Drama

Way back in sixth grade I read Drama as one of the required reading books for school. It was fresh off the presses at the time and it was the first time we had been offered a graphic novel as choice summer reading and a majority of students in my class read it. Of all the things that we discussed when reading this at the age of eleven, the sexual orientation of the characters was not a hot topic. It was most likely brought up at some point, however, my memory implores me to recount how jealous we were that our middle school plays were so mundane in comparison to what was presented in the book. The most shocking detail was that the school ran a production in which two characters kissed at all - that was the hardest obstacle to overcome as middle schoolers reading this. At no point, did we feel an agenda was being shoved down our throats.

The way in which Telgemeier presents the very concept of homosexuality, and that brief moment of the of so scary "cross-dressing," is nothing but normal, and that is something I found rather refreshing while reading. Typically, scenes such as the ones we see between Callie and Jesse and Callie and Justin, in which the twins separately reveal their sexuality to her, are often portrayed as key plot point; it becomes a turning point in which we see the height of a characters arc or development in the work. This is not how these moments operated in Drama. Rather, the were recognized as big, deeply personal moments, but they were not the big culminating moment that defined the story. It was two to three pages, at most, in which the relationships between the characters progressed, but it never was dwelled on as being a problem for Callie or as life-altering for the characters life circumstances. 

Although, the moment at the eighth grade formal in which Callie is hurt by being ditched by Jesse halfway through and she is upset at learning he is not interested in woman, it does not become a defining moment for her, it maintains focus on Jesse and her support for him. She does not get upset that he is gay, rather she gets upset that she was not upfront with her earlier on. Yes, that is derived from her wishing she could have avoided the pain of the experience in the first place, she still responds from a place of having been denied transparency and that being the main factor of her anger felt more real. She does not try and convince him otherwise, she does not immediately start outing him to everyone she encounters, and, in the end, she apologizes for not taking the time to accept him and acting with her feelings instead. 

All this to say, Telgemeier makes a point to set out, this is a factor in these two characters identity, however we are going to focus on all the other things they are, not just their sexual orientation, and that I think is what scares people the most about this novel. It is just made so normal and real, it does not rely on stereotypes to 'identify' these two characters, it shows positive acceptance (even partial indifference) towards the information, and it truly is just a book of a middle school girl trying her best in the school musical - two of her friends just happen to not be straight.