A Canary in a Coal Mine?

The canary from the brilliant new movie 'Arrival'

Before I got sidetracked while writing this post and ended up writing another about the movie 'Arrival' -

'Arrival' and The World Card of the Tarot

I was trying to get screen shots of the canary from the trailer of 'Arrival', because in my mind birds are a very shamanic form of communication to me and seeing this bird in the movie 'Arrival' and then another bird and a bird book in the movie 'Hacksaw Ridge', which I saw on the same day, I couldn't help thinking how coincidental that birds would turn up in these two great (in my opinion) movies.

Things Aren't Always What They Seem

I also saw yesterday a story on the Huffington Post website about comedian Patton Oswalt penning an essay about losing his wife who passed away in April this year -
Patton Oswalt Reflects On His Year As A Single Father In Heartbreaking Essay

THE TAO OF COMEDY – EP. 2 – PATTON OSWALT
I hadn't heard of Patton losing his wife before reading that story yesterday, but I did remember a mini-podcast Kelly MacLean had done with Patton on her podcast show, 'The Tao of Comedy'.

Kelly MacLean [TAO OF COMEDY] Podcast
Kelly lost her own brother in a car crash around the time Patton lost his wife and Kelly's show is about exploring the theme of comedians and their spiritual beliefs and in what drives them to do comedy.

I see comedy as a somewhat shamanic activity as well, and when I listened again yesterday to Kelly's mini-podcast about "wisdom holders" with Patton he says, "...it's almost like a canary in a coal mine...".

What’s the significance of the caged bird in the movie Arrival?
"The caged bird was brought onto the ship in order to make sure the air wasn’t poisonous.
This act originally came from the coal mining industry. 

For most of the early 20th century, a canary would be taken down into the mines along with the workers.
Mining was incredible hazardous to human health and it wasn’t uncommon for mines to quickly fill with poisonous gases such as Carbon Monoxide (which is colourless, tasteless and odorless.)
Since canaries are vastly smaller than humans and almost consistently emit a chirping sound, as soon as the canary died then the workers would know that the air was poisonous and would quickly evacuate before it would reach levels that would be toxic for humans.
It’s for the same reason that the canary is brought aboard the spaceship. 

Since they weren’t sure if the aliens breathed in the same way humans did, it was better to be safe than sorry.
In fact it’s only because of the canary that Amy Adams’ character decides to take her helmet off. 
We see her specifically look at the bird before she removes it."

Bird Spirit Animals assist in matters of higher knowledge

"Canary -- A domesticated songbird, a Canary totem gives you the power of your voice. 

Beauty of voice, use of song in healing and enlightening, finding your souls song, ability to find joy in song during times in darkness, the importance of fresh air."
Birds are truly messengers in my book.
Things Aren't Always What They Seem

A crow I saw at sunset just before seeing a movie

SPOILER ALERT
Here is a reasonable explanation of the movie's ending in the You Tube link below, if you have already seen the film and are still scratching your head.

ARRIVAL (2016) Ending Explained