Alison Bechdel

            Alison Bechdel is a female cartoonist (commonly known for her creation of the Bechdel Test), who, in 2006 published the graphic memoir Fun Home. Through both cartoons and words, Bechdel retells her story of growing up with a closeted gay father, and her own sexual identification journey. She explores the confusion and dislike she felt growing up being forced to behave femme and her scary but exciting decision to come out as gay. She reveals her experiences being raised by a distant mother and father, who treated his house with more 

tenderness, then, his own children.

Image from Bechdel's Memoir

According to a Hyperallergic article, Bechdel states, “The secret subversive goalof my work is to show that women, not just lesbians, are regular human beings.” In the twenty first century, it’s still rare to see a woman’s story just being told as a human’s story, no strings attached. She’s most often either an item of male’s attention, or a character we are meant to hate. Rarely just a human, with human struggles and a human journey. As written in The Beauty Myth “When women in culture show character, they are not desirable, as opposed to the desirable, artless ingenue” (Wolf 59.) Fun Home tells women to fuck “desirable.” We are women, and we are meant to be heard. We have real struggles, but also real joys and happiness. We are not just pretty objects, but humans who sometimes don’t know who they are and what they want to be. Fun Home is a HUMAN story about a woman, growing up in a dysfunctional family and trying to figure shit out. Nothing about her story is “desirable,” but everything about it is honest and relatable.

Sean Wilsey, in a 2006 New Yorks Times review, writes how Bechdel’sgraphic memoir is a lush piece of work, with well-crafted images and equallyrevealing words. The book is so absorbing that you feel like you are actually living in the author’s world. A book with so much heart and truth, that you live the journey.  Fun Home wassuch a success, that in 2015 it was turned into a hit Broadway musical, and won5 Tony Awards, including best musical. The book has also been translated into 25 different languages. People love this story, because it’s so raw and true. Not only does it gives a voice to women, but it gives a voice to lesbians, a group that is often under-represented and ignored in the media. In Commodity Lesbianism, Danae Clark writes that Lesbians aren’t targeted consumers. As a social group they are not economically powerful, not easily identifiable, and not attractive to advertisers (143.) Media often ignores lesbians, because it’s “hard” to make money off of them. Their human stories are rarely told. Bechdel gives them a voice, allows them to be heard, and give all humans a story to relate to.

 

Original Broadway Cast of Fun Home

Bechdel is a very seasoned cartoonist, and creator of the 2012 graphic memoir Are You My Mother? and many comic strips like Dykes to Watch Out For. Bechdel takes her cartooning very seriously, and spends much time perfecting her work for her readers. Her process is planned, written and laid out on a computer before being transferred into a physical drawing. She paints with a separate ink wash layer so she can have shading, adding depth and complexity into her images. She takes her art very seriously, and puts her heart and soul into every image and every word (Dube.) Fun Home is a feminist (human) story, that gives a voice to under-represented groups, and explores how messy and undesirable life (and women) can be. And how great that is. P.S. Fun Home definitely passes the Bechdel Test.

Bibliography:

·       Clark, Danae. "Commodity Lesbianism." Out in Culture (2012): 484-500. Print.

·        Dube, Ilene. "Alison Bechdel's Mission to Make Lesbian Culture Visible Through Comics." Hyperallergic. Hyperallergic, 24 Sept. 2018. Web. 19 Nov. 2018.

·       WILSEY, SEAN. "'Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic,' by Alison Bechdel - The New York Times Book Review." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 June 2006. Web. 19 Nov. 2018.

·       Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. London: Vintage Classic, 2015. Print.