Adapting this classic and vitally important story to graphic novel form was perfect. The art by Emily Carroll - the blacks and whites and greys and sketches - is touching, haunting and symbolic. Symbols include rabbits, scared and frozen in headlights. A predator in its path. On its tail. A nightmare. That hurts.
And then there are the trees, every one of them with roots, that change with each season, that wither and break. But through hell and ice, they grow. They carry on. They live.
You feel freshman Melinda Sordino's pain and suffering on every page. She is an artist at heart, who thinks that no one will want to hear her speak, that no one will want to hear her story. She can't tell anyone what happened to her on that night at the party. She is too afraid and traumatized.
But her inner thoughts and words are honest, sardonic, and as sharp as a rusted knife. She may be fictional, but her experiences, her sickness, are not.
And yeah, being a teenager in school is a lonely, soul-crushing, unforgiving hell, whoever you are.
I've read the novel, and seen the film starring Kristen Stewart (that needs much more attention, by the way; I had to buy the German import of that DVD online because it barely appears to exist as it is). Now I've read the graphic novel version of 'Speak'. It continues to surprise me, and gut me. To make me see, and want to shout its message across rooftops until my throat is burned out.
'Speak' by Laurie Halse Anderson is a story about rape culture. The first in the mainstream to really expose it, all the way back in 1999. It is more relevant than ever.
More YA books are discussing rape culture now, thankfully. But how many of them are being adapted into films? How many have huge followings outside of the literature sphere? 'All the Rage', 'The Nowhere Girls', 'Asking For It', and many others; all succeeded 'Speak'. Yet not enough people - in high, privileged places, as is the tragic state of our failing society - care about them and their message that they will try to give them the widespread attention they deserve. To spread them around, because of what they are saying - speaking - and that is: the truth. A side of reality that everyone so desperately needs to hear.
No, instead let us have another YA romance set in a dystopian future (the next
At least important, life changing and saving stories such as 'The Hate U Give' are becoming top bestsellers with film rights.
'Speak' the graphic novel includes updated, contemporary details, such as teenagers using mobile phones, the internet, Instagram, and widescreen televisions. Attention spans are shorter than they were in 1999. There is a further endeavour to spread the message that rape and sexual assault are never, EVER the victim's fault.
That last page is wonderful; an artist's triumph. Even if I would have liked to have seen Melinda's issues with her parents receive some resolution, or the making of one. What about her self-harming? Still, she'll have friends, female and male, and support, and justice on her behalf (hopefully). I wish I could give out kindness and support to Melinda and every girl and woman like her, which is disgustingly, criminally too many.
'Speak' - by women, for women. Read it, hear it, see it, consume it how ever. Just know it, and other stories like it. That are like every girl's story, which she should be given the choice to tell. Given the encouragement, the support. The suffragettes didn't suffer imprisonment, torture, and even death for this. Treating girls as if there is something shameful about them - as if there is something inherently wrong about them - for merely existing, is inexcusable and despicable. They are human, not things to be used, abused, harassed, ignored, and disposed of whenever anyone likes. This is why sex and consent education needs to have top priority on school boards.
If stories similar to 'Speak' keep getting told, over and over again, then maybe, just maybe, they will be listened to and accepted more widely. The first step could be to renew and distribute the film adaptation of 'Speak' on DVD and Blu-ray, then make other films like it for a new generation.
Maybe some day, the feelings and experiences of women and girls will be taken seriously, on an international scale and beyond, and never exploited, to the point where it doesn't come up in conversations and the public consciousness to say, "But what if--?" and "Why would she--?" and "If she hadn't--" and "She should have known better" and "What did she expect to happen?" and "Maybe she asked for it".
Maybe, just maybe, we can defeat rape culture once and for all.
Thank you, and have a nice day.
Final Score: 5/5
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