Arts :: Books
Head of her class by Scott Kearnan
Arts EditorThursday Apr 16, 2009 The kids are all right.
"My high school experience then might have been closer to what it’s like for more people now," says Ariel Schrag. "Growing up in Berkeley [California], being gay was really not a big deal. There was no dramatic coming out."
If every gay person’s adolescent experience was like that, looking back at a high school yearbook might not be so a cringe-inducing (okay, there’s still the unfortunate hair). Her comparative comfort zone also helps explain why Schrag, now 29, has felt at ease documenting her teenage years in a series of four graphic novels, each depicting a different year of high school: Awkward, Definition, Potential and Likewise - the final installment that was released on April 7. As with its predecessors, Likewise follows Schrag as she navigates the minefield of young queer love - including unrequited feelings for a certain Sally - and personal self-discovery.
Not many teens are comfortable baring their souls, sexuality or masturbatory habits, even if only in ink, with such unabashed candor. And it’s not as though this cartoonist’s tomes - sketched with sparse, unpolished illustrations and written with equal frankness - only came to the attention of a small, espresso-swilling and zine-churning subset of the Kevin Smith generation. In fact, while they began as a self-publishing endeavor while she was still in high school, Schrag’s young fame led as far as a documentary film (Confession: A Film About Ariel Schrag), helped her snag a staff writer role with The L Word, and her adapted screenplay for Potential has been picked up by Killer Films.
All before the age of 30. Bay Windows talked to Schrag about her art, her writings, and why this Columbia University grad never gave her novels a higher education.
You were the Class of 1998, and I was the Class of 2000. We’re peers, but I look at everything you’ve done and I feel so unaccomplished.
Oh... [Nervous laughter]
Ahem. Speaking of Awkward, you started your series while you were still in high school. It’s really not a time when most people want to detail their growing pains, is it?
I think when I started with Awkward, the goal wasn’t to explore my inner feelings or expose myself. It was really, primarily, that I was so proud of what had happened to me that I felt so excited. ... The impetus was really more bragging, than anything confessional. I became a rocker! I went to this concert! I’m dating this guy! I was so excited by everything and I started writing it. I ended up writing more and more personal things, and every book goes into it deeper.
So this wasn’t coming from a place of angst-ridden catharsis, then.
Catharsis is a word that people assign a lot, and it was never really about that. ... Though I always wanted to do art that was very truthful. I was very sincere in wanting to be honest in the book, and you know that teens are very sensitive to fakeness. There’s this attention to phoniness. The worst thing in the world to me was coming off as fake, coming off as cooler than I was. That was the worst kind of person! If anything I definitely tried to over emphasize the bad parts of my life and the insecurities.
Would you ever see yourself extending the novels into your college years?
No way! I’ve watched 90210: The College Years. College is not as exciting as high school. Maybe it is for someone, but not me.
With your graphic novels you were used to telling your own story through your own eyes. What was it like to be on the other side, as the subject of the Confession documentary?
With that whole project I thought, "I’d been writing about people for so many years. It’s my turn." It’s a little bit different! You can never really deny that you did something. I mean, with film editing it is all an interpretation, but it’s hard to make that argument. I trusted Sharon [Barnes, director]. She made me feel comfortable and showed me an earlier version of it that included many truly embarrassing moments that did not end up in the final version.
Ooh. Now you have to share.
Well, there was one scene where my friend and I had taken Vicodin, and I realized how stupid I sounded on it. It’s a pretty strong anti-drug message! I thought I was very normal. The other embarrassing scenes she cut out were when she filmed me and my girlfriend at the time at the beginning of that relationship and the awful, hopeful eagerness. It’s really painful to watch, it’s so transparent. That whole, trying to relate in a certain way; the cutesy element. It’s nauseating.
Along the same lines, what was it like to go from these autobiographical graphic novels to The L Word, where you have to collaborate as part of a team?
To work with such smart, fascinating people was a really great experience. And it was really fascinating, the evolution of an idea. It was really cool to watch how that works. When you’re on your own you’re not aware of your own thought process.
What did you think of the series finale?
Um, well. ... I haven’t seen it yet [Laughs]. I’m just behind. I get behind on all my TV shows. I like to watch them all on DVD.
Do you ever re-read your novels the way others look at a high school yearbook?
There’s never been a span of time where I haven’t been in touch with them. I’ve been working on Likewise, and then the movie ... so I’ve sort of stayed in touch with the books. So it’s not like I’m rediscovering an old yearbook. It’s been very continuous. It’s a weird part of my life.
But if you ever date someone and want to show them where you came from, you can just hand them four books as a primer.
I don’t like that! No! I like to be able to tell stories for the first time. I don’t want people to feel like I’m repeating myself. I’m such a sorry sack in much of my books. I’m much more mature and confident now. I have to fight against the image. I dated this one girl a long time ago, right around when Potential was coming out, she said to me "I just wanted to prove to you that Sally was wrong. That you really are cool and you could be loved." I was like, "Oh my God, what is this? Pity?" It was so horrifying to hear! You don’t to feel like someone is reacting to you from the book; you want to be able to create yourself.
Ariel Schrag’s graphic novel Likewise is available now from Touchstone/Simon & Schuster. For more information, visit arielschrag.com or simonandschuster.com.
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