Member-only story
Is the Arrival Movie Ending Sexist?
Did I miss something?
*** Spoiler Warning. This article is full of spoilers for the movie Arrival. It is a good movie and much of its appeal is not knowing what is going on. Please watch the movie before you read. Also you won’t know what I am talking about without seeing the movie.
The movie Arrival is back on Netflix. I loved the movie. Probably because the main protagonist is a linguist (Amy Adam’s character Louise). Also it is an alien invasion movie without violent action scenes, but is still exciting. And who doesn’t like a mystery.
But…there is something about the ending that always bothered me. Why would the father (Jeremy Renner’s character Ian) refuse to see his daughter (Hannah) as she died? Is this some kind of man-hating view quietly embedded in a film or did I miss something?
After recently rewatching the movie, the mother's choice around the child is definitely the heart of the movie rather than the aliens, the military, China etc even though the actual screen time for this was minimal. (See list of movie timestamps of scenes with Hannah below.)
Despite knowing the journey and where it leads, I embrace it and welcome every moment of it.
