The Arrival , Shaun Tan

The Arrival has great success in communicating its story with the absence of words. The sequential nature of the comic allows it it be likened to film (which when broken down is itself just a series of rapidly moving pictures). With film having started out silent, it makes since that comics could also successfully tell a story without words. Part of the effectiveness of The Arrival is its focus on emotion. Humans has evolved to read faces, we are able to register a plethora of emotions, and by extension the information they visually convey. We detect nuances very effectively. The use of realistic faces allows the artist to make use of this ability, almost to the point where the reader can fill in fitting words to the panels. For instance, the immigration photo page, we can very clearly read the confusion of the character, and our mind can fill in fitting words like “huh” and “what do you mean”. Also, the use of POV panels are another important devise for this story, helping the reader to sympathize with the character. Possibly the most important thing is the content of this story however. Thinking in context, an immigrant coming to a new area would not know language, customs, etc. Therefore, if we want a reader to sympathize with the character, by taking away language they are put on equal ground. And lastly, much of the story consists of quite moments, where talking isn’t necessary. We don’t need a character to say “I miss my family” to understand what he is thinking. Instead, we can show him staring at a picture of them, and improve this by zooming in on there faces. The idea can then be really driven home by showing a picture of hands being held, a visual of the connection the character misses. All of these things help replace the need of words to effectively communicate.