A Conversation with Dr. Melody Jue

UCSB Reads Ted Chiang

3 May, 2022

University of California-Santa Barbara

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Adapted from the 1998 short story “Story of Your Life” by acclaimed science fiction author Ted Chiang, “Arrival” (2016) centers on communicating with tentacular alien visitors, whose language changes one’s experience of time. Introspective and immersive, “Arrival” imagines a fantastical calligraphy alongside questions of alienation, race, and motherhood. Professor Jennifer Rhee joins Melody Jue to discuss the film and explore the dynamics of free will, determinism, disorientation, communication, language, and temporal nonlinearity, as well as the similarities and differences between the film and the original short story. Series: “Carsey-Wolf Center”