The Arrival- REWRITE

I believe that wordless stories are truly underestimated, considering how few of them are around.  The silliest aspect of this is that it most likely derives from the thought that “picture books are for children”.  However, I don’t think a mere child would be able to understand Shaun Tan’s The Arrival because they quite simply haven’t experienced enough in life to decode what was happening in the pictures. 

Actually, I think it’s rather sad that our library put the book in the children’s section just because it has pictures and no words.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and loved to look at illustrated books because I loved to look at the artwork and yet my parents would refuse to buy them for me.  They told me that I needed to “start growing up” and getting chapter books as was required of my age level.  Is it immature to appreciate story telling on a more basic level? I have always believed that picture books are in fact MORE thought provoking.  Isn’t there a saying that a picture is a thousand words?  Drawings can be interpreted any number of ways and can also be universally understood.  Words have a lot more restrictions. 

Considering the majority of our majors in this class are in the visual arts, we all understand the importance of visual communication as well as comprehend just how difficult it can be when we can’t put language into the work.  Even children’s book illustrations take a lot of thought and redoing so that the finished piece evokes in the readers the emotions and thoughts the author wants them to…and that’s for children.  Imagine how many times Shaun Tan had to redo just one of those panels to do the same thing for adults, even if he had his short cuts.

I wonder if anyone outside of the “art world” appreciates this work as much as we do?  I mean, this particular novel did win awards since it’s obviously well done, depicting a clear and concise story in an absolutely extraordinary world that he created himself.  On the other hand, we know how much effort goes into just planning such a project.  Therefore, I feel as if everything, from the composition in each panel to how Tan masterfully paced out the super complex pictures from the “breather” pages, is kind of lost to the general public…and that is truly a shame.