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| Alison Bechdel |
“I'm not that good of a drawer. I don't know how people just draw stuff out of their head. I'm always creating schemes. If I have to draw someone sitting in a chair, I have to go find a chair, sit in it, and take a picture of myself sitting in it.” ~ Allison Bechdel
“What would happen if we spoke the truth?” ~ Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic
“The writer's business is to find the shape in unruly life and to serve her story. Not, you may note, to serve her family, or to serve the truth, but to serve the story.” ~ Alison Bechdel, Are You My Mother?
The first time I came across Alison Bechdel’s name it wasn’t for her art or writing or the popular musical: The Fun Home, but a rule associated with her name: The Bechdel Test. The Bechdel Test was popularized by cartoonist Alison Bechdel in her comic strip called Dykes to Watch Out For: The Rule (1985). What many people don’t know is the 10 frame strip was inspired by a conversation she had with a friend, Liz Wallace.
For those not familiar with the Bechdel Test, it has three criteria: 1) it has to have at least two women in it, who 2) talk to each other, about 3) something besides a man. Since the publication, the Test has expanded to state the two women have to have a name.
Bechdel’s 10 frame strip, shook things up. It gave people a tool for looking at the media critically.
As an educator, I use the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media quite frequently when talking about gender stereotypes. In 2014, the Institute reviewed 120 films produced internationally from 2010 - 2013. The found only 31% of the named characters were females, and only 23% of the films had a female protagonist or co-protagonist. Hanah Anderson and Matt Daniels took movie gender analysis to the next level by analyzing 2,005 commercially successful films. They found out that 82% of the films, men had two of the top speaking roles, while women had the most dialogue in on 22% of films.
Her test was my initial framework used in my graduate work. Specifically, choosing books to review how healthy women's friendships are shown in literature. My pile of literature was small compared to the mountain of books illustrating how women tear each other down. Many of the books went to the mountain because the main character didn't have women friends or they only talked about romance.
What the Living Do
by Marie Howe
Johnny, the kitchen sink has been clogged for days, some
utensil probably fell down there.
And the Drano won’t work but smells dangerous, and the
crusty dishes have piled up
waiting for the plumber I still haven’t called. This is the
everyday we spoke of.
It’s winter again: the sky’s a deep, headstrong blue, and the
sunlight pours through
the open living-room windows because the heat’s on too high in
here and I can’t turn it off.
For weeks now, driving, or dropping a bag of groceries in the
street, the bag breaking,
I’ve been thinking: This is what the living do. And yesterday,
hurrying along those
wobbly bricks in the Cambridge sidewalk, spilling my coffee
down my wrist and sleeve,
I thought it again, and again later, when buying a hairbrush:
This is it.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.
What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss—we want more and more and then more of it.
But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store, and I’m gripped by a cherishing so deep
for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless:
I am living. I remember you.
I keep coming back to how Alison Bechdel was inspired and that she continues to act on this type of inspiration. Much of Alison’s art is influenced by her personal life, family secrets, pain and trauma that she carries. Somehow she courageously picks up the pen and draws. These acts allow her to contemplate and heal. I believe that when she shares them with us, it also allows us a place to heal and talk about heart issues.
Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you called that yearning.
What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want
whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss—we want more and more and then more of it.
But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,
say, the window of the corner video store, and I’m gripped by a cherishing so deep
for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I’m speechless:
I am living. I remember you.
I keep coming back to how Alison Bechdel was inspired and that she continues to act on this type of inspiration. Much of Alison’s art is influenced by her personal life, family secrets, pain and trauma that she carries. Somehow she courageously picks up the pen and draws. These acts allow her to contemplate and heal. I believe that when she shares them with us, it also allows us a place to heal and talk about heart issues.
How often are we inspired by a conversation with a friend or a stranger? Or are inspired to use art to heal from pain and trauma - or share our art with others to help others heal? How often do we act on the inspiration? And, what holds us back from picking up the pen or the paint brush or mixing bowl or flower seeds or the...?
