I don't have the time to answer the way I want right now, but let me say that this post finally allowed me to put into words my biggest conundrum about myself and Glee, which is why I am so obsessed with the characters in a show in which I actively have to ask if a line is a joke or an actual moment of character insight, where I find myself parsing each line and giving more weight to some than to others because character continuity is not a given in the writing, where who a person is can be ignored for a laugh or a set-up.
I read something once that said that while Glee is completely fantastical and works very little like high school in its practicalities, what it is extremely good at is presenting what high school feels like. People don't burst into teary ballads in the hallways when times are hard (much) in real high schools, but it feels so intense that they couldWhat you're talking about here is what appeals to me, too, I think. The emotional premise of the show and the emotional arcs of the characters are what drive me. Not
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Interesting comment! I loved this post, but for me, Glee has never represented what high school feels like at all. (Friday Night Lights was my HS experience, almost to the letter.) But I completely relate to your method of watching the show. That's my method, too.
Oh, goodness, well... I suppose this makes sense, in a way, because the converse is true. FNL feels nothing at ALL like my high school experience, as much as I know it is real. FNL makes me feel constricted and claustrophobic... and kind of hopeless, actually.
My own high school experience was all talented, quirky kids with big dreams (not all in theater, though) across the social spectrum trying too hard and caring too much and assuming way too much of their future life trajectory would come from one important moment/test/competition/performance/part. Everything mattered. Every day was a stage on which to shine.
And we did occasionally break out into song in the middle of the hallway.
FNL makes me feel constricted and claustrophobic... and kind of hopeless, actually.
Yes -- which is part of why it's so accurate (speaking as someone who grew up in the same kind of town, just a few hours' drive from the town Dillon is based on). It's why the adult characters in that show matter so much, and why I love them so much.
Your high school experience sounds pretty cool, though unimaginable to me in a high school context. College was more like that -- it's why I wanted to go to college, actually, and especially to go out of state: to find people who would try and care and commit and act like things mattered. And then it was better than I imagined!
I love everything you have to say here. I often feel like I have a very different view of glee then the rest of fandom, though. When people talk about the characters acting "out of character," I wonder if they've ever met a teenager in their life. I started out high school preppy and recovering from an eating disorder, by the end of the year was a hippie, by junior yearwas an alterna-chick, and by senior year alternated yyyyyyamong retro, Laura Ashley, kmart
And my own handmade creations, pretty much not caring what category i fell into. On the way I became a Taoist, a born-again and a witch. Sometimes I was well adjusted and happy; other times I was deeply depressed. I could be a great, loyal friend and an absolute hitch.
My point is that I tend to think this fandom has an issue of confusing character development with character assassination. People change and are inconsistent in real life, and they are on glee, and that's okay with me.
Apologies for the typos and multiple replies -- I'm on my kindle and things get weird.
Oh, sure; adolescence and college are two of contemporary American culture's most socially-sanctioned opportunities for the reinvention of self, and we see some of that on Glee, mostly in the changes in the characters' clothing -- Tina and Kurt especially, but also Rachel and Mercedes. God bless the wardrobe department. I would argue, though, that there's a difference between changes and inconsistencies grounded in adolescent explorations of the self and changes and inconsistencies imposed by the needs of an external narrative
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I read something once that said that while Glee is completely fantastical and works very little like high school in its practicalities, what it is extremely good at is presenting what high school feels like. People don't burst into teary ballads in the hallways when times are hard (much) in real high schools, but it feels so intense that they couldWhat you're talking about here is what appeals to me, too, I think. The emotional premise of the show and the emotional arcs of the characters are what drive me. Not ( ... )
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My own high school experience was all talented, quirky kids with big dreams (not all in theater, though) across the social spectrum trying too hard and caring too much and assuming way too much of their future life trajectory would come from one important moment/test/competition/performance/part. Everything mattered. Every day was a stage on which to shine.
And we did occasionally break out into song in the middle of the hallway.
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Yes -- which is part of why it's so accurate (speaking as someone who grew up in the same kind of town, just a few hours' drive from the town Dillon is based on). It's why the adult characters in that show matter so much, and why I love them so much.
Your high school experience sounds pretty cool, though unimaginable to me in a high school context. College was more like that -- it's why I wanted to go to college, actually, and especially to go out of state: to find people who would try and care and commit and act like things mattered. And then it was better than I imagined!
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My point is that I tend to think this fandom has an issue of confusing character development with character assassination. People change and are inconsistent in real life, and they are on glee, and that's okay with me.
Apologies for the typos and multiple replies -- I'm on my kindle and things get weird.
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