Literary Agent Hypothesis: In the beginning of the film we are introduced to aliens... that surprisingly speak English. Later on, one of the aliens meets an English-speaking human, at which point we realize that they actually can't understand each other. Obviously, the aliens are speaking their own language, and the filmmakers just gave it to us in English to make it easier to understand. Though it leads to a bit of confusion the first time the alien and human meet when one realizes that their first few lines (both of which we hear in English) are actually in different languages. In the DVD Commentary, the Director/Writer says he had originally intended to do something akin to The Hunt for Red October but many people found it more confusing than the way it ended up.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Literary Agent Hypothesis is now YMMV and it's not clear how it applies here anyhow:
- Literary Agent Hypothesis: In the beginning of the film we are introduced to aliens... that surprisingly speak English. Later on, one of the aliens meets an English-speaking human, at which point we realize that they actually can't understand each other. Obviously, the aliens are speaking their own language, and the filmmakers just gave it to us in English to make it easier to understand. Though it leads to a bit of confusion the first time the alien and human meet when one realizes that their first few lines (both of which we hear in English) are actually in different languages. In the DVD Commentary, the Director/Writer says he had originally intended to do something akin to The Hunt for Red October but many people found it more confusing than the way it ended up.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman