Raging at Glee
So, I recently started watching Glee and in general I really like it and think it's a fun and interesting show. However, a few nights ago Ryan and I were talking and I realized something: there are no good main female role models in this show and there are very few male ones (in fact, I can only think of one). Now, I understand wanting to show that people have flaws and wanting to showcase those so that people are more believable but I wouldn't want my future daughter or son to emulate any of these characters.
My one main gripe about almsot all the characters on this show has to do with Quinn's pregnancy. For those of you who don't watch the show but are okay with spoilers, basically what happens is the head cheerleader, Quinn, is knocked up by Puck, which is a huge problem considering that Quinn is dating his best friend, Finn. Quinn, however, tells Finn that it is his baby and is constantly haranguing him for money and, in general, making him feel guilty about the fact that she is pregnant. Now, she's a bitch, I can accept that. Well, one day Puck breaks down and tells Mercedes, a fellow Glee member. Her response? That he doesn't have the right to claim the child and that he should respect Quinn's decision! What the fuck?! First off, it's HIS child too. Is he the most mature guy? No. But he's willing to take financial responsibility for the child and Quinn's medical bills, which is respectable and more than can be said for some guys. But what probably pissed me off the most was Mercedes' blatant disregard for the fact that Quinn is RUINING Finn's life when IT IS NOT HIS BABY! Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK?! When is this EVER acceptable? And then you learn later that Mercedes has told everyone in Glee club except for Rachel who has a crush on Finn (which is Rachel's main problem: she's a selfish little stuck-up bitch). And, yet again, NO ONE HAS A PROBLEM WITH THIS! What is wrong with people? Do we really want teenagers to think it's acceptable to lie and tell some hapless but decent guy that you're having his baby because you don't want the real baby's father has part of his/her life? How is this in any way, shape, or form acceptable?! So. Much. Rage.
And the only other main female characters are Emma, the guidance counselor; Terri, the wife of the Will the teacher in charge of Glee; and Sue, the woman in charge of the Cheerios (short of chearleaders). Terri is a fucking nut-job who pretends to be pregnant because she's scare Will will leave her. And, okay, Emma isn't horrible, in fact she's the only half-way decent female character we have, but she very blatantly lusts after and flirts with a guy that she knows is married. I'm pretty sure that if Will would have let her, they would have had an affair. Yes, I understand that we can't control who we love; but we can our actions and we can accept the fact that it's not going to happen and MOVE ON! And Sue... she has some weird kind of vendetta against Will and Glee Club where she spends the first twelve episode using everything at her disposal to make sure Glee Club fails. In general, she's absolutely rude and horrible to everyone around her.
And the guys aren't much better. Will constantly talks about how he wants to help the kids but is constantly using them to further his own needs, which he's not completely ignoring them or their opinions. And that's not even counting that he completely blackmailed Finn into joining Glee Club with pot that HE planted. Artie and Kurt are also apparently fine with giving Finn to Quinn like a sacrificial lamb. And they're men! You'd think they'd understand better then anyone why it would NOT be okay to let Finn take on the responsibility of Quinn's baby.
The only decent role model is Finn. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the has his faults. Like the way he plays with Rachel's feelings to try to get her to come back to Glee Club. But, well, I really can't blame him; he's absolutely desperate and desperation makes people do things that they wouldn't normally do. No, that doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make me think he's a horrible person, like I believe most of the other characters on Glee are. And he takes responsibility for Quinn in a way that few teenage boys would. And, despite what all the other Glee members did (although I'm not sure if he knows that the other members knew and didn't tell him) and what Quinn and Puck did, he still comes to save their butts at Sectionals.
The more I think about this stuff, the more it disturbs me. It's not hard to have realistic characters with realistic flaws but that you can still like. I mean, look at the first two seasons of Grey's Anatomy (I like pretend that it ended after the second season because, boy, does it get bad after that). Meredith, the main character, is nowhere near perfect; I mean, the first five minutes of the episode begins with her waking up after having a drunken one night stand and kicking the poor guy out. But never has she done something as horrible as what Quinn, and by extension of knowledge the other Glee members, do to Finn.
