Images

In fun home, Blechdel clearly uses visual imagery in every page, of every chapter. However, she also uses other forms of imagery, such as physical, and auditory. An example of significant visual imagery is the way she is drawn as a child. She portays herself with very boyish features. By simply looking at the drawings with no other context, one could not distinguish her from her brothers. This is all she wanted growing up, so in writing this book she finally achieved that.

Also, when her father shows her a cadaver for the first time (44), up until that point, the memoir doesn’t not show explicit images. This was her first exposure to anything “graphic” (and ours via the novel). After this point there are multiple different images of more promiscuous drawings (ie. Her and her girlfriend having sex). As she grows, matures, and experiences more, the reader evolves with her.

 

As for the actual process of Bechdel’s unique illustrations, she explains in the video below the process she used to create this memoir. She points out that she used online search engines, old family photos, and even took recreation photos from her memory quite frequently to aid in her creation of this graphic novel. This lengthy process shows the quality and accuracy of the work produced.

Posted by Sierra Sanchez

Plot

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic memoir written by Alison Bechdel. It outlines her unique upbringing and the discovery and exploration of her sexuality. The memoir focuses primarily on her and her family, starting off when she was just a child. The story line follows the events of her childhood leading up to her going to college. As a child, Alison had always been more drawn to dressing like a boy and doing more “male” oriented activities. Once she left the pressures of her father when she went off to college at 19, she came out as a lesbian. After the tough situation of informing her parents, it is revealed via her mother, that Alison’s father ahs in fact had a history of sexual relations with men and boys. Her mother then explains that she has asked her father for a divorce. A very short time later Alison’s father passes away from being hit by a truck. Although it was said to be a horrific accident, Alison feels that it was in fact a suicide as she elaborates on specific incidences and evidence to why she thinks this that she reveals in the memoir. As a whole, Fun Home was a self-reflection for Bechdel herself to try and make sense of her upbringing and relationships.

http://stageagent.com/shows/musical/675/fun-home/plot

Here is a link to a summary of the Broadway production of Fun Home. Here you can analyze differences and similarities between the memoir and the production.

Posted by Sierra Sanchez

Historical, Social & Cultural Context

Historical: In the 60’s and 70’s when Alison was growing up there was still strong stigma around being gay. People had very strong negative views as it was just emerging more into the public eye. I think this is why it took her so long to discover her orientation, and an aspect of why it was so hard to uncover her fathers past. He kept it very private as it was more “frowned upon”. Gay culture and rights were simply just emerging as Alison was growing up. Coming out as a homosexual at the time took lots of bravery as although legally it was becoming more “okay”, in the eyes of society it was still an issue for some. Here is a link that highlights gay culture and progression of rights in the 1970’s:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/a-glimpse-into-1970s-gay-activism/284077/

Social: Throughout Blechdel’s childhood, her father pushed her to not dress like a boy. Even the first time she saw a girl who was dressed as a male, she was out for food at a diner with her father and she knew she was not aloud to admire this person outwardly, where deep down that’s all she wanted to be. These suppressed feelings and actions prolonged her realization of who she was and what she liked. Not until she went to college did she have the chance to have her own experiences and find out who she was. Blechdel finally had the space and support she needed to explore her interests, without sneaking around or feeling that it was wrong. She met many people and had many social experiences who opened her up to who she was. It was really they people around her, from childhood to college, who helped (or in her father’s case suppressed) her self discovery.

Cultural: Blechdel and her father both did things that at the time were viewed as controversial to religious and social groups. Firstly, they were both gay, and further, her father was having relations with under aged boys. Though this was the case, the novel rarely strayed far from family dynamic into world views and opinions. In contrast to this, when people/situations outside the family were mentioned, it did not hinder Blechdel and her father’s orientation, only encouraged it. Examples of this are when her father went to a pride parade, or when Alison was invited to the lesbian bar or met her girlfriend. This novel highlights the support they each found within their community not the negative ones. Additionally, once Alison was finally fully exposed to gay culture in general (bars, books, etc.), that’s when she finally figured out who she was and what she wanted. That’s what solidified it for her.

