Which was better, the book or the movie?
The book “Stories of Your Life and Others” by Ted Chiang was a different reading experience for me. This is because I went to the show and saw the movie when I finished the book. “Arrival” is based on one of the nine chapters in this book. I went to the front the same day I finished the book.
This proved to be very revealing. Usually, a book is the better option between movies and books, and there are many good reasons for that.
The plot usually is better in a book. You can see into the character’s minds and thoughts. You know more about the characters. You know their history. You may be exposed to a lot of side stories. When they do something, it can be clearer why they are doing it with more depth of knowledge.
You have more freedom to imagine the surroundings in your way. When you read, you can use all of your own experiences to add to the descriptions and things that happen.
In a movie, sometimes the actors do a poor job or are poorly cast for their roles. They can be such beautiful, or maybe ugly people, that their presence distracts from the plot. You can be influenced by sound or poor acting to the extent that you lose track of the plot's intent.
This movie and this book were significant exceptions to what usually is the case.
The first problem was the plot. The plot in the book seemed to be the central theme of aliens landing in several places on the earth and efforts made in trying to communicate with them. What seemed like a subplot in the book were the memories of the linguist, Dr. Louise Banks. She kept remembering her daughter’s death and many specific events in her short life. Those memories popped up in paragraphs that just seemed at times as a sidebar thought and not the main story. That more important story of the alien’s arrival appeared to be the main storyline in the book. The purpose of those memories wasn’t clear or understood until the end of the story in the book.
We were left too much room to project our thoughts about why the memories were occurring and didn’t see the connections.
In the movie, those memories turned out to be as necessary or more important than the alien’s visit. The movie seemed to have more control over the memories plot. It could emphasize some of those very relevant memories to the overall event. The power was in the advantage of being able to imply connections to things by flashbacks. The repetition was itself a statement. Seeing the facial expressions as the mother remembered things was a real advantage.
The relationship that evolved between the two key actors was detected much sooner in the movie, again because you could see their faces by just watching them together. This is another area where it wasn’t clear in the book how they felt about each other until the end.
This movie was better than the book.
The movie “Arrival” left me in awe at the plot. Not just the arrival but all that happened. The book “Stories of Your Life” left me unclear about what brought about the event.
Books often precede good movies. They are usually so much better that it is assumed that you’re better off with the book. It isn't unusual to walk out of the theater and hear someone saying to a friend, "O, the book was so much better.”
Both books and movies are influences of importance. Both can teach you and help you understand yourself better. Through both, you can have experiences you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to. Don’t discount movies as being literary influences.