tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186118329509553435.post2704576547077369286..comments2024-03-09T15:11:29.350-08:00Comments on Exotic and irrational entertainment: Alison Bechdel: DTWOF, Fun Home, and Are You My Mother?Pessimisissimohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04223566131580795337noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186118329509553435.post-32710262904441692892013-02-17T21:47:25.354-08:002013-02-17T21:47:25.354-08:00M. Lapin, as always you've written an articula...M. Lapin, as always you've written an articulate and thought-provoking comment. Your point about how the two different narratives demand different approaches is one that I hadn't considered, but now that you mention it... As you point out, a shared love of literature created a bond between the teenaged Alison and her father, and so of course <i>Fun Home</i> is saturated with literary allusions. It makes sense that, since her relationship with her mother is less about common enthusiasms and more about dissecting motives and meaning, <i>Are You My Mother?</i> would focus intensely on Alison's process of self-understanding.<br /><br />But despite my agreement that you've hit on the precise reason for the differences in narrative style between the two books, I have to say that I still prefer <i>Fun Home</i>'s literary references to <i>Are You My Mother?</i>'s therapeutic framework. To some degree, I think it's because literature creates an expansive imaginative space that can accommodate multiple meanings. Therapy, it seems to me, necessarily attempts to narrow an infinity of confusing and contradictory interpretations of our own and others' behavior into a few coherent channels. <br /><br />It's probable, too, that my preference for <i>Fun Home</i> also reflects my sense of identification with Alison's relationship with her father—her anger and hurt, but also her desire for approval—while I identify much less strongly with her relationship with her demanding, self-involved, critical mother. But as you say, in their different ways both books are very rewarding.<br /><br />Many thanks again for your comment!<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />P.Pessimisissimohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04223566131580795337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186118329509553435.post-14241581734116526132013-02-10T11:24:55.999-08:002013-02-10T11:24:55.999-08:00Thanks to your post, I've read both Fun Home a...Thanks to your post, I've read both Fun Home and Are You My Mother? I found them equally rewarding. In each, Bechdel does a great job of having memory trump time, so her life story becomes psychological rather than linear. Jumping abruptly between various times in her life, as well as overlapping and repeating scenes (sometimes with more information, or at others a thicker recounting, previously withheld from the reader), in both books Bechdel builds toward some kind of deeper understanding of herself through life experiences and readings mediated by her relationships to her parents. I particularly love the final three or so chapters in each book. By the time I get to the end, I want to start reading again from the beginning, to find visual clues in panels from the earlier chapters that I did not pick up on the first time around. <br /><br />And it is at that level of building toward a deeper self-understanding through her relationships - explicitly with her father and mother, but also through past lovers and her therapists - that in some ways I find Are You My Mother? more rewarding that Fun Home. It may be why Bechdel calls the first is a family tragicomedy (her father dies, so the family drama remains forever unfinished) and the second a comic drama (a kind of resolution is reached in her vexed relationship with her mother). I don't see the the difference between the two comic books so much in terms of the choice of supplementary literary and psychological writings, as how those writings contribute to the story in each case. Her father taught Bechdel to love literature, and it created a kind of sympathy between them with multiple connections and mysteries left unresolved. The comic book about her father is driven by narrative, by the dramatic stories. Bechdel's mother taught her to tackle life analytically, in addition to aesthetically and emotionally, with a measure of critical distance and of playfulness. The comic book about her mother is driven more by structure, with the explicit content serving to discover and reveal those underlying patterns ("It's... it's a metabook" / "Yeah! It is!"). And in the end, it seems to me that Bechdel appreciates her mother more: "She has given me the way out." In this way, I'm glad that Are You My Mother is not simply Fun Home, Part II, but its own and a different story.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186118329509553435.post-34683270829144871472012-12-16T21:02:02.911-08:002012-12-16T21:02:02.911-08:00Claudia, thanks for bringing up the Bechdel Test. ...Claudia, thanks for bringing up the Bechdel Test. For those who aren't aware of it, the Bechdel Test for movies requires that there be at least two female characters who talk to each other about something besides a man. There is a website that categorizes films based on this test, <a href="http://bechdeltest.com/" rel="nofollow">Bechdel Test Movie List</a>. As of this writing, <a href="http://bechdeltest.com/statistics/" rel="nofollow">about 54%</a> of the more than 3500 films listed meet all three criteria.<br /><br />As for obtaining a copy of <i>Are You My Mother?</i>, many independent bookstores in the U.S. will ship to Mexico. Try <a href="http://www.semcoop.com/" rel="nofollow">The Seminary Co-op Bookstore</a>, <a href="http://www.powells.com/" rel="nofollow">Powell's Books</a>, or <a href="http://moesbooks.com/" rel="nofollow">Moe's Books</a>. Of course, ordering online requires a credit card, which creates a barrier for many. However, if you don't have a credit card you may wish to contact the bookstores to see if they are willing to do international mail-order.<br /><br />Best of luck, and thanks for your comment!Pessimisissimohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04223566131580795337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9186118329509553435.post-11573771573709672892012-12-16T20:15:50.907-08:002012-12-16T20:15:50.907-08:00nice :)
I knew Alison Bechdel for the Bechdel test...nice :)<br />I knew Alison Bechdel for the Bechdel test. I read and loved Fun Home and I'm trying to get my hands on a copy of Are You My Mother but they don't sell it anywhere in Mexico so...Elena HChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06527407994452989768noreply@blogger.com