The Drama Around The Drama: Breaking Down the Brainrot Internet Discourse
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? That’s the question at the heart of The Drama — the dark comedy by Kristoffer Borgli starring Zendaya as reformed character Emma and Robert Pattison as Charlie, a “little British freak.”
From the trailer alone, it’s clear that Emma has done something pretty bad — even worse than forgetting to pay for a bag on the Tesco self-checkout machine (the guilt still keeps me up at night).
But nothing can really prepare you for the actual revelation, which, spoiler alert, is that Emma planned to commit a school shooting.
Given this is such a contentious topic, especially in the US, the discourse mill has been working overtime. But the onslaught of think-pieces, Instagram infographics, and X posts on The Drama are going places I never really expected them to.
Has the world really gone mad? Or are we all suffering from collective brainrot? Or, worst of all, am I actually wrong in my assessment of the film? Let’s dive in.
Who Is The Real Villain Of The Drama?
One thing I’ve noticed is that viewers and other journalists seem very forthcoming with their thoughts on other characters’ flaws — whether that be Charlie for being in love with the “mirage” of Emma rather than her true self or Mike for being “inherently passive” when it comes to partner Rachel’s behaviour.
However, it is Rachel (Alana Haim) who is getting the most heat. Her own dark secret, which was that she locked a mentally disabled child in an RV, was “downplayed”, according to one X user. Building upon this, Instagram commentator Celestial Sylvia pointed out that Rachel’s action was “glossed over.” Moreover, she noted how, unlike Emma, Rachel actually followed through with her plan and didn’t help the police find the boy to save her own skin.
Meanwhile, commentator @x0starlight classed Rachel as a “pick-me” girl, and argued that “at her core, Rachel wants to claim moral superiority over Emma to feel like she is better than Emma.” She also claimed that Rachel was “up-playing her outrage.”
Similarly, film critic Anmol Jawal said on X that Rachel is “possibly the most insufferable character I have seen in a film in recent months,” while another X user said her character was “a perfect portrayal of how people weaponise morality.”
So, Should Emma Be Forgiven?
To be clear, I’m not going to stand as Rachel’s cheerleader here. She’s objectively annoying and a terrible person herself. I agree that she has “pick-me” traits, that her own actions were abhorrent, and that she never really liked Emma in the first place.
However, trying to say what she did was worse than Emma doesn’t wash with me. If there were a scale of all the bad actions you could do in the world, systematically planning a mass murder over a long period of time is very much up there at the top. It’s literally an act of terrorism.
Locking a disabled person in an RV closet is pretty close to the top, too, but there’s something especially sinister about not just wanting to literally kill people, but planning it so thoroughly. Two things can exist simultaneously: yes, Rachel is a bad person who delights in instigating a pile-on, and yes, what Emma did was unforgivable. As much as it pains me to admit it, Rachel’s horrified reaction to the secret is actually pretty valid, especially when one considers what happened to her cousin.
I understand and appreciate that these critics and viewers are trying to add nuance to the conversation, but in my opinion, some actions are just inherently bad. If we don’t draw a line somewhere, how will we even be able to conceive of what’s right and wrong? Sure, Emma shows remorse, but I feel like she only does so because she finally got accepted socially, not necessarily because she thought gun violence was bad. Her activism is, in my opinion, highly performative in the same way people are calling Rachel’s reaction performative.
As a whole, this discourse, while interesting, feels pretty unnecessary. It’s okay for things to be black and white sometimes. To engage in critical thinking doesn’t mean you have to have a ‘hot take’ for the sake of it. Part of it is also admitting that there isn’t always a deeper meaning. Some things really can just be taken at face value.
