ifeelbetter (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ifeelbetter) wrote2010-11-12 02:15 am
ifeelbetter) wrote2010-11-12 02:15 am
Entry tags:
(some of) The Issues I Have With Glee
I was such a big fan at the beginning. I'm behind anything that brings musicals back into popular awareness--it's a genre that tends to get ignored and its awesome. So I was like, "Sweet. A musicals TV show." when it started. And the music is great--auto-tune, schmauto-tune, if you ask me. It's fun listening. And I like shows that tout their allegiance to the underdogs of teen culture. There are groups of kids--overweight, queer, teens of color, minorities, geeks, what you will--that desperately need somewhere to look to on TV.
Unfortunately, this ain't it. It talked the good talk and then it failed to practice what it preached.
Point one: It was all good and grand that Kurt was gay until he actually pointed his queer desire somewhere.
When Kurt's dad gave that speech last season--the one to tell Finn that homophobia is more nefarious than he thought and proved that he was participating in something awful when he didn't know it--was GOLD. Because that so often is the problem. Well wishers think they're doing great things for the queer community when they're ACTUALLY marginalizing them or worse.
Then, in an awful twist, the show acted out the very thing the speech so powerfully described. THIS season, Kurt's dad explained away the whole powerful moment from season one by saying that Kurt had not told him the full story, that Kurt had a crush on Finn at the time, and so--by some kind of hateful logic--Finn was JUSTIFIED in acting and speaking the way he did. As is being queer is fine as long as you don't, you know, ACTUALLY HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE OF THE SAME GENDER. Which--I'll have to check my dictionary because I might be rusty--is kinda a fundamental part of being gay.
By the way, when I had this argument with a friend earlier today (because all of my friends know I am argumentative--especially about TV--and so I have a good three or four arguments every day), she said, "But isn't it a step in the right direction that Kurt is even on a mainstream show?"
YES. But--guys--we can't be "taking a step in the right direction" forever. Especially not when it's a step we've taken SO MANY TIMES ALREADY.
Point two: The gender issues with this show are LEGION.
Do you guys remember how, back in season 1, when Will found out that Emma was a virgin, he decided to get her psychiatric attention? YEAH. Guess what? I don't think that requires psychiatric attention. I think she can have her foibles--her OCD or whatever--and her virginity and not need his super-manly, step-in-and-save-the-day-you-silly-damsel attitude to save her life.
Also? This show is DEEPLY afflicted with the whore/virgin problem. If a woman is not one, she is the other. There seems to be absolutely no middle ground. And when the show thinks it is being "fair" to women is often when it is the most offensive.
Like Coach Beast. I wish the show would stop making her character into a mockery of "women's troubles." Why can't she be a coach, for the love of god? It is not EMPOWERING to her to make all of her issues about whether she is or is not hot. And--shockingly--her HOTNESS QUOTIENT should not be the marker of sexuality.
And--as a teacher--can I say I find it SUPERDUPER creepy that the episode ended on a co-worker kissing her in the locker room entirely out of pity and then a forced declaration of their appreciation for her "beautiful smile" from her students? GUYS. This is NOT COOL.
Also a problem in this episode: it is NOT crossing ANY gender boundaries to have all your women wear skin tight leather. THAT'S STILL FEMININE. IT'S JUST NOT PINK. YOU ARE STILL IN STANDARD WOMAN TERRITORY EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT IN PINK. Yes, they sang Bon Jovi. NO, they were NOT masculine AT ALL. SORRY, SHOW. TRY AGAIN.
Point three: transvestism isn't dirty.
There is NOTHING dirty about a boy dressing as a girl. There is NO WAY that "Touch Me, Touch Me" is appropriate if mentioning the character of Frankenfurter is not. And if you were trying to sanitize Rocky Horror for a high school production (which my high school DID, BTW), making the man in drag into a woman of color is (a) horribly offensive to both groups of people, (b) unrelated to all the VERY MUCH SEX THAT HAPPENS ONSTAGE, and (c) stupid.
Point four: DON'T OUT CHILDREN IN THE CROWDED HALLWAYS. EVER. EVEN IF THEY ARE A BULLY. OHMIGOD THAT IS SO STUPID.
I feel like the last episode needed a public service announcement at the end. "Hi, kids, don't EVER try this at home. No, really. This is just a REALLY bad idea all around."
NO ONE deserves to be outed by someone else. Just. NO ONE.
Imma stop now because there's this vein on my temple that might explode.
I always end up shouting at Glee when I watch it. I shout at the TV most of the time but Glee MUCH MORE than the norm.
