Alison Bechdel spoke to WCU students and faculty in Sykes Student Union theater on Monday, Oct. 29 to spread the word about her long-running comic strip and critically-acclaimed memoir, both of which address LGBTQ issues.Bechdel, a native of Lock Haven, Pa., is the author of a comic strip entitled “Dykes to Watch Out For,” which began publication in 1983. The comic strip centers on friends and lovers, many of which are lesbians, in today’s world.
Bechdel feels as though the public and the media have become more accepting of homosexuality over time.
“When I started this comic strip it was considered radical,” Bechdel said. “Now it is more conventional.”
She feels like she is doing the same work, but the ground beneath her has moved in a positive direction.
Bechdel displays universal themes and topics in “Dykes to Watch Out For.” Her characters have had different relationships, break-ups, career switches, and children. Bechdel describes the comic strip as a soap opera.
“I do not use the comic to explain or defend lesbianism,” Bechdel said. “I just show it.”
She not only keeps the comic true with relationships, but the once-present Café Topaz no longer appears in the comic because of Starbucks. Also, the feminist bookstore, Madwimmin Books, had to close because “women’s bookstores are under incredible pressure and are floundering,” Bechdel shared on her Web site.
The comic strip also addresses politics, sometimes in a serious manner and other times in a humorous one. In one frame, a political rally is shown with the crowd holding up anti-Bush signs and a banner, which said, “Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction.”
Nearing the 2004 election, two characters were shown displaying a sign in support of the Kerry/Edwards ticket. One character jokes that if they do not win she will move to Madagascar. More recently, a newspaper is shown with the headline “White House Alleges Iranian Involvement in Midwest Floods, Mortgage Crisis.” Needless to say, “Dykes to Watch Out For” cleverly displays a liberal viewpoint.
In 2006, Bechdel’s graphic memoir, “Fun Home,” was published. The book received wonderful reviews from “USA Today,” “The Washington Post” and “Entertainment Weekly” and became “Time” magazine’s number one book of the year. The subtitle of the book is also a very fitting description: A Family Tragicomic.
The book tells of her life and immediate family; the book’s inside appears as a comic, but brilliantly reads like a novel. Bechdel makes many literary allusions and comparisons; some references were familiar, while others could send a person straight to Google search, but all are masterfully crafted.
“Fun Home” tells of Bechdel’s life, starting with her childhood in a large house in small-town Pennsylvania. Her father was a perfectionist, especially when it came to the decorating of their house. He was an English teacher and the owner of a funeral home, which they referred to as “the fun home.” Her father’s anal-retentive personality really shapes Bechdel’s view of him and their unique relationship.
She puts her best efforts into being a tomboy and he does his best to feminize her. Bechdel also chronicles her struggle with obsessive-compulsive disorder at the age of 10. She becomes obsessed with counting things in even numbers and develops a unique way to walk through thresholds; if she messes up she recites an incantation.
Bechdel grows up and, at college, confronts the fact that she is a lesbian. She frankly details how she landed upon this revelation and her personal coming-out story with depth and brilliance. She was reading “Ulysses” at the time and compared her entrance into the campus’ Gay Union to Odysseus’ sailing to Hades; she tackled her own venture into the underworld.
However, the most intriguing aspect of Bechdel’s memoir is the characterization of her father. After her coming-out, Bechdel learns that her father is also gay. From her current, adult vantage point, Bechdel reflects on experiences from her childhood that she did not realize were peculiar at the time. Bechdel’s father would take her, her two younger brothers and their teenaged, male babysitter on vacation, leaving his wife at home. Bechdel now realizes that her father and their babysitter had a sexual relationship.
Another time, her father was arrested for providing alcohol to an underage male. Bechdel compares his court appearance to Oscar Wilde’s famous trial of a similar matter, for her mother was starring in a stage production of Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband” at the same time.
Also shortly after Bechdel’s coming-out, her father is hit by a truck and killed. Everyone is shocked and saddened because “he was such a great man,” as people said to her at the viewing. Bechdel, however, is convinced that his death was a result of suicide.
She presents very compelling, convincing evidence to support her theory.
Bechdel shared that it took her seven years to complete “Fun Home.”
“I had to keep up with my comic strip deadline,” Bechdel said. “It took me a while to get the tone right and I had to develop the connections I wanted to make.”
Bechdel described the writing of her memoir as a “mysterious process.”
“I began with the words and typing up core memories,” Bechdel said.
To get her drawings correct, Bechdel snapped photos of herself in positions she needed to illustrate. She did simple things like standing in a doorway and bigger ones like putting on a suit and lying in a casket to recreate her father’s funeral.
“I felt as though I was reenacting my father’s life,” Bechdel said, “both from writing and taking these pictures. This had a very intense emotional resonance for me.”
Bechdel shared that she did not ask permission from her mother or her brothers to write the book. She does, however, thank them for not stopping her from doing so. Bechdel said that it was hard for her mother because now many people know the secrets of their family. One student asked if Bechdel would be interested in buying her childhood home from the current owners. “No,” said Bechdel, “any feelings I have for the house I worked out in the book.”
“Fun Home” is available in bookstores. “Dykes to Watch Out For” runs in many newspapers and is online at DykesToWatchOutFor.com.
Brian Plunkett is a fourth-year student majoring in English with a minor in journalism. He can be reached at BP590205@wcupa.edu.