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Yes, that’s the movie, and I think it’s worth watching. To compare it to a more modern movie, I think Arrival was inspired a fair bit by Contact. If Arrival is

by yashap 6y ago

Yes, that’s the movie, and I think it’s worth watching. To compare it to a more modern movie, I think Arrival was inspired a fair bit by Contact. If Arrival is up your alley, you’ll probably like Contact too.

JadeNB 6y ago
> To compare it to a more modern movie, I think Arrival was inspired a fair bit by Contact. Do you think Chiang's story was based on Contact (movie or book), or only that the movie was? Neither of those seems likely to me—more just a case of two authors independently writing about similar themes than of direct inspiration—but I haven't seen Contact for some time, and never read the book.
- fredski42 6y ago
  Read the book! It’s different and, imho, better, although the movie is very good as well.
- yashap 6y ago
  I’ve only seen the movies, but my understanding is that they reasonably closely reflect the books, at least in terms of major themes and plot points. Based on timelines, my guess is that Chiang’s novella was inspired by Sagan’s novel. The stories are far from identical, but there are lots of similar themes - aliens sharing knowledge with us, the challenges of deciphering their language, world governments and extremists acting somewhat as antagonists, the interleaving of the protagonist’s personal life/family with all this. I could easily be wrong too, but I certainly got Contact vibes when watching Arrival.
  - JadeNB 6y ago
    > I’ve only seen the movies, but my understanding is that they reasonably closely reflect the books, at least in terms of major themes and plot points. Arrival is a good movie, but it's radically different from Story of your life, which is an intensely interior novel. It also substitutes a familiar time-travel plot for the, to me, radically novel linguistic approach to (not really but, for want of a better word) time travel that the novel creates. > The stories are far from identical, but there are lots of similar themes - aliens sharing knowledge with us, the challenges of deciphering their language, world governments and extremists acting somewhat as antagonists, the interleaving of the protagonist’s personal life/family with all this. I agree that these points are in common (although I'd argue that the role of world governments, while still important, is more peripheral in Story of your life), but they seem like quite common sci-fi tropes to me. Perhaps Contact is the ur-text for the trope after all ….
    - yashap 6y ago
      Yeah, I think those themes are all individually common in sci-fi, it’s more the combo of all of them together that made me feel there was significant inspiration. But as I said, I’ve only seen the movies, and am going on 2nd hand accounts that they’re based fairly closely on the books. I could very well have a different opinion after reading the books (have added both to my list!).
    - JNRowe 6y ago
      > [...] Story of your life, which is an intensely interior novel. SoYL and Hell is the Absence of God both really broke me. Even after reading SoYL I genuinely wasn't prepared for how HitAoG made me feel. Edit: FWIW, I think this is a good thing, just in case it doesn't come across that way.
bigmattystyles 6y ago
For some reason, my mind went to the Charlie Sheen movie 'The Arrival', which as a 15 year old, I actually liked - but for 10 seconds, your comment confused me :-)

by yashap 6y ago

JadeNB 6y ago

> To compare it to a more modern movie, I think Arrival was inspired a fair bit by Contact. Do you think Chiang's story was based on Contact (movie or book), or only that the movie was? Neither of those seems likely to me—more just a case of two authors independently writing about similar themes than of direct inspiration—but I haven't seen Contact for some time, and never read the book.

fredski42 6y ago
Read the book! It’s different and, imho, better, although the movie is very good as well.
yashap 6y ago
I’ve only seen the movies, but my understanding is that they reasonably closely reflect the books, at least in terms of major themes and plot points. Based on timelines, my guess is that Chiang’s novella was inspired by Sagan’s novel. The stories are far from identical, but there are lots of similar themes - aliens sharing knowledge with us, the challenges of deciphering their language, world governments and extremists acting somewhat as antagonists, the interleaving of the protagonist’s personal life/family with all this. I could easily be wrong too, but I certainly got Contact vibes when watching Arrival.
- JadeNB 6y ago
  > I’ve only seen the movies, but my understanding is that they reasonably closely reflect the books, at least in terms of major themes and plot points. Arrival is a good movie, but it's radically different from Story of your life, which is an intensely interior novel. It also substitutes a familiar time-travel plot for the, to me, radically novel linguistic approach to (not really but, for want of a better word) time travel that the novel creates. > The stories are far from identical, but there are lots of similar themes - aliens sharing knowledge with us, the challenges of deciphering their language, world governments and extremists acting somewhat as antagonists, the interleaving of the protagonist’s personal life/family with all this. I agree that these points are in common (although I'd argue that the role of world governments, while still important, is more peripheral in Story of your life), but they seem like quite common sci-fi tropes to me. Perhaps Contact is the ur-text for the trope after all ….
  - yashap 6y ago
    Yeah, I think those themes are all individually common in sci-fi, it’s more the combo of all of them together that made me feel there was significant inspiration. But as I said, I’ve only seen the movies, and am going on 2nd hand accounts that they’re based fairly closely on the books. I could very well have a different opinion after reading the books (have added both to my list!).
  - JNRowe 6y ago
    > [...] Story of your life, which is an intensely interior novel. SoYL and Hell is the Absence of God both really broke me. Even after reading SoYL I genuinely wasn't prepared for how HitAoG made me feel. Edit: FWIW, I think this is a good thing, just in case it doesn't come across that way.

bigmattystyles 6y ago

For some reason, my mind went to the Charlie Sheen movie 'The Arrival', which as a 15 year old, I actually liked - but for 10 seconds, your comment confused me :-)