I can do it, put me to it, show me something I can overcome
IDK, guys. dora_the_nymph has totally got me into this fandom: she negotiated me into starting watching it, I caught up on Glee series 5 hanging out with her, and her Tumblr is where I have done the entirety of my poking about the fandom. I do love me some meta, always :) And I rewatched the start of season 5 and caught up, and yeah. Now this episode.
Kurt getting bashed just terrified me, like my breathing went all uneven. Fuck. So so awful. I’m glad they went there really, and Burt’s line “am I an idiot for thinking you’d be safer [in NYC]?” was awesome. BUT YES UPSETTING. The phone tree bit was really well-done and interestingly shot but yeah the whole thing freaked me out. Not least because, while the majority of them are also in opposite-gender relationships, the overwhelming majority of my friends are queer. So, you know, there was also that ‘what-if’ nightmare-scenario element of watching this close-knit group of friends hear one of their own has been gaybashed and is in hospital that was really upsetting.
Gah.
Burt’s thing about having been fighting too was lovely. Not least because things could have gone in a “yay for traditionally masculine physical ways of fighting injustice, w00t!” direction. Instead it acknowledged Kurt was super-brave (as always) but stuff like fighting for queer rights in government is also hard, and fighting. (And everyday… sorry, ultimately BtVS feels tend to overwhelm me at any given moment.)
One of the things that puts Glee streets ahead on the queer representation front is the emphasis on community. Not only does it have explicitly romantic & sexual stories for its queer characters, not only does it refuse to assign male/female roles to those relationships, not only does it acknowledge social and political realities and how they affect these characters’ worldviews - why marriage means so much to Blaine and Kurt is an obvious example, but there are more - it also talks about these communities and their importance. Which I really love. I like that Blaine and Kurt discuss queer politics when they first become friends, that rush of finding someone else who really gets it. I like that the elderly lesbian couple have dinner with Blaine and Kurt and tell war-stories. I like the continuing quiet emphasis on queer history (Blaine visiting a bathhouse when he comes to New York) and now this vigil, with candles and rainbow flags and leaflets. They hear it happened to a neighbour’s friend, so they go, because “you’re not alone” and maybe they don’t have their parents but they support each other. Especially in this context, it’s so important.
(On that note: I would really like Kurt and Blaine interacting with Rachel’s parents. Maybe they can visit the loft? I just think it’d be cool. Because seeing Rachel’s face during the vigil, it really struck me how much this must affect her even beyond lots of her besties being queer. Especially given their generation and being interracial, it may well have happened to one of her parents.)
Okay. Other stuff:
there was some cool stuff going on with privilege. Sam’s “it’s so hard to be a straight white male these days” and Blaine’s “let’s change the subject” - I really like that it’s so obviously fucked-up and comes from a sympathetic character and you get his best friend just going… nope, not going to engage with this rn. I like Rachel’s acknowledgement - “you’ve taken more risks than I ever have and ever will”. That was such an important line, I think, because Rachel does take risks but she is coming from a safer place to start with, and this stuff will always affect Kurt. I liked that Sam said and did all that awful stuff at dinner, that Mercedes made a distinction between white and black people’s awareness of this stuff: that it’s not as simple as “there’s no difference between us” when these experiences and worldviews do make a difference, even if love wins out. It was very cool.
Rachel choosing to leave NYADA makes sense for her character but I found the whole thing so stressful to watch because SUCH A TERRIBLE DECISION. Just. Don’t, Rachel, you fool. *sighs* I love her a lot and maaaybe it will be okay, but. I’m just worried she’s going to get, like, horribly crushed.
Mercedes/Sam is pretty cute :D Their clothes kind of smacked me with the symbolism this time, haha, but yeah, I like it!
The shot of Artie at film school confused me so much for a second because it seriously looked like a supervillain lair.
SONDHEIM. Wish we could’ve got more of Not While I’m Around: “demons are prowling everywhere nowadays / I’ll send em howling, I don’t care, I got ways.”
