If you’ve kept up with upcoming movies, you’ve more than likely come across “The Drama,” a new dark romantic-comedy featuring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. The plot centers around an engaged couple and a party game question: What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?
Who would have thought the answer was planning a school shooting?
Audiences for the movie’s early screenings were furious and horrified at the movie’s so-called twist. Not only is there no warning anywhere online or before the movie, but the plot seems to be romanticizing the topic. People online are split on whether or not the movie should be promoted or even shown at all.
Honestly, this movie should never have been made.
From the start, the movie was never made to handle this serious a topic. Naming it “The Drama,” like we’re discussing a new round of gossip or maybe a cheating scandal, is insensitive and tone-deaf. A would-be shooter isn’t drama. It’s a crime. It’s mass murder. It’s horrific. Just because the character backed out does not make the subject any lighter.
There is no comedy in a school shooting, and the death of innocent children and teachers can leave students grappling with life-changing PTSD. In the aftermath, people are fearing for their lives and are unable to reach their loved ones or escape. No matter how light-hearted the interviews are, there has never been comedy in mass tragedy.
I don’t want to live in a school shooter’s head. Students and members of the American population have already spent decades fearing for their safety. Every day, I see people flinch at the slam of a door, the squeak of a boot or the harsh glare of another student. We enter every room and building aware that we may need to escape or fight back, but we’ll never know when.
For every victim of gun violence, there are hundreds who come away more afraid than they were the day before. Families that never feel whole. Friends who never told their friends how much they meant to them. Pets that don’t know why their best friend never came home. I don’t care to see the side of a school shooter, because the story always ends up about them.
Every time a school shooting happens, we don’t hear the victims’ names first, if at all. But the name and a photo of the shooter are plastered on every news station and article.
People speculate about why the shooter did it. They blame the parents, they blame the schools or they blame untreated mental health. What they don’t see and don’t ask is who the victims were and how they can help prevent this beyond hopes and prayers.
I make a point of not knowing the names of school shooters. I don’t know their names, and I don’t need their stories — they don’t deserve my attention. But the victims? The survivors? I will always search for their names, their interests, their dreams. Their families and friends need our support. The survivors need our voices.
If you really claim to care about the youth of America or gun violence, you shouldn’t watch this movie. Don’t talk about it. Don’t share it. Don’t do more than inform others why you won’t be watching.
Instead, spend some time learning what you can do to fight gun violence, and if you have it in your heart, learn the names of our fallen. They’re way more important than two celebrities who’ve lost their heart.
