly; a relationship that would result with a

divorce and her daughters death.

In the movie, what happened to Louise is a never-ending paradox. During the events of

the story, having the present occurring once in the past, Louise can see the memories of her

future (a future that is affected by her present) to figure out how to convince the Chinese General

from destroying the alien ships. These two instances the present and future are directly

influenced by each others outcome. Thus, the present becomes a fixed point in time that must

happen for the events in the story to be possible. To apply the concept of postmemory to Arrival,

postmemory becomes prememory, as Louises life is affected by traumatic events that has not

occurred yet.

Arrival begins with a montage of Louise with her daughters birth to death, leading the

audience to believe that it happened prior to the events of the movie. However, as the story

progresses, when Louise asks I dont understand. Who is this child?, it becomes clear that she

does not recognize her daughter because she isnt born yet. These flashes are memories of the
future instead of the past. The non-linear method of storytelling showcases Louises response to

prememory; confused and trying to understand why she can see those visions, and what she

could do with her newfound ability.

Louises life changed with the aliens, the Heptopods, arrival, and she was tasked by the

US military to decipher the alien language. By the end of the flash-forward montage where the

audience is introduced to Louise, she recounts her daughters life as there are days that define

your story beyond your life. Like the day they arrived. As she learns Heptopod B, the written

alien language, she gains the ability to perceive time in a non-linear fashion. From then on,

Louises life was affected by the knowledge of her daughter, Hannahs birth, and her untimely

but inevitable death. The arrival of the aliens defined Hannah and Louises life as the Heptopods

showed their destiny, and thus becoming Louises trauma. While Louise becomes the famous

linguist that persuaded the Chinese general from starting a war with the aliens and decoded

Heptopod B, Hannah becomes the daughter that Louise will lose too soon.

As Louise persevered through the loss of her daughter and husband, she reached for a life

of pain knowingly to find peace for her trauma. She accepts her future because the arrival of her

daughter was more important than her departure. Ultimately, Louise finds closure in a life of loss

affected by the presence of postmemory, because the process of reaching the end is more

important than the end itself.

 You know that movie, Signs, by M. Night Shyamalan? Ever since that birthday party

scene traumatized my little 4-year-old soul in 2002, I was horrified by the concept of aliens ever

since. Who knew that 15 years later I would be swooning over an alien movie?

As a person that became obsessed about music at a very young age, I always knew that I

was going to be a performer of some sort one day. Or at least I hope. But in an alternate universe

where I never chose to pursue music, I wouldve studied to become a linguist. Which is quite

funny, because my boyfriend, who is also a musician, wouldve chosen to become an

astrophysicist instead of music. What are the odds of that?

I knew nothing about Arrival when I started watching the movie during my spring

reading week of first year university. One thing that fascinated me long after I finished watching

the movie was the Sapir-Whorf theory.