This short “But I Can’t” deals with the way that the belief
or disbelief of alien life forms and UFO’s effects personal relationships. I
really appreciated how the author began and ended the short with the same, or
similar, characters and panel styles (we call this circling, don’t we?)—which
is interesting, because I’m not sure that the content of the short is really
entered around the protagonist and these other characters in her apartment. The
author uses these panels to focus around the memory of Lucy and Harriet, and
once the reader has reached the third line of panels they will notice the shift
in color saturation (much, much lighter), which indicates a fading into memory
sequence. It feels as if we are walking through the frames with Harriet and
Lucy, exploring the possibilities of life outside of that on earth. Its not
until the end of the second continued onto the third pages that Lucy lets us
(and Harriet) know she is no longer a believer. Shortly afterwards Harriet goes
missing.
This short made me feel like I was being asked to follow a
memory and decide what I believed in regards to Harriet’s disappearance. Of
course, there is always a possibility that aliens abducted her, or she ran
away, or was kidnapped, and I’m not really honestly sure what I believe or
exactly what Lucy believes happened to Harriet. The title, “But I Can’t,”
suggests that Lucy just cannot believe that a UFO swooped her up. On the
contrary it also suggests that she can’t tell this story to those in the room
with her, because she does believe
that a UFO could have taken Harriet, and can’t bring her self to actually admit
that to another person/people, particularly after Lucy’s shut down all the
other claimed UFO sightings.
I wasn't exactly sure what the ending meant either. It's probably true that Lucy wants to believe both that Harriet just went missing and that she left with aliens. It seems like Harriet almost belonged somewhere else, and that's what leaves Lucy hoping that the latter is what really happened.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting when you want to put your faith in the voice of the narrator. eventhough this is short and restrained, you feel her regret and loss
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I found the ambiguity in Lucy's belief interesting, too. Because she prefaces what she wants to believe with statements confirming that she knows Harriet was a defenseless girl who wandered around alone at night, I felt that she was reluctantly admitting that it is likely Harriet was kidnapped and/or murdered, but that she could not accept that. She chose to try to believe that Harriet was taken away in a UFO because that is a happier ending for Harriet because Harriet seemed to want that. Even that, the best case scenario as an ending, is sad, because what seems to be hiding behind that desire is Harriet's longing for her mother.
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