KUSHNER'S PLAY

There are a few themes I find recurring in the play and I wonder what the common denominator is...

why is there a cross between religions and lgbtq, sickness and, how reality vs fantastical connect to relationships all together.

Punk Rock Feminist Documentary on Netflix: "The Punk Singer"

Hello class! So, his post isn't about "Fun Home" but I just watched a documentary that is beyond relevant the themes that we have discussed in class and the class assigned literature, especially the evolution of feminism and gender roles in history. It is called "The Punk Singer" and it is available to stream on Netflix. It is about Kathleen Hanna, a punk rocker and feminist activist and it explores her life with emphasis on the evolution of feminism, particularly third wave feminism. It taught me a lot I didn't know about the overlap between rock and feminism. Below is the preview:

Normally I don't watch documentaries but "The Punk Singer" completely changed my mind about them. Normally I wouldn't have picked this movie, but this class has been leading me to explore more feminist works of art that I regularly would not be drawn too. I honestly wasn't into any of this stuff until I took this class, but now my mind is like a hamster running on a wheel, the wheel keeps spinning even after we leave class. Anyway, Kathleen Hanna questions gender roles and patriarchy in the same way that Jeanette Winterson and Alison Bechdel do. She seems more fired up than Alison though, more like Jeanette? Her ideas and thoughts are definitely different. I enjoyed it. Anyway, if anyone chooses to watch the documentary (steaming on Netflix)  feel free to comment your thoughts! Enjoy.

My analysis of Fun Home

Bechdel's novel revolves completely around the themes of gender roles, homosexuality and fatherhood of course. I believe that creating this autobiographical novel, she is connecting all of these themes into one piece to show the actual complication of her childhood itself. She goes back and forth in time during the novel to show how and when she realized everything her life was about and how a lot of things in her life were different than other peoples lives. She didn't understand at the time what was going on and she wanted the reader to understand what she was going through in her own perspective if that makes sense to everyone.

FUN HOME

I was trying figure out back in the first chapter she says "would and ideal husband have sex wit teenage boys." Is she trying to say that her dad was a pedophile or that he was just cheating on her mom with men?

Just a Fun (Home) thing to think about

So Fun Home may be my new favorite book .

The idea of a autobiography focusing on someone other than the main character is so interesting to me. But I was thinking a minute ago. How would Alisons life been if Alison lived with her father......and his lover?

That's right! Let's suppose Alison was born and that her mother divorced her father because of gay early enough in alisons childhood that she didn't ever wonder about her mother but instead lived with an openly gay Bruce? How would her life be different? Would her father have lived longer? I'm curious to hear your opinions so feel free to comment your thoughts!

(Also I just found out Fun Home is being made a musical and I am currently listening to a song from it which you can download here <-------. It's about Alisons love for Joan and it's adorable)

(Edit: I read further and even Alison asks this so now I'm even more curious to know y'all's opinions)

Bechdel's use of maps in Fun Home

Ive noticed a theme of maps in Fun Home, mostly to give evidence that her fathers death was a suicide. I'm just curious if there are other reasons why she would use these maps and map points.

Coming Out Process: more diffcult for those who look straight??

For my paper I wrote about how the coming out process is a lifetime journey as opposed to a one time declaration. This is because LGBTQ+ people have to make the decision of whether to come out or not to each new person they meet.

Does anyone know the popular and feminine looking Great British Bake Off Contestant, Ruby Tandoh? She recently came out on twitter. See Ruby's picture above.

This led Bella Qvist, popular LGBTQ+ blogger and journalist (see picture above) to write an article for The Guardian about how coming out is a lifelong issue that is more diffucult and annoying for those who look straight or "cisgender". She argues this is because people assume they are staight/cis because of how they look, and even upon coming out people don't take their sexuality or gender declaratoin seriously because they don't fit the gay sterotype, brushing it off as a phase or something they are doing for attention. Bella paticularly points out that this happens for femme lesbians such Ruby or herself. Whereas people who "look gay," or a fit a gay sterotype have to come out less because people assume they are gay. 