Posted Sierra Sanchez

Reception & Reviews of Their Work

Bechdel’s Fun Home received strikingly good reviews. It was deemed insightful, tragic, deep, and utterly honest just to name a few. It is more than just amusing cartoons, it pushes together the two genres (memoirs and graphic novels) in a way that allowed it to be termed one of the best graphic memoirs written (or drawn if you will). Here are two reviews of her work:

“Bechdel’s memoir offers a graphic narrative of uncommon richness, depth, literary resonance and psychological complexity….The results are painfully honest, occasionally funny and penetratingly insightful.” –Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

“[S]plendid….More than the witty art, more than the mordant prose, it is this openness that distinguishes Bechdel’s generous and intelligent work….[I]t has a depth and sweetness few can match at five times the length. (Grade: A)” –Entertainment Weekly

Fun Home got a lot of public attention. So much so, that playwright Lisa Kron wanted to take it to musical theatre. In 2013, it opened for Off-Broadway, and two years later in 2015, it opened on Broadway. It gained positive public attention, including being a 2015 Tony Award Winner, taking home titles including: Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, Best Book of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical.

Here is a video that shows an “amateur” review in contrast to the professional reviews listed above.

Posted by Sierra Sanchez

Interviews

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/alison-bechdel-on-fun-homes-tony-award-triumph-20150618

This is an interview by Rolling Stone on the success of Bechdel’s graphic novel-turned-Broadway show. It touches on all the credit and attention she is receiving and how comfortable (or uncomfortable) it is for her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvF46ehiHfc

This interview with MiNDTV35 in 2009 discusses the irony of the title “Fun Home”, how each chapter has a different literary reference to authors and books her father admired, and the challenge of trying to capture real people in cartoon. She also briefly brings up future projects which she only simply reveals to be about “relationships”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9vD7Nc0L3k

An interview by a vlog called Stuck in Vermont goes into the transition of Fun Home from graphic memoir to Broadway. Alison shows excitement about the productions and states that she still feels very apart of the whole production, when in reality she had little to do with the making of the musical.

https://vimeo.com/20114536

In 2010 the Institute for Women’s Leadership interviewed Bechdel. She talks about growing up in a sexist world and how she felt like she didn’t relate to anyone. Alison elaborates here that it was hard to differentiate between her lesbian self and her female self, but looking at female figures at the time she had no role models.

Posted by Sierra Sanchez

Works And Awards

Over the past 30 years, Alison Bechdel has produced many books. This list includes only the books she is an author of. She has illustrated of other books in the past including: What do dogs dream? (1998) and What do cats dream? (1999), written by Louise Rafkin. Below is a list of her books fro 1986 to 2012:

1. Dykes to Watch out For (Firebrand Books [Ithaca, NY], 1986.)

2. More Dykes to Watch out For (Firebrand Books, 1988.)

3. New, Improved! Dykes to Watch out For (Firebrand Books, 1990.)

4. Dykes to Watch out For: The Sequel (Firebrand Books, 1992.)

5. Spawn of Dykes to Watch out For (Firebrand Books, 1993.)

6. Unnatural Dykes to Watch out For (Firebrand Books, 1995.)

7. Hot, Throbbing Dykes to Watch Out For (Firebrand Books, 1997.)

8. The Indelible Alison Bechdel: Confessions, Comix, and Miscellaneous Dykes to Watch Out For (Firebrand Books, 1998.)

9. Split-Level Dykes to Watch out For (Firebrand Books, 1998.)

10. Post-Dykes to Watch out For (Firebrand Books, 2000.)

11. Dykes and Sundry Other Carbon-Based Life Forms to Watch Out For (Alyson Books [New York City], 2003.)

12. Invasion of The Dykes to Watch Out For (Alyson Books, 2005.)

13. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Houghton Mifflin [Boston, MA], 2006.)

14. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (Houghton Mifflin, 2008.)

15. Are You My Mother? (Houghton Mifflin, 2012.)

Fun Home received the 2006 Publishing Triangle’s Judy Grahn Nonfiction Award, a Lambda Book Award, the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Nonfiction Award from the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table, and an Eisner Award.

It received credit for best/favourite book of the year (2006) by numerous publications including: Time, New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, People, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Magazine, Time Out New York, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Plain Dealer, Salon, The Capital Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Out, Amazon.com, Oregonian, The Advocate, The Guardian (UK), New York Blade, PW Comics Week, Publishers Weekly, Times (UK), Newsday, and The Village Voice.

Over the years it has received even more credit. For example, Salon named Fun Home one ten best nonfiction books of the decade in 2009. It was also number seven on Entertainment Weekly’s Best Books of the Decade in 2009.

