The Casting of the Other as Actors in a Play - Alison and Bruce
In Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel, Alison and Bruce have a unique relationship that is based on what they can get from one another. This relationship is shaped in this way, specifically, when Alison is young. Importantly, as Alison grows older and more mature, her dad seems to view her more as an equal. Yet, when she is young, their relationship often appears to be fake, almost as if it being acted out in a play or television show (which is ironic considering Fun Home became a musical after it's publishing). Each person attempts to get the other to fill a role they see the other in, while neither conforms to this ideal.
When she was young, Alison cast Bruce in the loving-father-figure role. In the opening scene of the graphic novel, Alison is drawn playing "'airplane'" with Bruce (Bechdel 3-4). Alison's portrayal of Bruce as a loving father is highlighted in the very first line which reads: "Like many fathers..." (Bechdel 3). This direct comparison to other fathers, who care for and love their children, represents the role Alison was attempting to get her father to live up to in her early years. Unfortunately, Bruce is neither caring nor loving. He treats his children more like furniture than human beings, and only fits the fatherly role in rare instances in Alison's younger years, when she seems to thrust it upon him (Bechdel 14).
If Alison's attempt is to fit Bruce into the perfect father role, than Bruce's aim is to cast Alison as the perfect daughter. Bruce dictates Alison's wardrobe and bedroom furnishings for much of her young life. He ensures she is presentable to the outside world as a shining daughter and designs her room to match the rest of his house. One example of Bruce's control over Alison's clothing is on page 15 of the book, when he orders her to march back to her room and change into her "yellow turtleneck" so the necklines of her dress and undershirt match (Bechdel 15).
In addition to controlling her outward appearance, Bruce also uses Alison as an extension of himself, casting her in the role of a Mini-Bruce. He orders her around and uses her to help him care for his victorian home. Most of the things Alison is seen doing can be easily waved off as chores, but these instances appear so often, with Bruce peering over her shoulder, that a larger implication can be seen. Take the instance where Alison is holding up a mirror against the wall for example (Bechdel 14). Alison is acting as Bruce's arms, allowing him to step back and view the mirror against the wallpaper and with the other furniture. Bruce often extends the roles he can play in their 'show,' by casting Alison as himself.
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 8 June 2006.
Hey Cadence! I just wanted to start off by mentioning how I really enjoyed the way you treat Alison and Bruce less like a father and daughter with a simple conflict and more like two people constantly staging each other. In particular, your idea that Bruce does not just control Alison, but scripts her into his world as both the perfect daughter and a smaller version of himself. Overall, this was a great take and you fleshed it out very well! Great blog Cadence!
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of them portraying themselves in their preferred light is a way of them preserving their relationships in the present and in past. Bruce controlling what Alison wore to make her more feminine protected how he viewed her, and Alison keeping her father's death in the frame of suicide protected how she thinks he felt about her. Way to attack this tricky topic!
ReplyDeleteHey Cadence! I thought the comparison to actors in a play was a really fitting way to describe their relationship especially since the whole book kind of has that feeling of everyone performing for each other. The detail about Bruce making Alison go change so her necklines match was a good example too because it is such a small thing but it really shows how much of her appearance he was trying to control. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteThe way you put their relationship does seem very fitting--- as an actor, it does seem like they are two directors putting on a show of their life, ordering each other around to play different roles and do different things. That specific scene of Alison holding the mirror is quite literally the kind of role of a run crew technician. It's interesting to see how the transactional-ity of their relationship exhibits itself like this, and if it fully applied to both of their ideologies. Maybe Bruce eventually committed suicide because the "actors" in his life stopped playing the roles he cast them in; i.e., his wife, divorcing him, or Alison coming out. Great analogy, Cadence!
ReplyDeleteGreat blog Cadence! Comparing the characters in the book as actors in a play is a very smart and fitting way to describe their relationships and dynamics throughout the books. I see this especially in the relation between Bruce and Alison where Bruce and Alison see themselves in each other. I really like this blog!
ReplyDeleteCadence, the stilted air that pervades the whole book, but was most apparent to me in the beginning, definitely fits with this framing you present of acting in two seperate plays. I wish I was well versed in the plays Bechdel mentions her mother being in, because that would add so many layers. Alas. I think it just gets at Alison's whole criticism of Bruce's performative nature and art. But acting doesn't always have to feel unnatural--perhaps only played up, staged, as you highlight with Bruce dictating what Alison should wear in order to appear more feminine. Wondiferous post!
ReplyDeleteOn some level--and it is true that this is how it goes with some parents and children--it seems like Bruce can simply relate to Alison more once she nears adulthood. He seems mostly annoyed and frustrated by younger kids and the messes they make, their aesthetic choices, their general "difficulty." To follow your analogy, it's much harder to work with child actors than adult actors--or maybe we should say it's harder to *direct* child actors. The Bechdel kids clearly don't enjoy being "directed" in their father's show, but once Alison gets older, we notice that Bruce isn't trying to direct her to the same extent. Or, maybe, the *form* of his "directing" shifts from telling her where to stand, what to wear, how to hold the mirror to something maybe more benign: "read this book, and let's talk about it when you've read it." Even if Bruce is a little bit of a control freak in terms of pushing these books on Alison, the relationship is more mutual this time--she's pleased to see that he's reading _Flying_ by Kate Millett on her recommendation. And something about controlling someone's reading list doesn't seem AS controlling as the earlier Bruce is depicted--there's still the openness to the reader herself having her own subjective response to the book, even if Alison feels bad that she isn't enjoying _Ulysses_ as much as Bruce had hoped she would. It still seems a lot more hopeful of a connection that him using her as an extension of his arms to position the mirror she doesn't even like.
ReplyDeleteI think you did a good job of comparing Alison and Bruce as actors in which Bruce was trying to play the role of a director, micromanaging every aspect of the family to make them seem like the most perfect, normal and relatable family (in the eyes of a family sitcom director from the 1980s). The closest comparison I could give would be the sitcom "The Brady Bunch" which i also recall in one of Alison's memories, her saying that she despised that show as they were seen as "too perfect". Great Job Cadence!
ReplyDeleteHi Cadence! Your point about Alison and Bruce casting their values onto each other, though neither conforms, illustrates the complexity of their relationship. Alison wants Bruce to be a loving father, while Bruce wants Alison to embody the perfect daughter onto whom he can project his suppressed femininity. Their failure to address each other’s needs keeps them from connecting on a more intimate level. Good post!
ReplyDeleteHi Cadence!! I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I really liked the topic you chose. I never really thought of Fun Home as sort of a play, but after reading your post, I think that it could be a hundred percent. Alison and Bruce could definitely be directors in the other person's show, like one man/women show, because they both sort of control the other, but I do think that Bruce definitely controls Alison more by making her dress more femininely. Good Job!!!
ReplyDeleteI think framing their relationship as mutually beneficial and convenient makes a lot of sense. When we find out Alison's mother knew that he had been cheating on her with men, its difficult to understand why she would stay with him and let that go unacknowledged for so long. Considering they were from a more conservative time, it makes sense the mother would value having a husband as financial security as well as for societal expectations rather than possibly being a single mother. Likewise, Bruce benefits from her because he has a "beard" (a fake straight spouse so they are perceived by society as heterosexual), and he is able to still sleep with men on the side. This connect to his similar pros of having a daughter, keeping up with the expected appearances. I think this really shows the complex nature of their relationship, but I cant help but wish we would've gotten more from the mother. I kinda wish we got some of this in her point of view
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