MovieChat Forums > Arrival (2016) Discussion > Has anyone read the short story this fil...

Has anyone read the short story this film is based on?

posted 8 years ago by century_hades (67)
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Has anyone here read the short story (Story Of Your Life) that this film is based on? I read it years ago back in the early 00's. It was included in The Year's Best Science Fiction (16th Edition). Which I got in 1999 through the science fiction book club.

I re-read it again before seeing Arrival. I really enjoyed the movie, and thought they stay pretty close to the short story. They put in some dramatic elements that are not in the short story. Which is understandable since this is a big commercial film.

[–] Long.Time.Rider (11) 8 years ago

I read it a while back and re-read it after seeing Arrival. I used to think the short story was unfilmable but I was pleasantly surprised. Since I don't know anyone who has read it, I'm curious about what you think of the movie as a whole.

[–] century_hades (67) 8 years ago

I was surprised at first to find out they had made that story into a film. I was curious as to how they would have went about adapting it to the big screen. I always pictured it as a TV episode when I read the short story. I always thought, and still do. That it would make a awesome TV series adapting a different sci fi short story into an episode.

I was really impressed with the film, and over all I thought it was a good adaptation. I know some films take big time liberties with the source material. Like the movie Blade Runner that was based on Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep.

Also the changes they made I think worked for the film. In the short story the ships stay in space around the earth, and screens appear around the world in various locations. They communicate with the aliens through the screens, and never go inside the ships. It works for the short story, but for a big screen film. It's more dramatic to have the ships land, and have people go inside them.

What did you think of some of the changes?

[–] Long.Time.Rider (11) 8 years ago

The TV series is one fascinating idea but adapting this kind of stories is always a challenge and not always a very profitable one. Unfortunately TV networks care more about the money than the quality of stories.

For films such as Blade Runner or Solaris taking artistic liberties worked, because they created a coherent story, a world of their own. However, this cases are the exception, not the rule. Though I have always lamented that Blade Runner didn't use the whole richness of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

I agree with you, the changes really worked. In the short story the aliens were like background noise, they allowed the discussion of human relations but they weren't the core of the story. I liked that the movie gave them a bigger part. Plus, they look like the H.G. Well's aliens and not some generic stereotype.

I especially loved the way the movie managed the time line. The time jumps were very similar to those in the original story. I wish the movie would have included the discussion around free will and destiny, but overall a very nice adaptation.

Thank you for such a thoughtful response.