Arrival : Why Was the husband gone?

Why Was the husband gone?

It seems like the husband left them?
She tells the daughter she told him something about the future he didn't like? (Or someth My like that)

Did she tell him about the cancer and he couldn't take it?
He seemed more of a stand up guy than that.

Let me know what I am missing.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

(Or something like that)

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

She told him that their kid will die. He said it was a mistake making a baby if she knew she's going to die. So he left.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

I just don't see him leaving someone he loves because of that. Being mad, sure, but leaving? Just seems weird.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Imagine the love of your life has knowledge of the future, your future. This love of your life knew you would have a daughter whom you'd love more than anything in life but she will only be with you for short period of time because she would die a slow painful death. Imagine the pain of knowing you could've been spared this. Also, would you want to be with someone who knows the future?

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Louise is just acting out her own predestined actions, and observing known responses, so Louise would also already know that Ian would leave when she told him that.

that also means that Ian would now know that Louise knew from the start that Hannah would be fatherless. so now Ian is angry at Louise for not changing the inevitable, while he is doing exactly as is predicted of him.

instead he should be asking:
"so, Louise, you see in this future that our daughter will die and that I will leave you two. that means that if I stay, I have broken your predestined trail, and that means that Hannah could have a chance to survive! that means that our future is not written yet, that means that we still have free will, control over our actions, choices, etc. so I will stay. I will do everything to change the course of the future for our daughter."

of course, it is very strange that Ian is upset in the first place, since the big "Gift" from the aliens was the knowledge that time is not linear and everything is predestined. but then again, Ian is just leaving them because it is his predestined path, so everyone is pacified and morals are void and everyone just blames non-linear time for everything, since free will is no longer a valid expectation of people.

"non-linear time made me do it! I didn't want to commit these crimes, but I couldn't change it, I have no free will anymore. the ones that wrote my timeline must have made a mistake. they should not have written these crimes for me. oh, well, unnecessary to talk I guess, you already have your sentence made, I cannot change your mind because the future is already made."

I would rather have received the gift of seeing the possible outcomes of the future, so we can be able to change it. like the old "would you kill Hitler if you could turn back time". if we received the gift of seeing into the linear time / multiple timelines -future, then we could stop future Hitler from ever happening. in this movie, the gift would just show us that future Hitler is happening, and we have to just act out the whole tragedy.

the serenity chant "grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference." this is now: "thanks for granting me the knowledge that I cannot change anything. please please please also grant me the serenity. we desperately need this serenity now that acceptance is forced upon us."

/rant

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Exactly! Take the Chinese general in the future giving her his number and telling her exactly what to say to stop himself. That was predestined for him so in turn she also was predestined to have the daughter. Otherwise like you said why tell Ian at all knowing it would be the reason he would leave? She was basically just seeing flashes of what was going to happen. Even if she could change something would she know she did? To her that would have always happened.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Yeah, the logic seems to be that he left her... so he wouldn't be in the flash-forwards... so that WE would think the were flash-backs. =)

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Ah, clever l'l B@stard...



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Re: Why Was the husband gone?

What happened had to happen the way it happened in order for what happened to happen.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Definitely seems out of character

seeing as he was so willing to put his body between the mother and bullets, earlier. How is it he never learned the alien language, himself, and see things as she did? Additionally, with a greater perspective of time having the girl die of some rare disease is dumb. People heal themselves of terminal diseases through enemas and a raw vegan diet, for instance. She should have used that perception in a manner to better research her daughter's ailment. Oh *beep* well. Guess hey had to make it bittersweet, somehow. :p

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Actually as they said "Louise is the weapon" it may imply that though humans may understand non-liner time (ie: confirmation it exists as opposed to theory) it doesn't mean EVERYONE will actually perceive it or even in the same way.

And lets also remember non-liner time is not "pre-destination" (ie: an immutable path that can't be changed).. It just means that you can hop around time and your choices produce branches of possibilities (the choices taken vs. not taken). Time moves by our actions NOT simply because of a clock And having both a perception and awareness of time means we can adjust the paths as we choose.

I also say again, not everyone can impact or even perceive time the same way.. (given the future she saw in which she got the cell phone number, if everyone had that time, then it would create more fractions because people would be hopping about time altering the past to suit the preferred present or desired future).