Blaine and Sam are such adorable geeks. The Star Wars thing strikes me as super-old school though. I suppose if it’d been HP it’d have been too meta to bear :D
This was originally posted at http://lokifan.dreamwidth.org/293215.html. Comment wherever you like :)
Kurt getting bashed just terrified me, like my breathing went all uneven. Fuck. So so awful. I’m glad they went there really, and Burt’s line “am I an idiot for thinking you’d be safer [in NYC]?” was awesome. BUT YES UPSETTING. The phone tree bit was really well-done and interestingly shot but yeah the whole thing freaked me out. Not least because, while the majority of them are also in opposite-gender relationships, the overwhelming majority of my friends are queer. So, you know, there was also that ‘what-if’ nightmare-scenario element of watching this close-knit group of friends hear one of their own has been gaybashed and is in hospital that was really upsetting.
Gah.
Burt’s thing about having been fighting too was lovely. Not least because things could have gone in a “yay for traditionally masculine physical ways of fighting injustice, w00t!” direction. Instead it acknowledged Kurt was super-brave (as always) but stuff like fighting for queer rights in government is also hard, and fighting. (And everyday… sorry, ultimately BtVS feels tend to overwhelm me at any given moment.)
One of the things that puts Glee streets ahead on the queer representation front is the emphasis on community. Not only does it have explicitly romantic & sexual stories for its queer characters, not only does it refuse to assign male/female roles to those relationships, not only does it acknowledge social and political realities and how they affect these characters’ worldviews - why marriage means so much to Blaine and Kurt is an obvious example, but there are more - it also talks about these communities and their importance. Which I really love. I like that Blaine and Kurt discuss queer politics when they first become friends, that rush of finding someone else who really gets it. I like that the elderly lesbian couple have dinner with Blaine and Kurt and tell war-stories. I like the continuing quiet emphasis on queer history (Blaine visiting a bathhouse when he comes to New York) and now this vigil, with candles and rainbow flags and leaflets. They hear it happened to a neighbour’s friend, so they go, because “you’re not alone” and maybe they don’t have their parents but they support each other. Especially in this context, it’s so important.
(On that note: I would really like Kurt and Blaine interacting with Rachel’s parents. Maybe they can visit the loft? I just think it’d be cool. Because seeing Rachel’s face during the vigil, it really struck me how much this must affect her even beyond lots of her besties being queer. Especially given their generation and being interracial, it may well have happened to one of her parents.)
Okay. Other stuff:
there was some cool stuff going on with privilege. Sam’s “it’s so hard to be a straight white male these days” and Blaine’s “let’s change the subject” - I really like that it’s so obviously fucked-up and comes from a sympathetic character and you get his best friend just going… nope, not going to engage with this rn. I like Rachel’s acknowledgement - “you’ve taken more risks than I ever have and ever will”. That was such an important line, I think, because Rachel does take risks but she is coming from a safer place to start with, and this stuff will always affect Kurt. I liked that Sam said and did all that awful stuff at dinner, that Mercedes made a distinction between white and black people’s awareness of this stuff: that it’s not as simple as “there’s no difference between us” when these experiences and worldviews do make a difference, even if love wins out. It was very cool.
Rachel choosing to leave NYADA makes sense for her character but I found the whole thing so stressful to watch because SUCH A TERRIBLE DECISION. Just. Don’t, Rachel, you fool. *sighs* I love her a lot and maaaybe it will be okay, but. I’m just worried she’s going to get, like, horribly crushed.
Mercedes/Sam is pretty cute :D Their clothes kind of smacked me with the symbolism this time, haha, but yeah, I like it!
The shot of Artie at film school confused me so much for a second because it seriously looked like a supervillain lair.
SONDHEIM. Wish we could’ve got more of Not While I’m Around: “demons are prowling everywhere nowadays / I’ll send em howling, I don’t care, I got ways.”
Blaine and Sam are such adorable geeks. The Star Wars thing strikes me as super-old school though. I suppose if it’d been HP it’d have been too meta to bear :D
This was originally posted at http://lokifan.dreamwidth.org/293215.html. Comment wherever you like :)