Week 1: The Arrival

The Arrival by Shaun Tan exemplifies the use of the visual image rather than written language to express distinct ideas. Despite a lack of written explanation or even a specified time and place, the message of the piece is abundantly clear through its visual expression.

Most notably The Arrival transports us into its story by using clear expressions and some recognizable norms so that there isn't any guess work in what's happening in the story. The clear emotions on the family's faces, the symbolism of a packed bag and photos, mementos, etc. illustrate this.

However, part of what makes The Arrival so impactful and immersive are the things that aren't clear or explained, like the invented language/symbols, exotic foods, and strange creatures. All of this makes the reader uncomfortable in their lack of understanding, just as the main character of the story feels lost and uncomfortable trying to make a life for himself in this new and strange place. He sets up a home, searches for a job, makes allies and friends, all in attempt to create a stable life for his family and all while facing the obstacle course of a world that he doesn't quite understand. In doing this, the reader can in some way experience what it's like as an immigrant starting out and trying to establish themselves in a new country.

While their are foreign and strange things about this new place, there are also familiar things. There are loving parents and innocent children, as well as other immigrants who understand what the character is facing. With this one of the story's theme presents itself with the idea of a "small world" despite its differences, and the similarities shared by all people.

In short, The Arrival is successful through a combination of its clear storytelling, jarring and unfamiliar visuals, and finally a sense of familiarity and camaraderie that unifies the differences between people, their lives and their cultural experiences.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 2: Understanding Comics

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud provides a broad spectrum of information in a graphic format. McCloud makes several interesting points, most memorably breaking down the idea of people seeing themselves in cartoons. As McCloud writes, the less specifically and less detailed that a face is drawn, the more it generally looks like any average person walking down the street. Because of this, we are more likely to recognize ourselves in the face that we see in a cartoon. Although I think this is an interesting idea, I don't entirely agree with McCloud's point. From my own understanding, cartoon characters are relatable to us because they are simplified; however, my opinion differs in the reasoning for cartoons being simplified. From what I can remember as an ex-animation student, it's less so that people are more likely to see themselves in the image, and more because audiences, especially children, have pretty short attention spans and are more likely to have their at...
Read more

Week 7: Legitimation

Maus by Art Spiegelman, published nearly 40 years after the end of the second World War, tells the story of Spiegelman's father as a Jew in Poland during the Nazi regime. Both the narrative/written aspect and the visuals and layout of volumes one and two contribute to the overall effect that Spiegelman achieves in his work. Most notable about Maus is the lens in which the story is told through. The narrative is achieved Spiegelman interviewing his father about his life as a Polish Jew. The interview itself is included in the comic, sprinkled between his father's accounts. In this way, the comic breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging that it is a graphic novel in production. Additionally, because the story is told from the perspective of Spiegelman interviewing his father, the father actually acts as narrator for a majority of the volumes. This is made especially clear with the diction that is used when his father is speaking, this being broken English or English meant to b...
Read more

Week 5: The Graphic Novel

For this week's graphic novel response I'll be focusing on Blankets by Craig Thompson. I wasn't sure what to expect from this selection, but almost immediately enjoyed it, and after having read it I can say I really loved it. First and foremost, I think part of what separates it as a graphic novel rather than a comic is, aside from the obvious length of it, the fact that Thompson himself calls it an "illustrated novel." There are traditionally placed panels throughout, but several illustrations take up a whole page. Additionally, it felt like the focus of the story was more in the writing than the illustrations, though the illustrations no doubt added a magical and irreplaceable element to the work. Most noticeably, Thompson's use of perspective is very stretched and dramatic. This is especially effective when paired with the characters' expressions. The perspective and the composition of each panel/illustration reads as almost cinematic; I can see eac...
Read more