Let People Be Upset About 'Moon Over Mississippi', Actually


            Raina Telgemeier’s Drama is… fine. It’s effective, introducing queer characters in a digestible way without harping on queer sadness. The art is fantastic, brightly colored, and distinct in style, and the very format of a graphic novel reads as immersive for younger readers and entertaining for older ones. It isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but it’s captivating enough that it had a measurable impact when it was published. It follows middle schooler Callie’s involvement in her school musical, Moon Over Mississippi, her boy problems, her friendship problems, and navigating emotional changes during a very vulnerable time in her life. But, I’m not here to speak on the novel itself. I’m here to speak on the fictional text within the text, Moon Over Mississippi, a musical about a Northern colonel and a Southern belle who fall in love during the Civil War. 

In-universe, Moon Over Mississippi is likely a wildly controversial musical. Its plot is never delved into beyond forbidden romance between regions in the Antebellum period, but it’s pretty easy to guess that if it were a full-fledged script, it would have a lot of failures. The idea of zeroing in on a love story with slavery in the background is… a bit gauche. The love story undoubtedly focusing on white characters? Even more so. It’s all just very hamfisted. To call Telgemeier racist would be a stretch, and to say she had any ill intent would be even more facetious. But, the very concept of the play brings up issues nonetheless, issues that critics didn’t hesitate to bring up, although they’ve been written off. 

During Monday’s in-class discussion, the idea that kids simply wouldn’t notice the flaws in Moon Over Mississippi was brought up, and that may be the case, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. Just because someone doesn’t notice a mistake that’s been made, doesn’t make the mistake nonexistent. Moving forward, some kids have to have noticed, or people wouldn’t have made comments on it to begin with. On a more direct note, the kids who aren’t going to notice are more likely white ones who aren’t negatively affected by the romanticization of the Antebellum South in the first place. So, respectfully, who cares that it’ll go over their heads? What about the primarily Black kids who will notice? 

People also reasoned that the point of Moon Over Mississippi was just to emphasize the idea of forbidden romance (as delved into through Drama itself’s queer characters), and not to focus on what made the romance in question, forbidden, but Telgemeier could have written in Romeo and Juliet, or made up literally any other play. Moon Over Mississippi was a distinct choice, and the idea that it was unintentional is frankly insulting to people who take issue with it, as well as to Telgemeier’s writing skill. As a writer (especially one of children’s content), the choices she makes are very much conscious, and she made a bad one.

The idea that she “accidentally” fell into a controversial topic not only diminishes Telgemeier’s intelligence, it also falls into a ridiculous trap of minimizing white mistakes and using supposed ignorance as a shield. White queer people (although one should note that Telgemeier isn’t queer, at least not publicly) very often zero in on issues involving sexuality, then shy away from (or outright ignore) racial tensions. Where Telgemeier creates a world that acts as a haven for queer readers, she runs the risk of alienating readers of color. People often take the stance that if one marginalized community is being focused on, it’s only fair that the piece of media in question gives equal attention to other communities. I disagree wholeheartedly. Telgemeier didn’t need to dedicate a chapter to renouncing the actions of southern slaveowners, she just needed to avoid including them in the first place. I’m not saying she should have written the play to be some herald of Black liberation—I have no desire to read about middle schoolers putting on A Raisin in the Sun—but, as I said, she could have written literally anything else

Again, my point isn’t that Telgemeier is a raging racist seeding dog whistles into graphic novels for children. It’s that Moon Over Mississippi’s concept is inherently flawed, and writing off people’s criticism of it speaks to a larger problem. I’m not saying her goal was to intentionally put off readers of color. I’m saying the actions she took to get there, were intentional, and that Moon Over Mississippi’s existence is completely acceptable criticism.

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