THEORIES OF ARCHITECTURE DESIGN
Louise Banks, a linguist. She is recruited by the US military to help them communicate with the aliens in one of the spacecraft, decode their language and determine if they come in peace or are a threat to humanity. The first time when she interacts with the aliens, she is fear and terrified. Thus, it does not stop her. In order to gain trust from them, she shows more bravery in making direct contact and give a proper introduction. It is because you believe in them. Language is not really a barrier if you have to make the first step. As she learn more about their language. She has been having flashbacks with her daughter, Hannah, though it is her vision. It started to change the way she thinks of the world. She plays a role as a protagonist. She seems soft and weak but she has the heroic quality. She is willing to sacrifice her life to stop the war between the human and alien. She steal Agent David Halpern’s encrypted phone just to give a phone call to General Shang. The entire cast of Louis is strong. Louis fills the strength, depth and humanity that you doubt that if anyone can save the world, it’s her.
Ian Donnelly, a theoretical physicist. He is assigned to work with Dr. Banks. He has always been supporting Louis and later become her husband. This can be seen when he decides to take off his hazmat suits along with her. He does not really play an important role in decoding Heptapod’s language except for the part he found out the repetition of the patterns. His role seems rather modest. The character does not explore well and lack of depth. However, he is still a good character supporting the plot.
General Shang. He plays as a role of antagonist. He is afraid of the unaggressive act of aliens might cause the end of humanity. He planned to attack the space craft. However thing changed, when Louise called General Shang, she spoke his wife’s last word. “In the war there are no winner, but widows and orphans”. These words resonate enough for him to pull back his forces. After all, he still has the wisdom in him.
Heptapods, seven-limbed aliens. They are the mirror character in the movie. Their existence in the human world has cause human into fear. Its cast design does change the perspective of ours towards the aliens. Unlike most of the alien movie, they come to planet Earth with peace. It is not about wiping out the humanity anymore but giving us a gift. They are here to help us, we can learn how to help each other.
Captain Marks. Although he is a minor character in the movie, he has influences in the plot. Fear in human has almost cause the war. The bomb he set has give the opportunity to Louis to meet the heptapods which help her solved the languages and the memories she had. I think his role has purpose to the plot.
In my opinion, Arrival has a strong cast even though it has relatively small cast of human characters. The characters designed is good, it makes the whole plot smooth.
Q: To critically assess the Cast Design and their individual character. Was the cast designed well? And characters have purpose? Were the individual characters well explored? Or lacked depth?