The Movie "Arrival"

The science fiction film Arrival, starring Amy Adams, is an engaging and rare film having a female lead and showing us a feminine hero archetype.

The pioneering psychologist Carl Jung came up with the concept of archetypes. He defined them as “universal, inborn models of people, behaviors, or personalities that play a role in influencing human behavior”.  They can be seen as being “educators about life.” He suggested that these archetypes were archaic forms of innate human knowledge passed down from our ancestors that show up in dreams, literature and film.

He also developed the idea of “The Hero’s Journey” that we all must undertake in order to grow into our full potential as humans. The journey starts when childhood ends, and we receive various “calls to adventure” that leads us to leave home and take a journey. We are often accompanied by a companion or companions. These rituals of change are called the Rites of Separation. They are described in John Mosher’s Healing Circle model book. John was influenced by Carl Jung’s work.

The second part is about taking a leap of faith into the unknown. We need to have faith, in ourselves, when compelled to move into the unknown.  We experience ourselves breaking apart. Our old way of seeing ourselves and the reality we had been given as children falls away. We may have an “ah ha!” moment where we understand things in a new, unexpected way. This part of the journey is related to the Healing Circle’s Rites of Transformation. The hero transforms their world by changing their beliefs about it.

 The protagonist goes through a Rite of Transformation when she is sent to make contact with the aliens by boarding their ship. Their ships are ovoid shaped suggesting the arch of a pregnant woman’s belly and the encounters with the aliens occur in the dark, womb like interior. She discovers that they are a time traveling species and they explains their purpose on Earth is to help humans survive. “Why?” she asks. They tell her that in 3,000 years they will need our help. As the story unfolds, we she her having flashbacks or possibly flashes forward. They include her having a baby she lovingly raises and then see the child die from cancer.

By her connection to the aliens, she foresees her own future and this devastating outcome. The moment she decides to have her child (knowing the suffering in store for them both) she becomes the feminine archetype. She makes a grand sacrifice.

 Mary, mother of Christ, is another example of the feminine archetype. Mary brings Christ into the world knowing he has an important destiny to fulfill. She knows that it will include his ultimate sacrifice. She brings her precious child into world, nurtures and raises him to manhood only to witness his suffering and death on the cross. Mary’s only consolation is knowing that his death serves to bring about the redemption for all mankind. The movie ends without us knowing the impact that Amy Adam’s daughter may have had on the world, even in her short life.

 The next stage of the Hero’s Journey is the return home. To return with wisdom and knowledge, won at great cost, to help the community and her people. She shares her knowledge of the benign purpose of the alien’s presence. That knowledge prevents a violent escalation and Earth survives. That sharing is part of the Rite of Incorporation in the Healing Circle model.

 Finally, the hero is praised and elevated in a celebration that uplifts not only them but the whole community. We next see the protagonist finely dressed at an elegant reception. She encounters the Chinese general she gave a message to which verified his wife’s dying words proving that she had direct contact with the aliens. This proof helped him disengage his military and keep the peace so that the planet survives. This relates to worthiness and acting ethically which benefits all. The hero then rests on their laurels for a while until they hear the next call to adventure. These final rituals are the Rites of Continuity in the Healing Circle model.

This was an intriguing film that operates at several levels from entertaining us to showing us the hero’s journey and a model for our own growth.

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