Many advocates for the hypothesis that language can determine the way you understand the world also argue that language simply influences your perception of the physical world around you. Debates about the effects of language have existed since the dawn of philosophy. Our understanding of words and how we use them in our everyday life shapes the world around us.

Putting it simply, linguistic relativity is the idea that our experiences are formed by cultural practices, such a language, and how they play a crucial role in the way people think about the world and their actions. Louise can see and exist in the past, present, and past all at once. It takes the viewer most of the film to figure out that these two storylines exist simultaneously, but Louise understands this because of her ability to embrace the alien’s language and the practices that are created around that language. The secondary story that runs alongside the main storyline is focused on the life of Louise’s daughter, Hannah. When we arrive at the end, we are watching both the end and the beginning of two stories that are happening at the same time. The ending is not really a true end, rather another moment or Louise's life that is connected to other moments in the past and future.

In fact, we’ve watched their marriage, their daughter’s birth, and the end marked by the death-to-come before Ian even knows that he is in love with Louise. This is typically when it dawns on the viewer that we’ve already watched their story play out. The moment is tender as more glimpses from a distant future play out between their conversation. He answers by saying he would say how he felt more often before telling Louise that he was more in awe of her than the aliens. While they stare into the sky, Louise shares a quiet moment with Ian, asking if he would change anything in his life if he could see his whole life from start to finish.

In the ending of Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, Louise Banks ( Amy Adams) and Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner) stand in awe as they watch the alien creatures vanish into space, leaving behind their “weapon” for Earth to use to save the aliens when they need help in 3,000 years. Behind the heavy themes, linguistic theories, and rich storytelling elements is an ending that is both hopeful and timeless.

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