Drama as Performance

Marwick and boyd conceptualize gossip as a key component to drama. Drama is similar to gossip in the sense that it involves social events or elements, but gossip (e.g. discussions of behavior, character, situation or attributes) takes place in the absence of others (Marwick & boyd 9). These researchers argue that gossip is a seed that eventually grows into drama. Marwick and boyd also characterize drama as a social performance and means to gain attention (13). Drama also allows for a spectrum of participation from the audience, and the attention that is generated can be either negative or positive (13). However, the idea of drama drawing attention is often discussed in gendered terms, with boys identifying attention-seeking as the primary motivation for girls’ engagement in drama (14).

The American teen comedy film, Easy A, tells a story of a girl who unintentionally gets herself wrapped up in a hurricane of high school drama. Olive makes the regrettable mistake of lying to one of her gossip-loving friends about her loss of virginity to a college guy over the weekend. Another girl overheard this miniscule lie and it spread like wildfire throughout the entire school. The gossip revolving around Olive’s promiscuity leads her to the conclusion that she will counteract this nasty drama by embracing her new image as the school tramp. This is where we see drama becoming a performance. Resembling Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter, Olive stitches a red letter “A” on to her hooker-like outfit and prances around the hallways of her school, fueling the gossip machine.

            

This movie both supports and rejects the arguments that Marwick and boyd make in terms of drama being: fueled by gossip, gendered, and attention-seeking. The drama of the entire situation is fueled by a seemingly innocent lie that rapidly becomes the topic of gossip throughout the entire school. Olive supports the notion that drama is a performance as she dresses promiscuously and also continues to engage in pretend sexual activities with male schoolmates in order to help their reputations. However, this movie does not support the conception of drama as gendered. Male characters are constantly approaching Olive with pleas for her to help them create better reputations by pretending to have sexual experiences with Olive. In order to do this, Olive must make a public showing of their pretend sexual adventures (e.g. making sex noises while pretending to have sex behind closed doors at a very well attended party), therefore boosting the guy’s popularity by instigating a topic for juicy gossip. In this sense, drama is gendered by the type of attention that is received. Because she is a girl, Olive receives negative attention for her “promiscuous” and seemingly "scandelous" behavior, while on the other hand, the boys receive positive attention for engaging in sexual activities with Olive. The entire movie revolves around gossip and the drama that it ignites, and in response, this drama becomes a social performance by both boys and girls.