The Arrival

I have had the pleasure of reading The Arrival by Shaun Ten before, but thanks to this class I finally was able to read it in more extensive detail. I've always had an appreciation for media that approaches storytelling without use of words, leaning more towards pantomime than a graphic novel approach, and The Arrival may be one of my favorite approaches to word-less storytelling right along with Charlie Chaplin films.

I liked the comic in the past and I still enjoy it, namely for it's use of values and saturation to show change in both the scenery and the character's view on his new-found home, and the resolution never fails to make me smile. It has a wonderful sense of atmosphere, draws great world-building aspects from the audience's previous knowledge of immigration, and it not only smart but warm and unexpectedly uplifting.

What sets it apart from what I was expecting of most comics we would read in this course was it's use of images, values, atmosphere, and expression to further the story rather than rely on dialogue. Rather, the fact that it makes a point of not using dialogue, considering it is a story about a man immigrating to a country where he does not speak the native language, understand the native customs, or even eat similar foods, drives home the feeling of isolation we feel for the character. The lack of dialogue grants the reader empathy, for the country he has moved into has such a strange alphabet and vocabulary that we can only understand the language as much as the main character. Like during this scene, where he is progressing through the story's interpretation of an Ellis Island, where foreigners are screens for work and granted passage into the mainland.

At no point does the comic grant the reader a translation, but through a series of moments in time the readers receive a tangible language, atmosphere, and culture through the use of grand establishing shorts, and smaller, more personal images following the main character's screening. The last page is particularly poignant because the pacing has changed. We no longer see bits and glimpses of this confusing, intimidating yet warm world the immigrants have landed in, and we now focus on the main character. We watch him try and fail to communicate in this new home of his.

I would recommend this comic to anyone, enthusiast or non, if only for it's clever sense of narrative and pacing.