Who Are You?

Personally, reading “Fun Home” was an active goal at hand. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I first picked it up but I quickly realized it was more than just a comic about a woman’s perpetuated relationship with her father or about a father’s dedication to his carpentry. It instead focused more on an examination into how social identity is shaped from experience and interaction.
For me, this social identity aspect of the memoir was the overarching theme. Between the seemingly neck-to-neck moments of Alison and her father Bruce, the deeper focus of the memoir cycled around the fact that there was some dimension of character to their social identities. Alison dives into her understanding of being a lesbian while it becomes apparent that her father may be bisexual.
Choosing the most impactful element for Fun Home was difficult. I wanted to represent the relationship between Alison and Bruce. It was a grueling process and after sorting through dozens of Google stock images I decided to draw, yes draw. I’m no artist but I wanted to get my point across. The center graphic of Bruce and Alison facing different sides of the board was intended to represent their separate conflicts (the opposing heads) yet the shared mentality. Despite frequent fighting, their relationship and shared mindset of social identity keep them together (heads touching each other).
I decided to split the board into three portions. The left, gender identity, the right, repression, and the middle shared aspects and their connection. I personally associated Alison most with gender identity because of her personal confliction with being lesbian so her head faces that side as she appears to be “searching”. I know “searching” seems loose but if you think about it, she looks for outlets of her gender identity via books and dictionaries. I tried to solidify this by including a vague yet significant quote from Bobbie Harro’s Cycle of Liberation representing the metaphorical and literal action of Alison case. “We may discover that we need to educate ourselves: read more, talk to people, bounce ideas and views around with others, begin listening to the news with new ears, seek expertise,” (621). I chose to include Desmond Meagleys drawing (left of the board) depicting an individual looking at their reflection as I feel it puts down the socialized stigma that understanding what your social identity is, is “easy”.

Graphic courtesy of artist Desmond Meagley via npr.org

Bruce Bechdel, in my opinion, the perpetrator and dishonorable mentor of this memoir is represented on the right side of the board. If you didn’t pick up on this I’m not sure you actually “read” the memoir, but it becomes apparent that Bruce was probably bisexual or gay by many of his mannerisms and actions. I associated his personality and anger with the theme of repression as in some sense he has not only repressed his own “true” social identity throughout his life but also his own daughters. We see Alison’s life descend into a hole when she talks about her obsessive-compulsive lifestyle that emerged, “At the end of the day, if I undressed in the wrong order, I had to put my clothes back on and start again.” (137). The reality is that the snappy comments Bruce makes about Alison’s clothing, and actions inadvertently repress her by creating the feeling of shame and guilt.

Page 137 from “Fun Home” by Alison Bechdel

The analysis of this project was difficult and ultimately amongst this, the toughest element was finding the connection between gender identity and repression. I left this section for the center of the mashboard because the blend between the two being Alison and Bruce represented the deep-rooted connection of their shared social identity. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to draw a connection based on the things I just talked about, but of course, it was difficult. A New York Times article from Richard and William Ryan about a homophobia theory well captures an approach to the memoir I did not know. “One theory is that homosexual urges, when repressed out of shame or fear, can be expressed as homophobia,” (1). Yes, you’re probably thinking that this quote focuses explicitly on Alison, but that is false. It instead gave me insight into the father’s relationship with his gender identity and how he may have internalized repression and shame for his identity while being married. This internalized opinion on himself may explain much of the repression and shunning attitude towards Alison and her gender identity.
“Who are you?” Is the question that I titled this and I named it that because the book encompasses the idea of searching. Alison searches for information about being a lesbian while her father internalizes his own repression and looks for ways to communicate with his daughter.

Source List:

Untitled/DesmondMeagley/npr.org

PointingFingerofShame/CarolAnderson/reachoutrecovery.com

Lesbian Cartoonist Alison Bechdel Countered Dad’s Secrecy By Being Out and Open by Terry Gross via npr.org

A Quest for Authenticity: Contemporary Butch Gender by Heidi M Levitt, Katherine R Hiestand via proquest.com

Homophobic? Maybe You’re Gay by Richard M. Ryan, William S. Ryan via nytimes.com

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel