Coming out of the Fun House: Interextuality of Watergate

The graphic novel Fun House, written by Alison Bechdel, is an interesting memoir on the tale of a homosexual and her attempts to relate with the rest of her family, specifically her father. Throughout the story, she discusses how she became aware of her identity as a homosexual and how her father was at first a closet homosexual but later marries her mother. And with this she points to frequent references to famous literary and media sources. But perhaps the most interesting example is her use of intertextuality with the events of the Watergate Scandal and her identifying herself as a lesbian.

Throughout the novel, Alison finds herself conflicted on her identity and whether or not to present it to her parents. Rather, the information seems sensitive, similar to the cover-up made by Nixon and his aides. In fact, Alison sometimes acts as if she's done something wrong, handling her situation carefully and trying to say little on it, similar to how a cover-up was attempted on the break-in of the hotel and then the attempts to release only enough information to keep matters at ease, rather than release the full details. In fact, similar to how the author is hesitant to reveal her sexual identity, her father acts similarly as well, not revealing anything about his previous sexual matters until later on in the story.


Since both Alison and her father don't say much about each other's sexual lives, it takes some time for them to tell each other, the eventually this build-up leads to them confessing to each other some information on their sexualities, similar to the pressure that Nixon was feeling leading to his forced handover of the infamous tapes used to record conversations he made with his staff. Eventually, both revelations lead to a downfall that is felt at personal levels. Two weaks after when Alison reveals to her father that she is a lesbian, her father dies when he is hit by a truck, something she thinks may have been a suicide attempt. When Nixon is forced to tell details over the Watergate scandal, he resigns himself from the presidency. Similar to how Nixon resigns, Alison's father "resigns" himself when he learns about her sexuality and even comments on his.


When examines the similarities between the events of the Watergate scandal and Alison's confession of her sexuality, one can see a trend in these events. One could argue that this takes a new meaning to "coming out of the closet." While the details are different, the similarities are striking and make the events easier to understand for most people. And for that, Bechdel has put a good use to intertextuality.

Of Animals and Maus

Perhaps one of the most books I've read during the past few weeks is the graphic novel The Complete Maus. The story is about the attempts of Art Spiegelman to chronicle his father's story of how he survived the events of the Nazi rise to power in Germany, the start of World War II, and ultimately the disturbing and sad events of the Holocaust. The unique thing about the story however may be the use of animal imagery.

As mentioned previously, Maus is a graphic novel. However, how the characters are portrayed as is an interesting twist to the story. In the graphic novel, those of a certain nation, religion or heritage may be portrayed as a certain animals. For instance, Jews are portrayed as mice, Germans are portrayed as cats, Americans are portrayed as dogs, and Poles are portrayed as pigs. Even some minor countries such as the French are portrayed in their own animals, in this case being frogs.

While it is not abnormal to have animals as characters in comics and graphic novels, the animals he selects for each nationality is perhaps what stands out more, as they can be considered a visual message. The use of mice as the Jews and cats as Germans may represent the iconic cat chasing mice image, one that is commonly seen in books, comics, and cartoons. And like such, it shows that the Jews are literally being chased after by the Germans, as if they were on the hunt. In addition, it goes a step further with the Americans as being represented by dogs going after the Germans, showing the age-old chase between cats and dogs.

In addition the types of animals also represent some of the characteristics of the ethnic groups. For instance, Jews may be represented as mice due to the fact that they are forced to hide in places such as hidden rooms in walls, or attics to escape the Germans, who like cats, can be quite cunning and fast when hunting their victims. Even the Poles fall under this as well, as their representation as pigs may show how easy-going the Poles may have been to the problem with Jewish persecution and also represents the agricultural lifestyle they live.

Personally, I find this graphic novel very interesting for this use, as it makes an easier understanding for the events that took place. Although the events of the Holocaust shall remain an important part of humanity, it's interesting to show the events in the manner Spiegelman has shown us. It may even make it easier for future generations to understand the shocking events that took place.