The Color Black In Alison Bechdel's Fun Home

Fun Home is a graphic novel containing both comedy and tragedy portraying the childhood of the author, Alison Bechdel. Each panel and detail in her book was carefully drawn out and created with precision. Every emotion expressed, color used, and word said was drawn in for a reason Bechdel had in mind. Making everything in her graphic novel intertwine with one another, colors match with characters and emotions mixed in with the setting. If any part were to be altered or removed, several panels would not convey the same sentiment, therefore affecting a whole chapter and consequently, the tragicomedy itself.

If one thread could “unravel the whole sweater” as Bechdel said, it would be the use of the color black. In her graphic novel, Bechdel shapes and shifts black into many representations. Most commonly, her use of shadows in the background and sometimes the main focus of a panel. One example was when Bruce Bechdel was in the shadows watching his three children under the christmas tree (page 13). The panel conveys that Bruce would have brief moments of joy being around his family,

The Bechdel family ran a funeral home business, which meant dealing with embalming and seeing dead bodies on a daily basis. Being surrounded by death, black is a color to represent the absence of emotion. When Bruce calls Alison in to hand him scissors while he was embalming someone, Alison appears as a black shadow then steps out into the light with a black shirt on. Without displaying any sign of emotion, she leaves right after. When Alison receives the phone call about her father's death, she kept a still face and said “Is he dead?”, without expressing any emotion. A subtle use of the black phone color hints at the lack of emotion. Black exhibits the characters mental and physical state, the use of bright and colorful colors would alter reader's emotional involvement while