Summary of Ricky’s Paper:

• The film represents being lost in life without meaning.
• The Lost Thing is unable to find purpose while being all alone.
• The boy was willing to help the Lost Thing find meaning while others just ignored it.

Quotes from Ricky’s Paper:

• “The film shows how easy it is to get lost in life and how difficult it is to find purpose.”
• “The boy breaks the mold of the society and is willing to help the Lost Thing.”
• “People that don’t have a purpose in life sometimes need someone to help guide them to it. The boy helps guide the Lost Thing to his paradise. He sees something that needs help and he was willing to unlike the many people that just passed the Lost Thing.”

Summary of Kesi’s Paper:

• Kesi’s input on ”The Lost Thing” inflicts human’s desire to be found within society. However most people within society focus on their own problems.
• Kesi also comments on the movie’s theme of being reborn. The lost “thing” finds a new home to belong and is no longer lost. The “thing” is reborn in this respect.

Quotes from Kesi’s Paper:

• After Shaun is eradicated of the “thing”, he mentions noticing less and less “things”. In a way, he is now like the people he initially described when he found the “thing”.
• “The author’s intended point is to display how people often do not notice “things”. They are too precarious to not be burdened by that which is troublesome. This selfishness is a form of human’s self-preservation within society, which the author displays, leads to isolation and “lost” beings in society.”

Summary of Jack’s Paper:

• The entire society is cold and people are selfish. Most of people just be lost in their life without any meaning.
• Look at the world in a different way, notice those who are different no matter what they are, and should help them instead of just ignoring them.
• When child grow up and get into busy work, finally he will lose some good characters he had before, such as innocent, curiosity, and mercy.

Quotes from Jack’s Paper:

• “The film is trying to encourage us to look at the world in a different way, and encourage us to notice those who are different no matter what they are. We should not ignore them as they may need our help.”
• “The author is trying to tell us the world is cold and selfish.”
• “Furthermore, there are some good characteristics of children, such as innocence, mercy, and curiosity that should not be abandoned as they grow up.”
• “The film wants to tell people that we need to have some curiosity and insight into those unusual things in our life just like that kid and should not just focus on the common things.”

Summary of Kaylee’s Paper:

• When pondering the idea of where things came from or why they came to be, we become so focused on finding the answer that we never stop to question why we need to know it in the first place. Why can’t we just speculate?
• In our quest to find the answers to everything we have ever wondered, we forget to live the life that is right in front of us.

Quotes from Kaylee’s Paper:

• “As a society we are quite often caught up in the same ideas. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Why did things happen the way they did? I too have often felt the icy grip of these questions on my mind, but the more and more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that not everything has to have a meaning.”
• “To me, it seemed that he was so caught up on answering the big question, that he didn’t quite know how to live, sort of becoming a ‘lost thing’ himself.”

Summary of Victoria’s Paper:

• Summary Note 1
• Summary Note 2

Quotes from Victoria’s Paper:

• Quote 1
• Quote 2

Summary of PG’s Paper:

• Summary Note 1
• Summary Note 2

Quotes from PG’s Paper:

• Quote 1
• Quote 2

The film shows us the daily life of a normal boy when he discovers something lost on a beach and tries to get it back to where it truly belongs. Further, there are a lot of meaningful details that we need to think about.

From the beginning, the limited grey and brown colors indicates the heavy industrialized city. The city is so dull and rusted. Because of the heavy industrialization, there are no plants which directly show that the entire city is tired and lacking vigor. Living under the bad environment, people in this city are doing their works emotionlessly just like walking dead, ignoring unusual things around them. I think the author is trying to tell us the world is cold and selfish.

The lost creature is in bright red color which distracts the boy from collecting bottle tops. Different with those people’s ignorance, the kid noticed the lost creature and has a strong desire to figure out what is it. Asking people on the beach, the kid cannot get the answer from them since no one cares to notice this odd creature. After he brings it back home, his parents are too busy to notice. From this clear contrast between kids and others, the film wants to tell people that we need to have some curiosity and insight into those unusual things in our life just like that kid and should not just focus on the common things.

After walking along the industrialized street, the boy finally finds the place that the lost thing may belong to, which is a very colorful world compared to the grey and brown mechanic city. This is a vigorous space with lots of lost creatures indicating that the thing belongs there. At the end, as the boy grows up and begins to work, he gradually becomes the person just like others, losing all the good characteristics of a child.

