Have you ever felt that the most extraordinary stories are hidden in the most ordinary places? Shaun Tan, the acclaimed author and illustrator, believes just that, and his work, including the newly adapted TV series Tales from Outer Suburbia, proves it. Tan masterfully unveils the magic shimmering beneath the surface of everyday life.
Growing up in the seemingly unremarkable suburbs of Perth in the early 1980s, Tan often found himself wrestling with boredom. Hillarys, now a bustling waterfront suburb, was, in his childhood, "a bit of a nowhere sort of place." His parents, new to the area, built their house on a block of land, a fresh start with few existing connections. But here's where it gets controversial... some might argue that suburban life inherently lacks excitement. Was Tan simply more attuned to the hidden wonders around him?
Instead of succumbing to the perceived monotony, young Shaun turned to the park next door and the endless, winding streets, transforming them into fertile ground for his imagination. He recalls, "There was that sense that you were in this castaway universe. A lot of boredom but then, occasionally, you would encounter strange things." These long days spent exploring his neighborhood fueled a unique creative perspective. "There was always something going on as you'd be riding your bike around this wide, empty street. And what wasn't going on you would fill with your own thoughts and imagination."
Tan's childhood imaginings blossomed into a celebrated career. He has written and illustrated 14 books and contributed illustrations to many more. A testament to his talent, he even earned an Oscar for the short film adaptation of his book, The Lost Thing. Now, another of his beloved creations, Tales from Outer Suburbia (published in 2008), has been brought to life as an animated series available on ABC iview. This collection of short stories is directly inspired by the whimsical musings and peculiar observations of his suburban childhood.
Tan recounts a specific memory that found its way into the book and the TV series: "I do remember once there was some kind of strange wind, and I went down to the park. And tons of newspapers had somehow been caught up in the wind, and it was just blowing across the landscape." This seemingly ordinary event, imbued with a sense of wonder, perfectly encapsulates the essence of his work. "It was a fairly ordinary thing, but it had its own magic," Tan explains. And this is the part most people miss... it's not about grand fantastical adventures, but about finding the extraordinary within the ordinary.
That statement essentially summarizes Tan's artistic mission: to infuse the mundanity of everyday life with something uniquely special. He achieves this by presenting the bizarre without any grand introduction or fanfare. In Tales from Outer Suburbia, deep-sea divers casually stroll to the corner store, a tiny, pointy-headed visitor takes up residence in the crockery cupboard, and glistening goldfish dance across the night sky.
But while these fantastical elements abound, the stories remain firmly rooted in the familiar reality of suburban existence. "I'm always wary of fantasy because it can sort of spin off into something that feels detached and dreamlike," Tan admits. Instead, he gravitates toward surrealism, drawn to the sheer fun of imagining strange and unexpected scenarios. He elaborates, "The more I think about it and draw it and write it, the more I realize it's not actually fantasy, it's tapping into the fact that all things are strange." Think about it: the way we behave, the foods we consume, the vehicles we operate – all these things are inherently strange, products of complex histories and somewhat arbitrary circumstances beyond our control.
While Tan's work often evokes a sense of warm nostalgia, it's also subtly tinged with melancholy. He reveals that he has often grappled with feelings of being an outsider, particularly as a half-Asian child growing up in a predominantly white area. "All my stories are about this question of belonging, I've noticed, and this constant feeling of displacement," he reflects. "It could be a personal thing, but I suspect it's something a bit deeper and more existential that everybody asks themselves at some point. You know, 'how is it that I happen to be born in this particular time and place? And what does it mean?'" This exploration of identity and belonging resonates with readers of all backgrounds.
Despite being frequently labeled as a children's author and illustrator, Tan confesses that he has always found the label puzzling. "This TV series might have been the first time actually that I've thought about kids," he says with a laugh. He explains that he never consciously targets a specific audience, but he often features child protagonists because they possess a natural openness to curiosity. "My work, if anything, is trying to bridge the curiosity that we sustain from childhood into adulthood," he says. "I see these as very adult stories; they just use the memories of childhood to reinvigorate the adult perception. But in doing so, it ends up being very appealing to kids also." It's a clever strategy: tapping into the universal sense of wonder that often fades with age.
While Tales from Outer Suburbia unfolds entirely within the confines of residential cul-de-sacs, bathed in the almost romantic glow of an endless summer, Tan is quick to clarify that he is not presenting the suburbs as an idyllic paradise. "I don't know if the suburbs get a bad rap, sometimes it's deserved," he jokes. "I think it's not so much a bad rap as no rap." His interest in writing about his upbringing was ignited by the work of fellow Perth writer Tim Winton. "He's a little bit older than me, but he's grown up in Karrinyup, which was the neighboring suburb, and he wrote about the landscape," Tan explains. "I'd never seen it in literature before, and I was like, 'holy crap, you can write about the place where you grew up, and it's as important as anywhere else in the world?'"
Now, Tan frequently revisits the suburbs of Perth for inspiration. "All of my work is really a variation on that suburban landscape. I might set it on another planet or something, but it's still the same structure and the same feeling." Ultimately, however, he encourages readers to forge their own connections with his stories. "I have my idea of how things look and the story that plays out in my mind, but I'm aware that when it goes to another reader, it becomes a very different thing – and I've always encouraged that." After all, art is subjective, and the beauty lies in the individual interpretations.
He eagerly anticipates discovering what viewers will make of his stories in their new animated form. "I've always said: the book starts where it ends." So, what do you think? Does Tan successfully capture the hidden magic of suburban life, or is he simply romanticizing the mundane? And how does your own childhood experience shape your interpretation of his work? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
