ENG-W131
Lily Potter
ENG-W131
February 25, 20XX
To Be a Soulmate Is To Be Set Apart
Disney and Pixars animated short Paperman (2012) tells the story of an average man who tries to get the attention of a beautiful woman by communicating with paper airplanes. Paperman claims that soulmates are set apart from the rest of the world; and thus, rightly are only compatible with one another.
Paperman draws distinctions between the female lead, Meg, and her surroundings by contrasting the variations of lighting. When Meg exits the business building and steps out onto the sidewalk, she steps into a brightly lit patch of sunlight. She is the only one lit by the light, and the surrounding people are bustling in the shadows of the street. By juxtaposing Meg, who is encompassed in light, with the surrounding shadowed city life, the director is framing the idea that Meg is special and distinctly different from others. By having only Meg in the sunlight, our eye is immediately drawn to her, much like how George is immediately drawn to her. The viewers eyes love to look at her and they share Georges admiration of Megs individuality. It is this light that draws the viewers eye towards Meg rather than any other part of the crowded street; this implies that there is a disjoint between Meg and her surrounding people.
George, too, is distinctly separated from his surroundings by the mise-en-scene. The introduction of the work scene features Georges co-workers, who are all balding middle-aged men with glasses. They each wear the same shirt, tie, and suspenders. George, in contrast, has a more relaxed appearance: hair that doesnt lay quite flat in the back, a loose fitting white shirt which is just a bit too baggy on his scrawny body, and youthful facial features. This physical variance between George and the workers implies that George doesnt fit into the everyday bourgeois lifestyle. Furthermore, George doesnt seem as preoccupied with his work as his co-workers are. George has an expression of dread, and possibly annoyance, when his boss drops a massive stack of papers for him to fill. His co-workers are pictured engulfed in their work, only to look up as George causes a ruckus with his paper-planes. George is distinctly different from his co-workers in his physical appearance and his work ethic, which highlights the divide between Georges disdain for business affairs and his coworkers immersion into the business worlds day-to-day.
Meg and Georges physical appearances are marked such that the individuals are set apart from society, and yet, their appearances serve as a connection between the pair. The couples compatibility is evident by their shared physical characteristics, in that they each have larger eyes than the other city folk. This not only outcasts them as unusual in society, but provides physical markers of their unity. The physical representation of their incongruity with society at large is signposting for the viewer that both George and Meg dont blend well with the rest of the world; they are set apart. In addition, their large eyes are a mutual marking that they are of the same kind. This physical representation underscores the notion of fated soulmates as it draws a clear connection that the two of them are aligned in similar ways.
Paperman assumes that because two people are soulmates, neither person could be compatible with anyone else. By having the two main characters marked and separated from the rest of the world, they too are inherently only compatible with one another. This suggests that the definition of the soulmate is exclusive in that an individual only gets one soulmate in their lifetime.
Works Cited
Paperman. Dir. John Kahrs. Walt Disney Studios, 2012.