What do you guys think? Is this true or is it equally difficult for everyone? Is she bias based off her own expierience? You can check out the artcle at a link below. I pulled two quotes below that explain the main idea of her article, if you don't have time to look at the article. Personally, I never thought of this point of view before. Maybe because I come from a part of New York where the LGBTQ+ community is very accepted, but if someone tells me they are gay, whether or not they look straight, I don't question it, I honestly did not know anyone did. On the other hand I do recognize that looking straight can create a circumstance where one has to "come out" more often.

1. Qvist states “Despite broadcasting her LGBT status to 52K followers, this won’t be the only time that Ruby has to spell things out. It shouldn’t matter, but it does. Contrary to popular belief, the act of coming out doesn’t just happen once; us gays come out all the time. Especially if we’re feminine looking gay or bi women like Ruby or me, because society assumes we’re straight.” 

2. “All too often “girly” looking women are quizzed about their sexuality at the doors of gay bars, and femme couples who campaign for femme visibility, are assumed to be sisters or doing it for attention. Really not the case, guys. (And what does that say about our view of women and femininity as a whole?)”

This concept can be applied to groups other than femme lesbians, such as to gay men who are masculine, asexuals who dress provocatively for fashion or other reasons, transgenders who don’t fit stereotypes, ect.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/03/ruby-tandoh-came-out-lesbians-bi

My ideas of Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by chapters:

*Writing my first post on the book we just finished reading* Part 1

Chapter One -
We meet Janette and her mother and we see that they have a extremely close relationship that she does not have with her dad (we barley see him in the book). There is a lesbian couple the Janette is fond of, but it not allowed to be around. As a reader we see the reason why Janette was adopted: to be missionary child whom she could train to be a servant of God. Her mother made Janette's fate without her even being able to walk yet. The fairy tales relates to Janette and her mother by Janette being the princess that takes over for the hunchback women, her mother.
Her mother want her to change the world, but it seems like she wants her to save it like she is Jesus or something. Her mother is very straight with religion and it seems like Janette is heading down the same path, as she gets older  but it changes when she needs to go to school.

Chapter two -
In the beginning of this chapter Jeanette's mother hears the radio broadcasts an account of the family life of snails and her mother calls it  abomination. Im glad that Janette doesn't agree with her mother, it tells us that she doesn't agree with everything her mother does and agrees its overreacting. Her "overreacting" was not the first time" since her mother had believed her losing her hearing was talking to god. So her mother never took her to the doctor and she went without hearing until Miss.Jewsbury took her.
Pierre was a old flame the Janette's mother thought was love. It was a story where Janette's mother thought she had feeling for a man in France, but turns out she was just sick. That story was support to be a learn for Janette what you like can be love can just be a sickness. I don't think Janette's mother believes in love, I don't think she loves her husband and I think that she believes in getting married, love god while following the bible and have children or in her case raise.
For the picture of the women I think she did have a relationship with a women since there was a picture in "old flames" and to me a women who is against gays would react worse. She would have told Janette to never go in the story owned by lesbians from the beginning and she would never see Janette when she got older. Her mother is probably ok with gay, maybe one of them, but keeps it in because the bible says no.
We see Jeannette at school and she is so smart and most like a adult then the other kids and even her teacher. I hate how everyone brings her down at school for doing so good.

Chapter three-
I find it hilarious that Janette's mother hears the neighbors might be having sex and she goes crazy. It is like a funny skit, it is bad when a person hears sex but even whose when someone reacts to it. It goes becomes weird when all three women sing a hymn for the benefit of next door.
The fairy tale of the prince look for a wife is telling the story of her and her mother. How her mother is trying to make create Janette the creation for the name of god and she is becoming great but not in her eyes similar to the book the prince got, Frankenstein.