The Arrival reads much like a black and white silent film, not only because of its monochromatic schemes, but also because of the reliance on expression, direction and staging of the compositions. Since 'The Arrival' lacks any supporting text and the language and characters of text found within the book are of a foreign and invented language, there is heavy reliance on gesture and subject matter to communicate to the 'reader' just what is meant to be interpreted. I found the book to be surprisingly fluid in how it read and that I wasn't left scratching my head as to what it meant. From the first page I could see that the story was going to be that of an immigrants tale with the display of all the uniquely different faces. Tan made effective use of familiar imagery and fantasy to create a universal experience that any reader would be able to interpret. It may be a convention of cinema, but I instantly understood what Tan was conveying when the sepia toned pages turned to gray scale to depict back-stories and memory, as well as the passage of time that was depicted in the life span of the leaf. I found it clever that the architecture, textiles, creatures and food, were all very stylized as to place the reader in the shoes of an immigrant arriving somewhere new for the first time, where everything is foreign and bizarre.
Being an animator I find that pieces such as 'The Arrival', truly strike at the essence of communication and expression. Without a reliance on text or dialogue this piece transcends culture and enters into a universal language. Stories such as this show just how many words can be formed from one image. I found that the illustrative style also matched the soft silent appeal of the book and where each panel seemed to have been given so much attention. I feel that given the panels in the book, this piece could just as easily read as a short film if someone were to adapt it for that medium. The direction was spot on and overall I really enjoyed the artwork and simplicity of the story.
George, I think you make some excellent observations as to the animated characteristics of the text and how it would be suitable for film, what about the ways in which it is uniquely a comic, that is, not a storyboard for potential animation but manifested within what is purely comics. Do you see elements of this as well?
ReplyDeleteHa, now that you've pointed it out, I suppose if I told the author his book was a great storyboard it might sound rather offensive. I'm simply working from what I know when I make comments like that. Unfortunately I'm not versed enough in comics to compare the distinctions of this to other comics, but in retrospect I can see that something as simple as varied sizing of the panels and the layout of a page can really play a role in how the story is experienced. At least from my perspective it seemed that the author was able to vary the importance of panels and their pacing simply based on the sizing of the frames and their gravity on the page. And of course I wouldn't overlook the fact that the artistic style alone is something that is obviously better suited and better appreciated in book form. This format also lends itself to interpretation of the specifics and allows for one to interject a lot more of themselves into the story because the panels play to more of a holistic angle, while many of the details are left to the readers imagination, very unlike film or animation. I'm sure I'll get better at this once my frame of reference increases, which as far as comics are concerned, is rather small. For shame, I know.
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