Leading graphic novelist Alison Bechdel to speak on campus
Described as one of the most important graphic novelists working today, she is known for "Dykes to Watch Out For"and a famous test of gender representation in movies
Alison Bechdel, an American cartoonist and graphic novelist known for her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, will speak on the ñ campus this month.
At the top of the page: One of Bechdel's comic strips.Above:Alison Bechdel.
“An Evening With Alison Bechdel,” is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. in the University Memorial Center Glenn Miller Ballroom. Tickets—which are $2.50 for students, $5 for faculty and staff and $7.50 for the general public—can be .
Bechdel, who has been described as one of the most important graphic novelists working today, is also the creator of Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, Are You My Mother?A Comic Drama, The Secret to Superhuman Strength and the now-famous “Bechdel Test.”
The Bechdel Test emanated from a Dykes to Watch Out For strip and is a measure of the representation of women in movies. In the strip, a character says she will watch a movie only if it has at least two women who talk to each other about a topic other than men.
Later, that metric became known as the Bechdel Test, yielding lists showing that, for instance, Breakfast at Tiffany’s fails the test, whereas movies gaining a passing grate include Frozen, Hidden Figures and Mad Max: Fury Road.
’s Fun Home is described as a graphic memoir of her coming of age with a closeted, gay father. The work was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and it won the Eisner—the most-prestigious award in the comics industry—for best reality-based work. Fun Home was adapted as a musical that won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015.
’s visit is supported by ñ’s Department of English, Graduate School, College of Arts and Sciences, and College of Engineering and Applied Science.