Dykes to watch out for is Bechdel’s primary website/source for information. Here is the link to the part of the website that shows news, awards, and reviews.

http://dykestowatchoutfor.com/news

Posted by Sierra Sanchez

Outstanding Themes

The scene located on page 29 of the memoir describes the first mention of Alison and her mother conversing about Bruce (Alison’s father) and his death. This is not the only scene within the memoir where Alison and her mother share their opinions and thoughts on what had happened or the secrets in which Bruce had hidden. This scene grasps the readers attention by foreshadowing the events that will lead up to this moment and mentions about the difficulties of grasping that someone has passed away.

The second outstanding scene is located on pages 43- 45  where Alison mentions the “embalming room”. This scene is one of the first scenes where nudity, gore and the test of emotions are present. This scene catches the interest of the reader as it is not a common scene typically found in literature, nor is nudity as detailed as Alison makes it. The image of a naked man creates an awkward feeling, yet an intriguing interest to continue reading on.

The third and final outstanding scene is located from pages 73 –79 where Alison begins to realize her sexuality on a trip to Switzerland. As this scene progresses, Alison became rather interested in homosexuality and the readers are able to witness the struggles and comforts of coming to the realization of sexual orientation. This scene shows the disapproval of her mother, the acceptance of her father and the beginning of who Alison really is. These scenes also have imagery that is relatable to the reader, may make them uncomfortable or very detailed fine print that makes the image more of a written novel rather than an illustrated one.

Outstanding scenes are important to have within a novel as this catches the reader’s attention, but also may make it relatable in some way to their own life or experiences. Alison created her memoir in such a detailed illustration it’s hard to pull away from the story. The link provided below is a blog where the author discusses techniques and how to create an attention grabbing story.

https://electricliterature.com/an-illustrated-guide-to-writing-scenes-and-stories-c4e0296276f#.lyvoahhm1

Written by Jennifer Richards

Themes

Within Fun Home, there are three major themes that are found within the text. The three themes that are present are: Death, Sexual Orientation and Multiple Meanings.

Death: The theme of death is present in a variety of aspects within Fun Home. The first encounter mentioned within the theme of death is Alison’s father’s accident “It’s true he didn’t kill himself until I was nearly twenty” (pg. 23). The title of chapter 2 “A Happy Death” sets the tone for this theme as it jumps into the funeral and understanding of Bruce’s death. Not only does the novel mention Bruce’s death quite often, it also mentions the family business is a funeral home service. The theme of death is apparent within the novel quite often and is referred to in more ways than one.

Sexual Orientation: The theme of sexual orientation is relevant throughout Fun Home due to the fact that both Alison and her father (Bruce) struggle with their orientation throughout the novel. Although Alison’s father never truly identifies with his orientation, this is confronted through conversations Alison has with her mother. Alison differs from her father in sense that she becomes aware of her orientation when she turns 19 “My realization at nineteen that I was a lesbian came about in a manner consistent with my bookish upbringing” (Pg. 74). This theme is portrayed throughout the entire novel as Alison works through her own orientation, and learning the truth about her father.

Multiple Meanings: The theme of multiple meanings refers to the specific words or phrases Alison uses within the novel. For example, the title of the novel Fun Home could mean that Alison lived in a house filled with joy and excitement, it could have a sarcastic meaning or it could mean  the name of the funeral home in which her father ran “The ‘fun home’ as well called it, was up on main street” (pg. 36). The word queer is also used with multiple meanings as she calls her father a queer due to the secret of his sexuality. The word queer is also used when Alison describes her father’s death as queer “queer in every sense of the multi-valent word” (pg. 57). This theme is relevant throughout the novel as many of the phrases Alison uses can have multiple meanings.

The link provided below provides a relatively large list of common theme that can be found within literature. It was useful in finding themes through Fun Home as there are so many that can be found within the novel.

http://literarydevices.net/a-huge-list-of-common-themes/

Written by Jennifer Richards

Structure

The structure within Fun Home is interesting as it was published as a novel, yet read and viewed as a comic. Alison uses the concept of comic structure as she incorporates her own drawings yet has used descriptive narrative rather than dialogue.

According to https://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~jbass/courses/402/402_spr10_sns.htm , comics have four stages that are placed by sequence and by the information within the story. The first stage is to describe a situation, the second is to introduce a problem, the third is to present a resolution and the fourth is to present the denouement.

Within Fun Home, Alison follows these steps by first describing the situation of her father in general. She begins by describing what her father is like, how she remembers him as a child and the traits in which she remembers most about her father. She then proceeds to explain her father’s death by chapter 2. This discusses the situation of the comic and how it will affect the rest of the story.