Overall, I just find it really disappointing. Because here's a show that's really interesting and fun to watch and overall has a good message of: do what you love and who cares what people think. And then you have all these horrible characters which cancel out the message almost completely. Yeah, it's great that you teens don't care what your peers think and you're doing something that you really love but why should we want to be like you, or even really like you, when you're willing to allow a guy's life to be totally ruined?
My one main gripe about almsot all the characters on this show has to do with Quinn's pregnancy. For those of you who don't watch the show but are okay with spoilers, basically what happens is the head cheerleader, Quinn, is knocked up by Puck, which is a huge problem considering that Quinn is dating his best friend, Finn. Quinn, however, tells Finn that it is his baby and is constantly haranguing him for money and, in general, making him feel guilty about the fact that she is pregnant. Now, she's a bitch, I can accept that. Well, one day Puck breaks down and tells Mercedes, a fellow Glee member. Her response? That he doesn't have the right to claim the child and that he should respect Quinn's decision! What the fuck?! First off, it's HIS child too. Is he the most mature guy? No. But he's willing to take financial responsibility for the child and Quinn's medical bills, which is respectable and more than can be said for some guys. But what probably pissed me off the most was Mercedes' blatant disregard for the fact that Quinn is RUINING Finn's life when IT IS NOT HIS BABY! Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK?! When is this EVER acceptable? And then you learn later that Mercedes has told everyone in Glee club except for Rachel who has a crush on Finn (which is Rachel's main problem: she's a selfish little stuck-up bitch). And, yet again, NO ONE HAS A PROBLEM WITH THIS! What is wrong with people? Do we really want teenagers to think it's acceptable to lie and tell some hapless but decent guy that you're having his baby because you don't want the real baby's father has part of his/her life? How is this in any way, shape, or form acceptable?! So. Much. Rage.
And the only other main female characters are Emma, the guidance counselor; Terri, the wife of the Will the teacher in charge of Glee; and Sue, the woman in charge of the Cheerios (short of chearleaders). Terri is a fucking nut-job who pretends to be pregnant because she's scare Will will leave her. And, okay, Emma isn't horrible, in fact she's the only half-way decent female character we have, but she very blatantly lusts after and flirts with a guy that she knows is married. I'm pretty sure that if Will would have let her, they would have had an affair. Yes, I understand that we can't control who we love; but we can our actions and we can accept the fact that it's not going to happen and MOVE ON! And Sue... she has some weird kind of vendetta against Will and Glee Club where she spends the first twelve episode using everything at her disposal to make sure Glee Club fails. In general, she's absolutely rude and horrible to everyone around her.
And the guys aren't much better. Will constantly talks about how he wants to help the kids but is constantly using them to further his own needs, which he's not completely ignoring them or their opinions. And that's not even counting that he completely blackmailed Finn into joining Glee Club with pot that HE planted. Artie and Kurt are also apparently fine with giving Finn to Quinn like a sacrificial lamb. And they're men! You'd think they'd understand better then anyone why it would NOT be okay to let Finn take on the responsibility of Quinn's baby.
The only decent role model is Finn. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the has his faults. Like the way he plays with Rachel's feelings to try to get her to come back to Glee Club. But, well, I really can't blame him; he's absolutely desperate and desperation makes people do things that they wouldn't normally do. No, that doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make me think he's a horrible person, like I believe most of the other characters on Glee are. And he takes responsibility for Quinn in a way that few teenage boys would. And, despite what all the other Glee members did (although I'm not sure if he knows that the other members knew and didn't tell him) and what Quinn and Puck did, he still comes to save their butts at Sectionals.
The more I think about this stuff, the more it disturbs me. It's not hard to have realistic characters with realistic flaws but that you can still like. I mean, look at the first two seasons of Grey's Anatomy (I like pretend that it ended after the second season because, boy, does it get bad after that). Meredith, the main character, is nowhere near perfect; I mean, the first five minutes of the episode begins with her waking up after having a drunken one night stand and kicking the poor guy out. But never has she done something as horrible as what Quinn, and by extension of knowledge the other Glee members, do to Finn.
Overall, I just find it really disappointing. Because here's a show that's really interesting and fun to watch and overall has a good message of: do what you love and who cares what people think. And then you have all these horrible characters which cancel out the message almost completely. Yeah, it's great that you teens don't care what your peers think and you're doing something that you really love but why should we want to be like you, or even really like you, when you're willing to allow a guy's life to be totally ruined?