Drama

    Raina Telgemeier tells an enthralling story of middle schoolers in her graphic novel Drama. With “drama” being in the title of the novel, she was able to capture this perfectly in her characters. This drama is especially unique because it was not just any drama, it was a middle school theater drama. For example, there is a scene where all the kids are taken to the costume closet and West and Bonnie are caught kissing behind some clothes. After they are caught, Jesse says, “You’re right it is scary down here” and Callie says, “You guys done?” (Telgemeier 110). This scene is very middle school drama filled because there seems to be an element where Bonnie and West wanted the other kids to find them. They wanted to seem mature in that they were going to find a quiet place to share a kiss. Jesse and Bonnie’s responses were a funny depiction of middle school humor as well. Referring to them kissing as “scary” and saying that they did not want to see them kiss is a comical response. The way these kids react to each other is goofy. But this goofiness is not only seen in the dialogue but on the facial expressions of the characters. I love the way Telgemeier portrays Callie with her drawings. She makes her especially silly compared to the other characters. I saw her goofy expressions a lot on pages 151 and 152 as she was trying to make the confetti in the canon work. She says, “I can make it work, Loren, I promise!!” while holding her head with her mouth open like she’s screaming and her eyes are crossed dramatically (152). I like Callie’s goofy depiction and I think it is helpful for middle schoolers to read. There's a lot of self-consciousness in middle school but Callie does now show much of this. She is unapologetically passionate and goofy and I think this book is also an amazing portrait of cute and well-intentioned self-expression.  

    Another realistic middle school drama scene is when Jesse leaves Callie at the dance to talk to West. On page 201 there is a slow dancing scene between Jesse and Callie. In the caricatures, Callie seems to be pretty persistent in the slow dancing but Jesse is clearly nervous. I remember slow dancing in middle school to be a very awkward time of the dance. There was so much hype about it but after the song ended kids would go right back to energetic dancing. But, Telgemeier’s slow dance was different. Jesse could tell that Callie liked him and it was a moment where he knew he could not lead her on any longer and that he needed to be honest with her. He realized that he actually liked West and left Callie for two hours which was immature, but most middle schoolers are immature. Jesse is seen as mature throughout the whole novel so him making the decision to leave Callie was out of character but also understandable. He was nervous about himself and upsetting Callie so he decided to avoid it for a few hours. The complicated drama in this simple novel is a brilliant depiction of how the middle school mind works. Their world is straightforward, go to school and go to rehearsal, but Telgemeier makes their lives so complicated, as middle schoolers often do. And this is exactly what Telgemeier does in her graphic novel. The scenes are simple and pretty easy to understand but her drawings and the way her characters express themselves in their appearance and dialogue can be so detailed and complex.