The Importance Of Performance In Arrival

Performance is an essential part of defining a narrative. A narrative rides on an excellent performance in order for its meaning to be conveyed. . In order to assess performance pertaining to the character, one must analyse the conflict that affects the character. Performance, according to Oxford Dictionary, is defined as “an act of presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment” (Oxford Dictionary, 2018). Performance, however, has many elements to it. Its dictionary definition is merely a summary. Performance contains four key elements: the actor/character, the audience, the space in which the performance occurs and the narrative. A performance can be considered to be occurring when all four of these elements are present. A character can be defined as “a person in a novel, play or film” (Oxford Dictionary, 2018). A character forms an integral part of the diegesis, seeing that the entire narrative depends on the chain of events that occur to the character
Conflict occurs at the very top of a story arc. This is the defining problem that created the narrative, and thus is the moment that will change the protagonist for the better or worse. To illustrate this, I will use the film Arrival by Denis Villeneuve. The production is about a linguistics professor, Louise Banks, who is asked to translate a message from mystifying extra-terrestrials. They (sic) have entered the atmosphere but haven’t touched the ground, their intentions with the planet. It is now up to her