The Lost Thing

Taking the advanced technology shown in the short film into consideration, it is presumably set sometime in the future. Contradictory to what I mentioned earlier, the protagonist is seen wearing a backpack with a sticker that has the number 1974 on it. What's more, in one of the first few scenes, parasols are being folded by a group of men. On them, we can find several Chinese characters written all over. Most of which, indicating time. As a result, Tan might be hinting that timing is not so important in this short film. The location unknown, though it is most definitely a metaphor of today's society. One thing for sure is that it is not set on the planet earth.

The conflict in the clip is that the robot is seemingly lost in a "human" world. Nobody seems to realize what is going on, until the protagonist gives a helping hand.

Towards the end of the film, the narrator says to himself, "Maybe there aren't many lost things anymore. Or maybe, maybe I've just stopped noticing." This can be viewed as the climax. The film leaves the audience hanging, and takes them on a deep thought session. It poses the question, why the society has such a toxic view of being lost.

The arrows in the film can mean so many things. Personally. I have interpreted them as the constatant conflicts that occur inside of our heads on a daily basis. Among the cluster of arrows, there is a rectangular sign with the writing:  "SIGN NOT IN USE". I am convinced that this scene was Tan’s way of criticizing the society and its people. These days, everything feels more shallow than ever. 

In the short film, most signs and phrases are written in the English language. Yet, as mentioned above, there are Chinese writings all over the parasols. They symbolize confusion. Humans are all lost in one way or another. As unfortunate as it may sound, it is what is keeping us sane. 

In most films, the character who helped "the lost thing" find its home would step into the said world. In some cases, they find that their new environment feels more comfortable, and they are enjoying the eye opening experiences. Yet in The Lost Thing, the boy turns around and heads home without hesitation. It is an indication that the world the boy and "the lost thing" belonged to are two completely different worlds. The audience is left feeling empty, as they were expecting a bright future for the two. 

The theme of this short film is that we all have the desire to belong to a place, or an environment. Even though the narrator initially described that the robot had "a sad, lost sort of look" there were no physical signs of the alien creature feeling lost and unsatisfied. Yet, the film does not fail to make the audience feel empathy towards the robot. This is because we subconsciously believe everything has a home, and what does not belong in a certain setting does not deserve to be noticed. The film has a critical message towards modern society. Afterall, maybe we are the ones lost, not the characters in the film.