To your point, SOME people can find cures in as you said "through enemas and a raw vegan diet".. but its not a cure for everything.. And again, sometimes its a matter of looking at the bigger picture.. if her daughter's death inspired her to move forward with something that benefits others, a benevolent person would choose the death of one (which may not be avoided) to spare hundreds, thousands, or even the species.. we don't know because the story doesn't show us EVERYTHING.. but its certainly implied that with the understanding of time she made a choice to leave the future as it is for the greater good.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

She made the choice to leave the future as it is, but what greater good did that exactly achieve?

Also, if she knew her daughter was going to die, why didn't she remember that she had called General Shang, at the, I'm guessing, UN meet?

In retrospect, what was the point, if there is one at all, of the 12 shells visiting Earth? They provided mankind with 12 sets of data points which collectively will lead to something. But what would that be? On the whole, what kind of changes did the "Arrival" bring about exactly?

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

To your first comment.. we don't know.. but I suspect as General Shang called it a Unification, it could be a true global government instead of the hundreds/thousands of fifedoms we currently have.. but as I said, we don't know because it never went into the post "ahh hah" moment in much detail.

Throughout the movie she kept having what we first assumed were flashbacks.. but were foretellings mostly because she was emotionally attached to those memories. We assumed she was grieving mother... But given those flashes have been occurring from the beginning, we could make two assumptions.. 1: she's not aware her "power" if you will and 2: those disturbing memories/visions would be the reason why she was still single (ie: the brilliant basket case). (remember, she commented there were reasons why she was single). She only towards the end put 2 and 2 together to understand what was actually happening because now she had a frame of reference... Once you have a frame of reference, you still have to figure out HOW to make it work for you. Its like learning a skill by watching a youtube video (self-taught) of a skill you have some natural inclination towards.. your attempts will be clumsy at best.. and it will take years of practice to do it well because you don't how to do something.. but you have good instincts. That is her at this point in time.

My guess about the twelve is two fold.

1: As they were there to impart knowledge to the humans, you don't know WHO is receptive to this, so you increase your chances of finding someone.

2: As a test to see if the species can work together.. now that you introduce the ability to potentially control time through manipulation, the last thing you want to do is drop it into the hands of a warring faction that wants to kill another. So you split up the information. If they can work together, it means they can rise above petty differences. If they can't then the information given means very little.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

So, what you're saying is she doesn't seem to have much of a handle on her ability? Even though the UN meet was 18 months after the departure? Seems very plausible. But not a very satisfactory explanation.


If they can't then the information given means very little.

Would a super-advanced species really take that risk with mankind? It is possible that they provided humanity with something that essentially launches us only forward on the scale of evolution, something that cannot be misused at all and would benefit mankind as a whole. As I see it, they came, saw some apes and turned them into men.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

I agree its not entirely satisfactory.. but remember, her passion is language.. so I suppose it depends on if she sees time as a language to be deciphered or would prefer to not tamper with it. (which means you don't pursue full control.. not to mention, the paranoid person in me would certainly be very reluctant to increase my abilities since it would turn me into a target of those hungry for power)..

But in all fairness, learning an entirely new branch of science, abilities, and language.. for 18 months is virtually nothing, given many people have devoted their lives (50+ years) on understanding much of this and have still not cracked the nut.

With regards the super advanced species.. it depends on what they see.. if they see our capacity for growth and unity.. then suppose they might (especially if it mirrors their own.. a sympathetic teacher so to speak, since looking beyond one's self tends to put our petty squabbles and difference into perspective.. (at the end of the day, regardless of very minor differences, we are all the same.. the same species, going through the same trials and challenges).

If on the other hand they, as you believe, they see us a apes.. then why come at all.. what about the species is worth elevation (which personally I don't think there is much to save),, especially since time impacts EVERYONE and EVERYTHING.. sort of like giving a child a loaded gun and telling them to go play.. its never going to end well..

I would love if they delved more into the WHYs and HOWs.. since it would lend more context and eliminate these questions. but then again, maybe that's the point.. for us to read the unspoken as we desire and our hopes.. vs. it being spelled out in a way that I'm sure will only engender debate..

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Yes, but you see, she was able to foresee that the enema prod would come loose and get lost in her @ss, so as you can well imagine that changed everything...

(and THIS, my friends, is precisely the reason I am SORELY gonna miss these message boards...)



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Re: Why Was the husband gone?

first at all, this is a movie, we wont ever see the future, ever.
Second, its pretty clear, she see the future and even knowing that their kid will die, she continue with her choice. Why this, because of what she said to Ian "If you could see your whole life from start to finish, would you change things?".
And Third, somehow we see the future here, this forum would be closed forever in February 20. The End.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

^Or only the Beginning. You never know for sure what's going to happen.

