Week 12: Fun Home


This week, I read Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. had a vague understanding of what Fun Home was about before I read it; A lesbian finds out that her dad is gay and then he dies. What I did not know was that the Dad was a jerk who was emotionally distant/physically abusive to his kids and had sex with his high-school students. I like how she likens her family to that of the Addams Family New Yorker cartoons and the irony was lost on her as a child, but even Gomez and Morticia are attentive and caring to not only their kids but to each other as well… In the TV show, anyway, not as familiar with the illustrations.
            One part I found particularly interesting was the bit about obsession-compulsion disorder. I don’t know a whole lot about OCD, so it was fascinating to learn the different kinds of rituals and superstitions that people with the disorder invent for themselves. She made her own shorthand for the term “I think” and got obsessed with it, putting it everywhere in her diary/calendar.
            The book makes me interested in Bechdel’s other work, Dykes to Watch Out For and Are You My Mother? She’s been doing this since the eighties and she’s almost sixty and still making stuff, that’s bonkers. Well, I guess it’s not that crazy: if you’re a creative, you don’t stop being creative as you grow. Also, I was curious if she had anything to do with the Bechdel test or if it was just a coincidence, but it turns out she (and her friend) made it up. I hope I can contribute this much to pop culture one day in the future.

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