NOW, IF TWO OF THIS YEAR'S FEMALE WINNERS CAN TALK, AND NOT ABOUT MEN ... Congratulations to Alison Bechdel, documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer (
The Act of Killing) and
the rest of this year's John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" winners.
No Randall Munroe, No Peace.
ReplyDeleteThey're in such different fields that it's almost like comparing two vastly different things.
ReplyDeleteBut where are the people who are being honored for the "verdant" part of the "more just, verdant, and peaceful world" mission?
ReplyDeleteThat's Bechdel, for the color scheme of Fun Home.
ReplyDeleteYay for Sam Hunter! Such an incredibly talented playwright. I thought his play "The Whale" was fantastic (okay, I'm biased, as it was at my theater), and am so excited for his play "Pocatello" this season (also biased, also at my theater, but I love the script).
ReplyDeleteAnd Bechdel's been at it for decades.
ReplyDeleteYeah. Munroe is a treasure, but Bechdel's work is truly deserving of the "genius" moniker. I often say that Fun Home and Are You My Mother? are the closest the genre has ever gotten to Maus, but the truth is that they may be even better.
ReplyDeleteWhile I'm not suggesting "Well, I've never heard of it" is a criticism -- that's all very shithead Frank Sinatra trying to be a bullyboy to Harlan Ellison -- it's just sort of weird how the Bechdel Test was written in 1985 but just in the last two years has anyone really been paying attention to her beyond a pretty small niche. First I ever heard of her was about that long ago -- of course, I'm not a comics guy in any event. I'm all for the 20 year overnight success, but the love for her seems overcompensating for years of not paying attention.
ReplyDeletePoint of Semi-Personal Privilege: Alison Bechdel is both amazing and amazingly talented. Very very happy for her.
ReplyDeleteHoly god Sue is so dead right!!!! Sam is a genius. The whale blew my mind!! Also as a person from the non-green, non-rainy part of the Pacific Northwest who is about his age, oh my god do his plays speak to the deepest part if my heart. He's also a high school classmate of a few of my friends (I majored in theatre in his hometown so of course the townies knew him). I see Rest in a few weeks here in Chicago at victory gardens and I'm so excited!!!
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