The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Assignment 1: Describe how specifically a comic like "The Arrival" can tell a story without using words.

"The Arrival" had a very touching story about a father going off to a new land to find a safe place for his family. At first I was very confused because there were no words to this book. The Illustration was all that I could go by while looking at The Arrival, which I honestly thought would be very complicated. However, as I looked closely at every image and the details within each one. It began to unwind itself into a silent film like the ones from the 1920’s. Since that was the case, I realized our actions as humans speak louder than the words we speak. Not only do our actions speak louder than our words, but the way we communicate is similar when it comes to looking for our basic needs. Like the drawing of the bed the Father used to ask a stranger for a place to sleep, or the bread he drew for the shop keeper to ask for something to eat. These things helped move the story along in a way I wouldn’t have thought of doing without words.

The human actions are not the only things that helped this story along. The compositions and the scenes within them play a significant role themselves. Even some of the panel layouts of the art work helped identify the importance of the scene and the sense of time you should spend on each illustration. The smaller ones usually showed the moment to moment parts. For example, the Father getting out of the transportation box. From the moment the box landed which scared all the little critters on the path away, to him getting out and observing his surroundings gave the viewer a clear understanding that he’s made it to his destination. All of these factors made me realize that we take our words for granted. The human body and the environment around us gives us everything we need to know when it comes to processing information. The Arrival truly gave me a new way of viewing the world we live in, which makes it all the worthwhile. What kind of actions do you see in painting that tell a story? I would love to know!