Drama

 During our class discussion on Monday about Drama, one of the topics of discussion was this quote from an interview with the author Raina Telegemeir:

Did you approach writing and drawing these characters any differently than you would straight characters?

Definitely not. Characters are characters, and I think characters’ personalities are there on the page. I don’t draw graphic novels about characters unless they grab me somehow and unless they are specific. There are a few times in the editorial process when the question came up: Does it need to be a set of characters? Does it need to be twin brothers? Can it be just one character? And I said “No, this is what they are and this is what the story is.” It was very important to me.

This statement really stood out to me and helped me understand exactly what Telegemeir’s intentions were when she created Drama. She was not trying to push some agenda like so many have accused her of. She just wanted to tell the story of these characters, some of whom were gay. Because we have grown up in a society that sees being gay as being “abnormal” we are all aware of the preconceived notions and stereotypes associated with them, even if we do not hold them ourselves. That does not make it right to have these stereotypes, but it does not mean we are free from them.  She wanted to portray these kids as individual kids, not as some kind of avatar for a whole community. 

Another interesting aspect of that quote is the idea that somebody in the publishing process questioned why the story needed multiple queer characters. Clearly, the person who challenged this did not read the book close enough. Justin, Jesse, and West are all very different portrayals of how one comes to terms with their own identity. Justin seems to have always known and is comfortable enough to make it public, at least to those he trusts. Jesse on the other hand keeps his feelings quiet, perhaps out of worry of judgment or being too similar to his brother. Although he is a much less important character in the story, even West’s journey to understanding himself is unique, with him not really knowing what label he would put himself under at the end. The diverse ways that Drama portrays queer identity gives it a sense of realism and has probably helped many people in its target audience come to terms with their own identities.