Breaking Boundaries (Frames)

the author breaks the conventional framing techniques we've see thus far by not boxing each frame in with a black line. he frames images by putting backgrounds in yellow, pink, orange, purple, and red. the watercolor pane of color behind the character grounds them or makes them look like they are standing in front of a wall. blocks of text also appear in these colorful rectangles with rounded edges. the colorful text blocks invite the reader in rather than creating a jail-like environment with black ls, ts, and Is streaking the page against a white background like bars on a jail cell.

he pushes the boundaries of conventional faming techniques further by simply not having a frame at all! these bleed frames imply a continuation. for instance, the second frame on the second page is an open frame of the two girls walking together as children. had LaValle added a blue sky this scene would look complete and the reader would see it as a moment in time, but by not adding that element of completion we are able to imagine the girls walking right off into the next frame and continuing to stroll through this flashback.

the author also creates this bleed frame by having the image run off the page. the most successful rendition of this is the top two frames on the last page; here, the field runs into two frames and the author communicates two ideas, "no suspectes," and, "the police gave up the search and live mostly returned to normal." again, we get a similar momentum to the bleed frame of the two girls walking. by bleeding the image of the field into two frames we, as readers, are left with the sense that that field, and the search, will continue to stretch into frame after frame after frame, even if we don't see them.

the last frame is hauntingly complete and engaging. it has everything: a light source, perspective, shadowing, thick and thin line variation, the character looking straight out at the reader. this frame would be less haunting if the wall of black trees were not creeping in like shadow monsters. a happy ending, or abduction, would be implied if the soft purple starry sky stretched out behind her. instead we imagine her wandering off into the dark woods alone where real serial killers can find her. the ought oh face on the moon doesn't help ease my anxiety.

a few other thoughts...

when looking at the author's characters in this short, the word "dopey" comes to mind. starting with the guy in the green hoodie with the hunched over shoulders and dishevled hair, then moving to the next frame showing four characters with rounded shoulders. the woman in purple, who I suspect is the main character, always seems to have her shoulders drawn up to her ears, as if she is shrugging, which makes me feel tense. she looks like she is in the midst of questioning something, saying, "I don't know," which, it turns out, is what she is doing. she is questioning the existance of extraterrestrials and the dissapearance of her friend and her friend's mother. The two frames on the bottom of the first page give us a glimpse into what she is really questioning, and the underlying question at hand...did her friend's mother really get abducted or did she run off with a younger man?

the second row of frames on the last page depicts the character sitting in the same position at different times in her life showing us how the character has grown up, but stayed the same.

this clip seems to be more about the abandonment of her friend by her parents than alien abductions. the author cleverly uses the fictional element of abduction to help the reader understand how the redheaded girl felt as a child when her mom was abducted or dissappeared from her life. through the abduction divice, the reader also learns what it feels like to mysteriously loose a friend and perhaps blame herself for her disappearance.

Thanks for reading. MargaretS.