Talk:Nice Peter vs EpicLLOYD 2/@comment-24328089-20170310001621/@comment-24328089-20170310022155

That type of time travel is structurally flawed and it really doesn't have to be.

Stories like this introduce elements with know origin. Hence the paradox. Her future self tells her past self about the guy's phone number. And how does her future self know? Because her past self called. How did her past self call? Because her future self told her the number.

Hence the paradox. She became "unstuck in time" like in Slaughterhouse 5. And while being "unstuck in time" is complete nonsense, it can still work for a story like Slaughterhouse because Slaughterhouse is merely an exercise in philosophy.

This however, presents itself as a straightforward and literal story about a translator tasked with communicating with alien life, who's language shares almost no similarities with our own. So for them to change the tone so quickly really just feels like a slap in the face for ever being invested in the story to begin with.

I don't see why they didn't just give her superman powers and have her go freeze the Chinese and Russian military with her ice breath. Would have made just as much sense, wouldn't be nearly as cliche, and wouldn't have necessarily broken the entire plot.

Yeah, they did mention that speaking a new language can change the way you view the world, which is true, and totally relevant to the themes of how vast and important communication is, as a cornerstone of society.

But they didn't add such ridiculous fantasy elements in until the third act. Adding ontological paradoxes just to confuse audiences who don't know what an ontological paradox is, is such a frustrating and lazy writing technique. Right up there with the "It was all a dream.... or was it...?" endings.