In conclusion, I think the film is trying to encourage us to look at the world in a different way, and encourage us to notice those who are different no matter what they are. We should not ignore them as they may need our help. Furthermore, there are some good characteristics of children, such as innocence, mercy, and curiosity that should not be abandoned as they grow up. This film clearly shows this point through the lens of both children and adults.

     The Academy Award-winning animated film short “The Lost Thing” by Shaun Tan has a deep meaning that many can relate to. In the film a boy finds the Lost Thing at a beach while looking for bottle caps. He starts building a connection with the Lost Thing and is determined to find him a home. The boy eventually finds the Lost Thing a place where he belongs with others just like him. The film shows how easy it is to get lost in life and how difficult it is to find purpose.

     The Lost Thing represents being lost in life and not being able to find a purpose. The Lost Thing was all alone with no one to help it before the boy came along. None of the other people seemed to notice the Lost Thing. Many people can relate to the Lost Thing, just flowing through life not knowing what they want to do. People that don’t have a purpose in life sometimes need someone to help guide them to it. The boy helps guide the Lost Thing to his paradise. He sees something that needs help and he was willing to unlike the many people that just passed the Lost Thing.

     “The Lost Thing” by Shaun Tan showed how some people are lost without purpose in life. The Lost Thing gives hope to people that even if you are lost in life it is possible to find purpose. The boy breaks the mold of the society and is willing to help the Lost Thing. The film shows the importance of finding meaning and importance in life.  

“The Lost Thing” is a curious narrative about a strange creature described as being just, lost, and a young man’s need to figure out where it belongs. While some may think it is a heartwarming story of a lost soul finally finding its niche, I perceive it a little differently. After watching this short film, I of course thought the same, but I was also a bit hung up on one particular question: Why must everything have a reason for being?

As a society we are quite often caught up in the same ideas. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Why did things happen the way they did? I too have often felt the icy grip of these questions on my mind, but the more and more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that not everything has to have a meaning. This may seem strange to those who know me just beyond my surface, as I have always been a scientist at heart. I have always wanted to know how everything worked, constantly asking questions and conducting my own research when the people around me didn’t know. Despite this, in recent years I have started to develop a laxer view on big picture ideas. While I am still a scientist, and I still want to know how autoimmune disorders work, and how we could feasibly travel to Jupiter and back, I don’t like to keep myself caught up on those big “meaning of life” questions.

Watching “The Lost Thing” has kind of helped me realize this idea more than I have in the past. While watching the film, I was incredibly intrigued by this young man’s desire to solve the mystery of the thing he had found. Everyone around him ignored things that seemed out of place, choosing instead to just go about their monotonous lives and ignore the unnatural, while he could not seem to rest until he found out the big “why” question. To me, it seemed that he was so caught up on answering the big question, that he didn’t quite know how to live, sort of becoming a “lost thing” himself. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, he was too caught up with finding the answer, and not on the question itself. As a result, when he did find the answer to the big question, there was nothing else left to do but join the monotony he had previously been so intent on avoiding.

In the end, I like to come to the conclusion that sometimes, we don’t need to answer certain questions at all, just muse and wonder. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Why did things happen the way they did? I don’t know; maybe we were created by a god, maybe we’re one of many parallel universes in the infinite cosmos of everything, or maybe we’re just in a video game, and we’re nothing but lines of code and electrical impulses. Either way, we are here and we are capable of conscience thought (or are we?) and we should just go about the life that we are living. Are we even living? I don’t know.

The Lost Boy

            When watching “The Lost Thing”, immediately my attention was drawn to the mysterious creature. Most people’s focus during the duration of the movie was on the thing whether it was trying to figure out what it was, where it came from, or how it was going to get back there. However, now reflecting on its journey throughout the film, I cannot help but dedicate my thoughts, not to it, but its only companion.

The little boy was having a seemingly average day on the beach when he happened upon the creature; the two spent the entirety of the day playing games together and their friendship blossomed. I found myself asking, why would a little boy befriend such a strange, lost thing? Did he have nothing else to do? Did he not have other friends to play with? I doubt his parents even questioned his absence. Sadly, I imagine this boy bonded with the lost thing so naturally because the boy himself was alone. The film depicted the world he lived in as extremely humdrum and grey; there was no color or emotion. When shown the beach, I didn’t see any other children playing or laughing. There was no happiness from anyone at a place where I commonly associate with positive experiences and memories. I believe the lost thing triggered the boys normally unstimulated curiosity and provided a short-term distraction from the melancholy life he lived.

