Fun Home's visual language

        Fun Home distinguishes itself from the other books in our unit by being a graphic novel. This opens it up to an entirely novel (hoho. haha.) dimension of expression, the visual realm. Aesthetics are very important to the core of the book: the two core characters, Alison Bechdel and her father, Bruce Bechdel, both express themselves largely aesthetically, Alison through visual art and personal styling, and Bruce through decoration of his house. This meta-parallel between the subject and medium is replicated one layer lower, through visual symbolism expressed in the panels of the graphic novel.

        A fascinating visual dualism presents itself in the form of the third and the final panels of Fun Home. Both are a reference to a core analogy Bechdel makes, comparing herself to Icarus and her father to Daedelus, two figures of Greek myth. Notice the similarities. In both, Bechdel is above her father, and supported by him: in one, she is supported literally, by his legs; in the other, she is supported emotionally. Both of their poses are roughly similar, hands outstretched. The framing is similar, with Alison closer and facing away and Bruce further and facing towards, Alison on the right and Bruce on the left. Alison is central in frame; Bruce is occluded. However, certain opposites present themselves. The backgrounds are aesthetically reversed: in the early panel, the two figures are set against a dark backdrop simultaneously crowded and harshly ordered, while in the last panel, they are set against a pool of still water- calm, curved, and gently colored. In a similar reversal, Alison and Bruce’s colors, particularly of their clothing, have been reversed. Where in the first panel, Bruce is dressed conservatively in a long black shirt and Alison less so in a white-and-blue striped t-shirt, in the final panel, Bruce is nearly nude and left almost completely white, while Allison covers her body with a pitch-black swimsuit.

Image

Above: the third panel of Fun Home

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 Above: the final panel of Fun Home. The text contrasts the Bechdels’ relationship with that between Icarus and Daedelus.

        This duality, parallel and opposed, reflects our journey of understanding both Bruce and Allison. Each of the two begins to resemble more so the other. In a similar vein, as we read through Fun Home, we see Bruce humanized more, see the similarities to Bechdel made clearer, whether it be his homosexuality, his literary tendencies, his artistic pursuits, or any of the other twinned qualities they share; at the same time, Bechdel takes us on her journey of realizing that she is more like her father than she realized, in many of the same ways that Bruce is shown to be similar to her. On the other hand, the background represents an absolute shift in her life, from the oppressive orderliness of Bruce’s household to her modern life, more chaotic but more free.

        Fun Home makes excellent use of visual language to communicate many of its ideas and themes. I have only covered one significant example of many.   


bye

Comments

  1. KathrynApril 7, 2023 at 8:00 PM

    Wow, we talked about the parallels between the two scenes in class but I didn't notice all of the examples you brought up! I think it's really interesting that in the first scene the background is dark and complicated, and in the second scene the background is calm and light. It makes the second scene seem more positive, showing both the good and bad sides of Alison's childhood with Bruce. Great post!

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  2. Anna WilliamsApril 28, 2023 at 8:39 AM

    In both these panels, Alison is central but facing away from the viewer, and Bruce is visible (albeit less so) and only looking at Alison. I think it's a beautiful metaphor for the entire book, especially because Alison must have intentionally framed both these images that way. While she is the main character, we see her mostly through the way her father looks at her.

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  3. NathanielMay 23, 2023 at 10:57 PM

    This is a really interesting detail! This is absolutely intentional, from the positioning of the characters to the contrast in backgrounds. The two panels are likely meant to go together, as in addition to the points already stated they both concern Alison holding faith in Bruce. She is prepared to fall, and yet her dad is pictured there to be ready to help her. I think another reason these panels are relevant is because her dad wasn't there for her after his death, and so he couldn't be there to catch her in Alison's future.

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  4. Maxwell HeMay 25, 2023 at 10:43 AM

    Yeah

    Fun Home's subject sort of requires it to be presented as a graphic novel. I don't think Fun Home would've been as compelling if, for example, the house was described in flowery and ornate prose, rather than just drawn out on a page. The entire book is filled with sorts of symbolism that can only be described in pictures. Like the stuff you mentioned, which I should repeat and elaborate on in excruciating detail to prove that I actually read the post.
    Alison and Bruce, as you've shown in your post, are like two sides of the same coin. Opposites of each other, but still similar or parallel in different ways. Often times, what distinguishes them from each other also tie them together. For example, look at their stylistic differences, which (while polar opposites) both end up breaching gender norms in opposite ways. Or the fact that we can find these little opposites in the first place. It would be much harder to do a side-by-side comparison between Alison and a pencil case than Alison and Bruce, even though we think of the latter pair as diametrically opposed. We're able to find these distinctions in part because the pattern is the same.

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