Alison Bechdel's Fun Home Analysis

Scott Mccloud’s discussion in Chapter 7 identifies comics as one of the various forms of “self-expression and communication” (Mccloud 162). Mccloud elaborates on his ideology by denoting art is anything that does not involve reproduction or survival (Mccloud 165). For example, making music or dancing is not imperative for our survival, however they strengthen our mental statues and overall health (i.e. exercise). Lastly, Scott states there are six steps that every work in every medium will follow astutely; “idea, form, idiom, structure, craft, and surface (Mccloud 170). Subsequently, Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, follows the aforementioned path, designating her memoir as a comic, as well as a form of high art. Bechdel repetitively redrew her family photos, in …show more content…
One of the most profound pieces being of Roy, her babysitter, and one of her father’s ex-lovers. The cross-hatching over the sculpted body of the young Greek-god look alike is radiant and seductive. “The blurriness of the photo gives it an ethereal, painterly quality. Roy is gilded with morning sea light. His hair is an aureole” (Bechdel 100-101). The watermarked background is art itself, symbolizing Bechdel’s mixed emotions, creating a feeling of curiosity. The light and dark shadows embodied the yin and yang of life. The light relishing he good times and the Bechdels shared. The dark shadows symbolizing the sinister future and past. Bechdel is following Mccloud’s six steps. Bechdel expresses the “emotions and purposes of the work’s content,” when she states, “ My father juggled his public appearance and private reality, the evidence is simultaneously hidden and reveal” (Mccloud 170, Bechdel 101). The purpose is to provide evidence of her father’s hidden