Maybe IMDB aka Amazon will wake to the fact that most people come here to chat on the boards, and with out them; they'll be losing out on all that wonderful advertising money.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?


Maybe IMDB aka Amazon will wake to the fact that most people come here to chat on the boards


I come here all the time; sometimes it's to check on the cast or a quote or something, but mostly it's to get other people's perspectives on a movie in the comments section (like I just did with Arrival). But it's not too surprising, I guess, that IMDB is doing away with commenting; other sites (NPR, for one) have done the same because the commenting just got out of control. The comments now are often so ugly, it's embarrassing. Just petty, mean, cruel things about an actor or actresses' looks; the ever-present question: "Is So-and-So gay?" and much, much worse. I'm not a sociologist or an anthropologist, so I can't really say what is to blame (although I have my suspicions), This is a site with beaucoup users, so, sadly, monitoring/moderating the comments probably has just become too onerous. I think I will miss it.

There is an equivalent entertainment/culture site that I'm a fan of, and one of the reasons is because the commenters are always respectful of each other, and when they do disagree, it's in the way that kind, civilized, intelligent people have differences of opinion. I don't know how they pull it off, but basically there are no mean people allowed; if they do show up, I think their comments are deleted pronto. It just never seems to be a problem.

Alternative site?

Where might that alternate site (without the mean-spirited posts) you speak of? Thank you for your reply.

Post deleted

This message has been deleted.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

I just saw it and am still thinking about it. I came here to see what others were saying. I hadn't thought of your point that it seems out of character for the Renner character to leave them, but I agree with that. I mean, yes, he would be heartbroken and angry, but he would still love his wife and daughter, regardless of how much time he had with them, no?

Anyway, I liked the movie. I don't usually like sci-fi (I fell asleep during Gravity), but this seemed different somehow, and I thought it was very good.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

sci-fi is not really a genre though, it is just a keyword that tells you that some elements in the movie/book/media is not yet possible/accepted. just put a hologram in Gilmore Girls, and it would be sci-fi.

it is so many types of sci-fi though:

Gravity is a spacetravel movie in a plausible future/present. then there is spacetravel movies that are set in the future, but still scientifically plausible, like Gattaca. then there is spacetravel movies that are set on different planets with weird species and creatures, Avatar or Starwars etc. these are all different.

then there is sci-fi that is here on earth, just some years into the future. the movie Her is a sci-fi, but so far from Arrival as possible genre-wise. or they can be somewhat unrealistic like flying cars etc.

then there is time-travel sci-fi. Arrival could be attached that tag too, I guess, because of the seeing-into-the-future ability. these can be futuristic, un/realistic, philosophical, practical, etc. etc.

oh, and alien sci-fi. present or future. realistic or unrealistic. romance or comedy or action.

/rant



Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Hey, don't forget about @ss Sci Fi... That's Science Fiction where @sses travel in time, where we fight Alien @sses, and we get our @sses shot off with Phasers...

You see, the Genre is a bit broader than you thought...



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Re: Why Was the husband gone?

I think it's a choice the filmmaker/script writer made to avoid showing Ian in the narration scene in the beginning of the movie. If they had shown Ian in the narration scene, then they could not show Ian and Louise meeting for the first time in the helicopter. In that case the filmmakers could not deliberately create the confusion of past and future with the non-linear storytelling. I think this wasn't a good choice and they could have come up with an alternate solution.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

She told him that she knew their daughter will die yet she still conceived a baby. She had a choice, he didn't. He couldn't handle it so he left. Not much about it.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

Like others, I don't buy it. They established his character as being too knowledgeable and open minded about the mysteries of life. He wouldn't do that. And that kid was adorable. No good hearted man would rob his little girl of precious love if she was gonna check out soon. Humans don't work that way.

"I said no camels, that's five camels, can't you count?"

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

People break marriages for all kind of stupid reasons ... this one seems a pretty strong reason tbh.

What kind of trust can i have on someone that i live with and doesn't consult with me on one of the most important aspect of our life together???

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

In the real story, Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life", Gary (Ian in the movie) left her because of another woman.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

That's even more stupid. Why leave a gifted, intelligent, kind "timetraveller" for some random bimbo?

And don't waste time reading this line, it's just my pointless signature.

Re: Why Was the husband gone?

so the moral of the story is: always wear a condom.
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