The Arrival- Shaun Tan

I believe that wordless stories are truly underestimated considering how few of them are out there.  The silly aspect of this is fact 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 since they 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 get really upset at 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 because it is, in fact, more thought provoking?  Considering the majority of our majors in this class, 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 moments in the story from the “breather” pages are kind of lost on the general public…which is truly a shame.