week 1 : the Arrival

I remember reading the Arrival by Shaun Tan when I was young, being inspired by the visuals and the storytelling. It was most interesting in the fact that the book had no words in the story, yet gives readers full understanding of what is going on. I think the wordless images support the story because the it is about the struggles of the protagonist to settle into a new world where he can't communicate, and the surreal visuals helped with the perspective of being in a foreign place. The wordlessness also engages the readers more into observing the gestures and expressions of the characters more carefully rather than relying on words, and I think this is what the artist intended. Even though there were no usage of notable colors, there is a gradient mapped over the pencil drawings that depicts mood shifts which works on a subconscious level since the whole book is monochromatic. These elements all play a role in creating empathy with the protagonist's circumstances and it feels as if we are exploring this new strange place with him. In the last chapter, the protagonist's family is all brought to the new world, and the imagery in the first chapter is duplicated but all the objects familiar to us has been replaced with the new world items, and unlike the first chapter where it started with the family fleeing the dark, tattered place, The last chapter uses bright and beautiful visuals with a happy ending to create contrast and resolve the story. I think this work was beautifully researched and thoroughly executed with mind-blowing drawing and the vintage aura it resonates. 10/10 would read it again

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