What would you do?
I made sure to see The Drama at my local beloved movie theater on the film’s opening weekend nearly two weeks ago in order to avoid spoilers, and I’m still thinking about it. Still, I’m not sure if I really liked it or not.
Although I’ve read lots of insightful writing on here about the new movie and am putting some of my favorites below (I’ve genuinely enjoyed reading people’s thoughts on the movie), I’m not writing about it this week to unlock how I felt about it … beyond sharing that I liked that the movie made me THINK.
A few days after I saw The Drama, I finished reading Celeste Ng’s 2017 novel Little Fires Everywhere for my graduate class on the suburbs in American literature and film.
Once I finished the book, I kept turning over lines and scenes from it in my head—just like I had been doing in my mind since I saw The Drama, new interpretations of the novel’s plot interrupted me on my lunch break walk and the ways dialogue was delivered re-emerged in my memory while taking my dog out.
This is probably just what art should do, but it feels like it has been a while since recent mainstream releases (movies, TV, books from the last 10 years) left me with more questions than answers.
I connect The Drama and Little Fires Everywhere because I think they both raise the question of “what would you do?” when there isn’t really a clear answer.
Or maybe it’s more like the answers these works stir within are really uncomfortable.
For example, een though we’re supposed to be skeptical of Elena Richardson, a lot of us would at least consider crossing some of the moral and ethical lines that she does to help her best friend gain custody back of the baby she truly believes belongs to her.
The novel highlights not just the at-times devastating lack of options and support available to pregnant women and new mothers in the United States, but it also brings up larger questions of motherhood, parental custody, and the bond between parent and child that are still lingering in the back of my mind.
While I wouldn’t give either a perfect five-star rating, Little Fires Everywhere and The Drama still continue to haunt me a little. “I’d do anything for you” is a common enough expression of love that it sometimes loses its meaning. When does “anything” have its limits?
I tend to grumble about the state of art and media nowadays. I think there’s good reason for it, and it’s healthy to be critical in a world where 3 of my local movie theaters have closed since 2026 began, and people are using AI to create soulless content that some might call “art” at the expense of our environment, our livelihoods, our privacy, and future generations, destroying what it means to be human for nothing. On top of this, it feels like there has been a disturbing amount of reboots and spinoffs in the past five years, yet almost none of them have been good.
While The Drama was certainly far from perfect, it is exciting and hopeful that a big company like A24 wants to invest in original storytelling that makes viewers sit with difficult questions. It’s encouraging to think about the success of Little Fires Everywhere long before it, with the novel released almost a decade ago now, and to be reminded of the power of thoughtful storytelling, even when—especially when it’s uncomfortable.
Ahh, now I’ll be reminiscing on my most favorite moments of true creativity and meaningful storytelling… :)
