Fun Home Discussion; Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues

If you completed your test questions for Fun Home, please submit these now. Open book exam questions are due today. No late work accepted after announcements. Please upload your files to our Google Classroom or turn in by hand/or printed in the in-box today.

Before our discussion on the novel (look! a synthesis!), please take 15 minutes to read the following short articles on the book and note your reaction/thoughts about the articles:

• Freshmen Skipping Fun Home for Religious Reasons in The Chronicle by Claire Ballentine
• Duke Freshmen Boycott Acclaimed Graphic Novel: in The Daily Dot, written by Aja Romano
• The Duke Freshmen by Jacob Brogan
• Listen Up Duke Freshmen by Emily Shire for The Daily Beast

At 7:50, we will discuss Fun Home. Here are the discussion questions:

• Were the Duke freshmen justified in refusing to read Fun Home? Discuss. Consider "safe spaces" on college campuses...you'll be there soon. Share your reactions/thoughts to the articles you read this morning.
• How does the allusion to Camus and his philosophy about suicide & the Myth of Sisyphus play a role in the book? What themes might it suggest or foreshadow?
• Why might Bechdel allude to The Adams Family (by Charles Adams)? What might she be suggesting by this allusion?
• What connections might Bechdel be making between the story her grandmother tells and the provincial life of her father (pg. 40-42)?
• How does Bechdel develop her mother's character effectively in the novel? [Hint: how does Bechdel use allusions to make connections or assumptions about her parents?]
• What might be the connection between the chapter An Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Ernest?
• Why might Bechdel allude to the classic epic The Odyssey & James Joyce's Ulysses in the graphic novel? 
• Note the structure of the graphic novel. Strip away the pictures and one-liners in the panels, what we seem to have is a personal essay. The narrative is driven by the use of 1st person POV captions. In your opinion, would the novel have as much emotional impact if it were a traditional memoir? Why or why not? Consider the role of graphics in pop culture/post-modern texts. What role does it serve--or does it distract from the narrative?
• Should this book (and other books that deal with gender or homosexuality be censored? What age might be most appropriate to read/view this sort of material? Consider your own exposure to LGBTQ works (or lack of works) in school--should something change? 
• View this novel through the lens of a feminist or gender critic. What do you think?
• Other...

Fun Home, the Musical (premiered 2013; clip from the 2015 Tony Awards); Behind the Scenes with Alison Bechdel. The show won best musical, best book of a musical, best original score, best performance by an actor in a musical (Michael Cerveris), and best direction (Sam Gold). 

Read about Eve Ensler. She is a contemporary playwright, actor, and writer. Then spend 10 minutes reading the first few pages of "The Vagina Monologues" on your own. Afterward, we will begin screening Eve Ensler's one-woman show.

Portfolio work: Many theatrical pieces tend to examine or push topics that we, as a culture, are unwilling or unable to discuss. Monologues help establish character (particularly character backstory or exposition) and can be powerfully performed. Consider writing about "that which must not be talked about" in an honest and powerful way. This is not the time for parody, so much as an exploration about what it means to be fully human in our contemporary culture. Humor, of course, is welcome (and often necessary) when writing about topics that no one writes/talks about...

Choose a premise for a play where you will ask at least 3 other people about a single specific topic. This can be modeled on "The Vagina Monologues" or any other idea. For example, examine the issue of bullying, sexual orientation, poverty, religion, body image, the arts, technology (internet/cell-phone use, etc.) and use your interview to write a collection (or even one) monologue. Remember that monologues are meant to be performed on stage in front of a live audience.

HOMEWORK: Complete your reading of The Vagina Monologues. Begin reading Hedwig & the Angry Inch. Bring both scripts back with you to our next class. You may return Fun Home (or Wilderness Tips) if you are done with it.