[P.S.--Just so you know, I DO believe that a show has an ideology not necessarily related to the ideology of its creators. I mean...a show is a sum of its parts, right? There's no one writer--not even the show runner--who can claim the entire span of opinions and positions a show has taken in its run. So the show has its own positions. And I'm talking about the SHOW in this entry. I have no idea who is responsible for the massive problems of this show. I just...it makes my soul cry. This show makes my soul cry.]
Unfortunately, this ain't it. It talked the good talk and then it failed to practice what it preached.
Point one: It was all good and grand that Kurt was gay until he actually pointed his queer desire somewhere.
When Kurt's dad gave that speech last season--the one to tell Finn that homophobia is more nefarious than he thought and proved that he was participating in something awful when he didn't know it--was GOLD. Because that so often is the problem. Well wishers think they're doing great things for the queer community when they're ACTUALLY marginalizing them or worse.
Then, in an awful twist, the show acted out the very thing the speech so powerfully described. THIS season, Kurt's dad explained away the whole powerful moment from season one by saying that Kurt had not told him the full story, that Kurt had a crush on Finn at the time, and so--by some kind of hateful logic--Finn was JUSTIFIED in acting and speaking the way he did. As is being queer is fine as long as you don't, you know, ACTUALLY HAVE A CRUSH ON SOMEONE OF THE SAME GENDER. Which--I'll have to check my dictionary because I might be rusty--is kinda a fundamental part of being gay.
By the way, when I had this argument with a friend earlier today (because all of my friends know I am argumentative--especially about TV--and so I have a good three or four arguments every day), she said, "But isn't it a step in the right direction that Kurt is even on a mainstream show?"
YES. But--guys--we can't be "taking a step in the right direction" forever. Especially not when it's a step we've taken SO MANY TIMES ALREADY.
Point two: The gender issues with this show are LEGION.
Do you guys remember how, back in season 1, when Will found out that Emma was a virgin, he decided to get her psychiatric attention? YEAH. Guess what? I don't think that requires psychiatric attention. I think she can have her foibles--her OCD or whatever--and her virginity and not need his super-manly, step-in-and-save-the-day-you-silly-damsel attitude to save her life.
Also? This show is DEEPLY afflicted with the whore/virgin problem. If a woman is not one, she is the other. There seems to be absolutely no middle ground. And when the show thinks it is being "fair" to women is often when it is the most offensive.
Like Coach Beast. I wish the show would stop making her character into a mockery of "women's troubles." Why can't she be a coach, for the love of god? It is not EMPOWERING to her to make all of her issues about whether she is or is not hot. And--shockingly--her HOTNESS QUOTIENT should not be the marker of sexuality.
And--as a teacher--can I say I find it SUPERDUPER creepy that the episode ended on a co-worker kissing her in the locker room entirely out of pity and then a forced declaration of their appreciation for her "beautiful smile" from her students? GUYS. This is NOT COOL.
Also a problem in this episode: it is NOT crossing ANY gender boundaries to have all your women wear skin tight leather. THAT'S STILL FEMININE. IT'S JUST NOT PINK. YOU ARE STILL IN STANDARD WOMAN TERRITORY EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT IN PINK. Yes, they sang Bon Jovi. NO, they were NOT masculine AT ALL. SORRY, SHOW. TRY AGAIN.
Point three: transvestism isn't dirty.
There is NOTHING dirty about a boy dressing as a girl. There is NO WAY that "Touch Me, Touch Me" is appropriate if mentioning the character of Frankenfurter is not. And if you were trying to sanitize Rocky Horror for a high school production (which my high school DID, BTW), making the man in drag into a woman of color is (a) horribly offensive to both groups of people, (b) unrelated to all the VERY MUCH SEX THAT HAPPENS ONSTAGE, and (c) stupid.
Point four: DON'T OUT CHILDREN IN THE CROWDED HALLWAYS. EVER. EVEN IF THEY ARE A BULLY. OHMIGOD THAT IS SO STUPID.
I feel like the last episode needed a public service announcement at the end. "Hi, kids, don't EVER try this at home. No, really. This is just a REALLY bad idea all around."
NO ONE deserves to be outed by someone else. Just. NO ONE.
Imma stop now because there's this vein on my temple that might explode.
I always end up shouting at Glee when I watch it. I shout at the TV most of the time but Glee MUCH MORE than the norm.
[P.S.--Just so you know, I DO believe that a show has an ideology not necessarily related to the ideology of its creators. I mean...a show is a sum of its parts, right? There's no one writer--not even the show runner--who can claim the entire span of opinions and positions a show has taken in its run. So the show has its own positions. And I'm talking about the SHOW in this entry. I have no idea who is responsible for the massive problems of this show. I just...it makes my soul cry. This show makes my soul cry.]