WORLD CINEMA, BEGINNINGS TO PRESENT-ENG 171

Cinematography and Mise-en-scene in the Arrival 2016

Villeneuve, Denis’s 2016 film, Arrival, focuses on the mystery faced by linguistics professor Louise Banks (Amy Adams) and investigators elite team as they try to find ways of communicating with extra-terrestrial visitors. The invasion by aliens raises great concern regarding the possibility of getting colonized by other creatures after humans colonise each other. From a post-colonial lens, watching the film raises fear of being invaded by foreigners with better technology and different language as they may end up colonizing the entire human race. In Arrival, cinematography and mise-en-scene elements aid in showing the existing likelihood of the human race being colonized by an extra-terrestrial being out of space.

          The dark cavernous chamber where Louise spends her time in the spaceship symbolizes the confusion that locals tend to have after the arrival of colonizers. Notably, being colonized entails being introduced to higher forms of language, technology and culture, which portray locals as socially, economically and culturally underdeveloped. The gloomy chamber set is characterized by darkness and ominous, and Louise spends significant time there before moving to the light (Richard 42). The relationship between darkness and light in this set aids in showing the aliens have colonized and brought upon more complicated cultural and technological values that human beings have yet to learn. In the chambers, light tends to be absorbed rather than reflected which portrays that Louise is absorbing assimilating or adjusting to the ways of the aliens to attain enlightenment. The move from the dark to light shows the colonization of the mind by new and advanced ideologies and concepts, which change the perception and thoughts of the protagonist.  

          The difference in lighting during the arrival of the aliens also depicts the upper hand held by aliens over human beings. As the alien arrives, the lighting intensifies on dependent artificial sources, which leads to the proliferation of different types of screens. To illustrate, as Louise tries to teach, her interaction with learners is interfered with by the frantic activity of their cell phones, lights and sound which are eventually evident in the large TV set. The following scene depicts Louise alone watching television and speaking to her mother only. Additionally, the close-ups are substituted by the deeply focused long and medium shots. The interruption by the Alien’s arrival through the intensification of lights on artificial things depicts the superiority of the foreigners in controlling artificial things (Mamula 544). It depicts a dominance that alters how things operate in the normal world, which poses a risk of being controlled and subjected to some form of colonization to accept and assimilate the new ways. The change in camera shots focusing on Louise to long and medium shots depicts her reduced significance in the presence of the aliens. The camera gradually deviates from her to show the lost importance she held before aliens came since the aliens brought about a superior culture and technology that should be learned by human beings to reach the same level of civilization and technology.   

          The portion, colour and materials held by the aliens are mise-en-scene aspects showing the power held by aliens. The size of the alien’s spaceship where Louise and the investigators meet Heptapods entails a cuboid shape, and black walls ad made up of seemingly organic material. The aliens are gigantic cephalopods and are dark grey in colour, and emerge from mist which makes them create an image of smoky and dusty analogue film projection (Richard 42). Such cinematographic representation of the aliens and their equipment shows the inferiority of human beings in fighting with the aliens. Instead, they stand a better chance of collaborating and learning with the aliens as they do not appear violent. From such representation, it is clear that the human race is under siege or colonial rule of the aliens hence have to learn their ways of communicating and doing things to avoid oppression and abuse.

          Louise’s attempt to speak with the aliens leads to flashbacks and foreshadows which are cinematography elements depicting the power held by the aliens’ technology. Banks make an effort to vocally communicate with the Heptapods which ends up futile. Instead, she applies a different technique following her instinct that Costello and Abbott could reply to visual communication/interaction. In the following scene, Louise gets off her suit and moved towards the screen that separates her with the aliens. Through a close shot, she lays her hand on the screen which leads to Costello responding in a second close-up.  Shortly, Louise is shaken and exits the craft and the audience can see an intuition into her consciousness of her life in the future with her daughter (Mamula 545). Despite this mode of communication being effective, the shots between close-up and Louise being in the future depict the power of the alien. It depicts that the alien may have the ability to influence the future of human beings in future, and shows them how their life will be in the future. By doing this, it will have power over human beings as it knows the end of each person or fate which grants its significant power over man. 

          The soldiers facing the Space ship with two cargo pieces, one with a bird and a bird cage while the one having a mysterious object inside shows human beings’ inferiority and paranoia to be ruled over. From a modern perspective, the bird represents a coal mine which depicts human beings’ mortality and fragility. The mystery box, which is a bomb, symbolizes man’s paranoia and his willingness to use violence to attain safety (Richard 44). To emphasize human beings’ fear of being colonized and overpowered, the Russians and Chinese armies attacked the Spaceships after they understood that the aliens’ major purpose for visiting each other was to offer weapons. Since post-colonial men have been exposed to the effects of colonialism, these nations decide to act due to the fear that the provision of the weapon to one human ‘country or state would lead to the colonialism of other nations due to enhanced alien power that all countries might not access.  Therefore, despite the aliens not having any intentions of colonizing the human beings, the imbalance in power made human beings fear as they felt more susceptible to getting colonized by their own or the aliens.  

          In the film Arrival, both elements of mise-en-scene and cinematography aid in bringing out the major theme of colonization. Through the setting and props used in the film, it is clear that human beings still have the fear of being colonized by extra-terrestrial beings which might be more advanced culturally, technologically and socially. Following the use of dull colours in the film, it was clear that human beings were filled with fear and confusion at the presence of the space shift they considered amazing. Through cinematography, it is clear that the aliens held more power due to their ability to shift the focus on humans and rapidly change their mindsets through flashbacks and foreshadows. Thus, the film plays a vital role in acknowledging some of the existing fears held by humans of being colonized by different beings, despite having been colonized by fellow humans. Through integrating both elements, it is clear that human is still in fear of being ruled by a different species, which could lead to significant consequences if man perceived such a threat. 

Works Cited

Richard, David Evan. “Film Phenomenology and the “Eloquent Gestures” of Denis Villeneuve’s” Arrival”.” Cinephile: The University of British Columbia’s Film Journal 12.1 (2018): 41-47.

Mamula, Tijana. “Denis Villeneuve, film theorist; or, cinema’s arrival in a multilingual world.” Screen 59.4 (2018): 542-551.