Abstract:
This Master’s thesis aims to create a cultural product from the analysis of the graphic novel Fun Home, a family tragicomic , by Alison Bechdel, focusing on elements of identity and sexuality. Fun Home enjoys great recognition in the scenario of autobiographical comic books, mainly because of the way it approaches the theme of sexual identity. In this work, we established a new methodology for analyzing comics, involving meaning-making, that is, the reader’s interpretations of the narrative. Thus, we stipulate two axes of analysis based on the processes of content analysis. The structural axis accounts for the language of the comic book,
dealing with issues of clarity and mystery. The thematic axis analyzes elements that are related to concepts of identity and sexuality. We understand that a person's identity is not fixed but built throughout their life. However, human beings resort to a notion of fixity to narrate themselves, taking some identities as destiny. We also point out that comics, as a marginalized medium, are an excellent tool for communicating about marginalized (sexual or otherwise) identities. This is because comics serve as an accessible means of communication, in which the readers pace the acquisition of images and words according to their own meaning-making processes.