The second stage of introducing the problem is seen when Alison begins to question her sexual orientation and begins to suspect her fathers as well. This creates a problem as the secrets about her father begin to emerge and she becomes unsure of whom her father really is. The problem of identifying both Alison’s and Bruce’s (father) sexualities can be seen through many chapters of Fun Home.

The third stage of presenting a resolution is seen by the imagery and narrative Alison uses to explain her understanding of her father. The use of both her childhood memories and her current memories aids the resolution by being able to reflect upon what she knew before her father’s secrets were revealed and after they were revealed.

The fourth stage is to present the denouement, meaning to show the reactions of the characters, show how the original situation has been changed or to show the aftermath of the resolution. Alison portrays the fourth stage throughout the story as she believes that her father’s death was not an accident and believes that he had intentions to end his life. Alison shows her understanding through various parts of the novel and has been able to understand the many reasons as to why her father kept his secret for so long.

The imagery within the text is important as it works with the narrative to create a clear, interesting description. The images used within Fun Home were drawn by Alison to work with the memories and moments she describes throughout the novel. An example of this would be on page 17 where images of Alison’s past are brought together with current thoughts as she questions whether her family is really a family or a work from a museum.

Alison uses her imagery as a way to show her story why she tells it, rather than placing images that may fit the best. Many of the images coordinate with both her childhood memories and her current memories and this shows throughout the drawings. One page of the story that truly stands out within the story is page 28, where Alison begins to piece together whether her father’s death was an accident or not.

The structure used within the novel is well put together as the imagery and narrative make it simple to follow the story Alison is telling. It makes reading easier due to the descriptive nature of the images and how well the narrative is complemented.

Written by Jennifer Richards

Historical Context of Growing Up

Alison Bechdel was born on September 10^th, 1960 in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania and then grew up in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania. Alison’s experiences within her life and the interactions she’s had have made an impact in her success as a cartoonist and author and her failures. The events that have taken place in Alison’s life have most definitely made her who she is and the events that have surrounded Alison’s life throughout the decades.

The 1960’s – 1969

1961 – The Berlin wall begins

1963 – The Supreme Court ruled that prayed in schools is unconstitutional

1963 – Martin Luther King delivers “I Have a Dream”

1963 – John F. Kennedy is assassinated

1964 – 24^th amendment is ratified

1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson (president) signed the Civil Rights Act, making segregation in public illegal

1965 – Malcom X is assassinated

1965 – The Los Angeles Riot happens in August.

1967 – The first superbowl

1968 – Martin Luther King is assassinated

1969 – Woodstock takes place

1969 – Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon

Within 1960 – 1969, Alison was still very young and many of the events that had taken place within this time period may not have directly affected her within these years. The U.S government was changing laws to include all citizens and create equality among the country. Equality continued with Woodstock as the event brought individuals together to celebrate equality and peace. Although equality was moving forward within this time period, the progression was slow and citizens were not ready to accept the concept of openly gay couples or individuals within this time period.

1970 – 1979

1970 – The first Earth Day takes place

1971 – Ban on cigarette commercials goes into effect

1971 – Voting age is lowered to 18 years of age instead of 21

1971 – Walt Disney world opens in Orlando, Florida

1973 – Roe vs. Wade legalizes abortion in the USA

1973 – U.S military troops are pulled out of Vietnam

1976 – The Viking 1 space probe lands on Mars, followed by the Viking II, creating the first coloured pictures of Mars

1976 – Microsoft is created

1977 – First Star wars movie is released

1977 – Elvis is found dead

1977 – 15 nations sign a nuclear proliferation pact, resulting in slowing the spread of nuclear weapons around the world

1979 – The Three Mile Nuclear Power Plant in Middletown, Pennsylvania, has an accident where a partial core meltdown is recorded

1979 – The Sony Walkman is created

Within the next 10 years of Alison’s life, more events have taken place that greater impact her life. By the time 1978 comes around, Alison is now allowed to vote since the voting age has changed from 21 to 18 in 1971. Progress continues with equality for women’s rights as the USA legalizes abortion in 1973, allowing women to abort if the fetus is less than 6 months old. During this time in American history, gay rights movements were progressing and the community was growing, but the size of the community is far greater in today’s society. Many were encouraged to express their sexuality, yet there was much hesitation. The link provided below is a timeline of the American Gay Rights movement from 1924 – 2011.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/stonewall/

Written by Jennifer Richards