Eleven ten
Rereading Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, I was actually surprised at how different it is from the film (Arrival, if you don't know). The story is a reflection on free will and inevitability, although you may well not see it that way. It's chiefly a statement of existentialist philosophy: you cannot choose what you do but you can choose how you feel about it.
In Chiang's story -- and this isn't a spoiler -- the narrator's child will die. But we will all die. Should we not have children when we know they are doomed? How must you act when you are confronted with the inevitable? For Louise, the choice is maximum joy or maximum sorrow. There is no option to just not do it.
This is the Myth of Sisyphus retold. Louise cannot, and does not, choose for her child to exist. She must have her and lose her and take that as an occasion for joy or for sorrow.
The difference between the story and the film is that the aliens bring enlightenment to Louise in the story, while in the film they are the solution to the problem they themselves present. Which you find better is probably a question of taste, and I liked them both, but I much prefer the story, which made me cry.
posted by Dr Zen @ 1:12 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home