In an interview, cartoonist Alison Bechdel reveals she also watches “Sex and the City” on loop, and discusses how difficult it can be to write about her family.
Via: workingauthor.com
In a 1985 strip from Bechdel's long-running comic Dykes to Watch Out For one of her characters says she'll only watch a movie if it has at least two female characters who talk to each other about something other than a man. This was termed the "Bechdel test," and it's still frequently used to evaluate whether a movie is really concerned with women's lives (many popular movies fail). Bechdel's public profile rose further in 2006 with the publication of Fun Home, which told the story of her father's life as a closeted gay man, and his eventual suicide. Her new memoir Are You My Mother? came out this week.
The term "Bechdel test" was inspired by a comic you wrote in 1985 — have you seen any improvement in representations of women in pop culture since then?
Things have definitely gotten better, but not as much as one would've hoped.
It was this radical lesbian idea a generation ago, but now it's crept into the mainstream. I'm proud to have my name associated with it. It's about trying to create women who are full-fledged subjects in a way that men have always gotten to be. And there are people now who are doing that. Lena Dunham's stuff [Girls] is great — I'm loving that show.
You anticipated my next question — what are your thoughts on Girls?
I'd been hearing about Lena Dunham for a while, because we went to the same college. But I just saw Tiny Furniture, and was blown away by it. It was just so smart and funny. She has her mother and sister in it — that was hilarious. I love how incredibly brave she is, how she just shows her naked self. In the movie, and in the two episodes I've seen of the show, she shows herself having sex, always in this very unflattering light that women have never done before. Women have never been able to do that and also be the hero.
