Found(n)ation: Immigrant Narrative through Imagery as Utopian Science Fiction in The Arrival and Wall-E
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
Scott Sheridan
Expected Graduation Date
2023
Location
Room E104, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-4-2020 11:15 AM
End Date
4-4-2020 11:30 AM
Disciplines
Education | International and Area Studies
Abstract
Within the genre of science fiction, the narratives of immigrants arriving in utopian societies are commonplace. Using critical theory rooted in robotics and the belief in human perfectibility, this presentation examines the science and imagery of the immigrant experience in Shaun Tan’s wordless graphic novel The Arrival (2006) and the movie Wall-E (2008) compared to primary accounts of immigration. It will explore the question of: how do science fiction motifs in particular project and mirror dimensions of immigrant narrative? By analyzing specific scenes from each work of science fiction, the story of immigration tells the narrative of the immigrant and the society they enter through the powerful aspect of images. By understanding these works, and their relation to each other, the economic, societal, political, emotional, and psychological experience of the immigrant can be articulated in a form that reaches the general populous.
Found(n)ation: Immigrant Narrative through Imagery as Utopian Science Fiction in The Arrival and Wall-E
Room E104, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Within the genre of science fiction, the narratives of immigrants arriving in utopian societies are commonplace. Using critical theory rooted in robotics and the belief in human perfectibility, this presentation examines the science and imagery of the immigrant experience in Shaun Tan’s wordless graphic novel The Arrival (2006) and the movie Wall-E (2008) compared to primary accounts of immigration. It will explore the question of: how do science fiction motifs in particular project and mirror dimensions of immigrant narrative? By analyzing specific scenes from each work of science fiction, the story of immigration tells the narrative of the immigrant and the society they enter through the powerful aspect of images. By understanding these works, and their relation to each other, the economic, societal, political, emotional, and psychological experience of the immigrant can be articulated in a form that reaches the general populous.