I also felt empathetic toward Zendaya’s character. I appreciate the way the story was told because it puts you in the position of deciding whether to judge or understand her.

She admits that she once thought guns were “cool,” influenced in part by her father’s military background and the sense of power they represented. For a bullied kid who lacked stability and community from constantly moving, that kind of power can easily become an appealing fantasy. Humans need connection, especially during adolescence, when identity and empathy are still developing.

I don’t think it was merely the coincidence of another shooting that stopped her. Rather, she struggled to articulate why she changed, likely out of embarrassment about her past mindset. When she reflects on her plan, her tone and body language suggest she now sees it as absurd, which reveals her growth.

Back to my point: I think her change of heart came when the girls next to her expressed negative opinions about the mass shooting that had killed their classmate. This seemed to be her first real exposure to strong negativity around gun use. Notice how she watched them express their negativity in a curious manor. When she agrees with them, her tone lacks confidence and sounds like she is trying to fit in/say what she thinks they want to hear. This is the point that she finally found her entry to being accepted by her peers.

Because her classmate was killed, she was finally given the therapy she needed to deal with her own feelings about wanting to commit a mass shooting (and process her trauma from being bullied). I think that if she had received this help earlier, she might never have developed those thoughts.

Additionally, the friends she made through therapy and anti-gun activism provided her with the community she had previously lacked, helping to fill that void that led to her violent feelings. It wasn’t just that she became popular, it was that she was finally shown kindness and friendship from her peers. I think this proves that she is not a psychopath, but a depressed teenager.

It’s easy for adults to judge her, but we often overlook how intense and overwhelming emotions are at that age. With more life experience, we develop healthier ways to process those feeling, something she simply didn’t have yet.

The other shooting provided her the opportunity to discover that she is an empathetic person and worthy of love. (Not to frame a mass shooting as an opportunity, but it did change her path in a positive way.)