The ending to the short film was what left me thinking of the boy. The viewer sees the boy on a train looking out a window and spots yet another mysterious lost thing. Now, however, it does not spark his interest. The narrator states how the boy has seen fewer and fewer lost things; this is not because there are less of them but because his sensitivity to them has gone away. He loses his inquisitiveness and innocence as he grows up and enters the cyclical day of an adult in this society. Most likely he will learn to walk in sync with the others on their way to and from work, bearing the same emotionless expression permanently painted on his face. When the Lost Thing was eventually helped home, I was hopeful the boy would begin to guide other lost creatures to their rightful place, acting as a Davy Jones sort of character who assisted lost souls to the other side. I was disappointed to find out that at the conclusion of the film that the boy was too consumed with acting normal to care about lost things. Looking back on the movie, I believe the director was trying to present his audience with a distraction, the Lost Thing, in hope that they realize how mundane their own lives are. The message was to get the viewers to discover the joy and uniqueness in their own lives.

     Shaun Tan’s, “The Lost Thing” is a short animated film that focuses on the actions and views that a protagonist voices after he finds a lost creature on a beach shore. This film recognizes an individual with an open mind that yields to taking in a lost “thing”. He previously informs the viewer, about his scarred life strung with forgotten stories, except this one which he is unable to forget. As the story progresses, the film voices themes of self-preservation within society.

     Shaun’s initial search for the caretaker of the “thing” yielded no results and led him to believe that it was simply “lost”. Against his parents’ will, he hides the “thing” in his back shed. In support of helping the “thing”, he explains to the viewers, “I couldn’t just leave it wandering the streets”.  After watching an advertisement for a place that offers to offload “troublesome” things of “unknown origin”, Shaun’s dilemma forces him to take the “thing” there. The authors use of language in the advertisement warrants attention as by taking the “thing” to the place, Shaun is expressing how bearing the burden of keeping the “thing” is unreasonable. In such a way, he treats the “thing” as an outcast that must be put in it’s place. Fortunately, in a “sign” of sorts, Shaun is told that the place is for “forgetting” and “leaving behind”. However, now Shaun understands that he cares for the “thing” and leans to finding a more suitable place. Shaun and the “thing” find a hidden world with similar “things”, in which the “thing” is now born-again into a place where it belongs. After Shaun is eradicated of the “thing”, he mentions noticing less and less “things”. In a way, he is now like the people he initially described when he found the “thing”.

     The author’s intended point is to display how people often do not notice “things”. They are too precarious to not be burdened by that which is troublesome. This selfishness is a form of human’s self-preservation within society, which the author displays, leads to isolation and “lost” beings in society.

Comments

This is not the first time I watching this film. However, I don’t have much memory about it from last time. It was in an art class five or six years ago. I have to say that the name of the film didn’t bring anything in my mind, until the huge orange pineapple-liked creature appears. The film brings more thinking this time. Instead of the appreciation of Tan’s artwork, deeper meaning makes more sense to me.

The life of the boy is not special. He lives with his parents in a neither big nor small city. However he is the only person who notices this creature. I like the word “they are all too busy doing other stuff I guess”, which brings me back to the beginning of the film. Trains, buses take people everywhere around the city. People are like robots, walking around senselessly. Then the boy takes this creature around, asking people where it belongs, no one knows and no one really pays attention. At home, his parents ignore it and sometimes even feel annoyed of this lost one.

The boy starts helping finding its home. He knows exactly what he wants, so even if there are so many arrows on the road, representing the difficulty of the task, he finally finds the place.

The boy stands for kids. They are curious and willing to explore. They observe and find all interesting things around them. They are not stingy to use time and focus on their goals. Those things are just too ordinary for adult to notice, or they lost their interest in those tiny things.

Busy is not an excuse. Tan told his readers that these are not really unnoticeable. The huge creature sits in the beach, television shows mystery happening, the tailed and glorying thing stands next to the post etc. as long as we want to pay more attention to the surrounding world.

However, as he grows up, the less creatures he can see. Gradually he becomes the one like other adults, busy working, getting lost in his ordinary life. They are the actual lost ones.