Nicole Beaupre

Imagine the Unimaginable

Imagine a world without imagination. You may try now, but it would be impossible if the world truly were that way.  Everybody would be the exact same. Individuality would not exist. This exact situation can be seen in the short film “The Lost Thing” by Shaun Tan. The film opens to a scene of a dismal town. Everyone is wearing monotone colored clothes and mindlessly doing the same activities. Each house is identical, all the buildings are gray, and the citizens lack all sort of distinctiveness. The main character falls across a machine, which he calls “The Lost Thing.” Throughout the entire plot, the man hopes to find the identity of the machine. He asks his parents, he asks his friend who has an answer to everything, and even goes to The Federal Department of Odds and Ends. It isn’t until a janitor from the department gives the man a note that he begins to discover the identity of the machine. He is given direction to what is eventually found to be The Lost Thing’s home.  It is at this point that The Lost Thing and its world can be related to the symbolization of imagination. It is obviously shown through the distinction between the two different worlds.

The home of The Lost Thing is beautiful. It is colorful and animated. There is a variety of shapes and sounds. Everything looks different and has its own identity. Citizens are playing music, playing games, and drawing pictures. There is an overall sense of happiness and individuality. No two things are alike. The possibilities are endless, just as imagination is.

The man’s world is dark and dreary. Sidewalk drawings would be erased by the workers. People cannot seem to break out of their usual routines and comfort zones. They work, the alarm rings, and they all go home to their identical houses – too busy “doing their own stuff.” People seem to be subconsciously trapped in the system of the society they live in. The opening scene of the film has the man talking about how his stories used to make people laugh or cry, but they are no longer like that. It continues on to show everyone being confused about “imagination,” as they are incapable of figuring out what it is. At the end of the film, the man still does not understand the concept of imagination. He says that the lost things often go unnoticed. This could symbolize the fact that nobody is even affected by the lack of imagination, as they do not have the capability to realize it is gone.