Why you should watch Glee!
Glee is a love it or hate it show. I've been watching since the first episode, which aired in May before the fall season began. I loved Kurt. I loved Artie. I loved Emma. And then came the big finale: Don't Stop Believing.
Some would argue the rest of the series hasn't matched the potential shown in the pilot, and that's fair. But I would argue that, despite its flaws, it's a groundbreaking show and a joy to watch.
Let's talk stereotypes.
How many mainstream shows out there have not only one gay character, but multiple? Characters who live and break stereotypes all at once, just like real people.
Meet Kurt Hummel.
Yep, he's gay. He wears runway fashion to a public high school in Ohio. He has a high voice, loves to sing Broadway numbers usually performed by women, is addicted to Vogue and works in his Dad's tire and lube shop. He also won the football team's only game his sophomore year.
Meet Blaine Anderson.
He's also gay. He also loves Vogue and Patti LuPone and singing songs usually performed by women (although he tends to Katy Perry and Pink rather than Judy Garland). He loves Kurt, football, and was a founder of his old school's Fight Club. He wears bow ties to school, but unlike Kurt, he likes to sing with the guys instead of the girls.
Meet Dave Karofsky.
Yep, another gay boy. He's a jock, and he's only slowly coming to terms with his sexuality. After years of hurting Kurt physically and emotionally, he's finding his niche among the local gay men and learning what he wants out of his life.
Meet Sebastian Smythe.
He's a bastard. He's mean and self-serving and doesn't take no for an answer. He's a schemer and if you believe Kurt, smells like Craigslist. And, yep, gay.
Meet Santana Lopez.
Bitchy, mean, loving, gay. She has been trying to figure out herself all three years so far - her one constant is that she will do anything for her best friend and love, Brittany.
Meet Brittany Pierce.
Britt's hilarious, emotionally smart but mentally dim and bisexual. Many of the show's best lines are from her. "Dolphins are just gay sharks." "I had a cold and I took all my antibiotics at the same time and I forgot how to leave." She loves Santana, her girlfriend, but is she in love? Yet to be explored.
Six characters, four of whom are regulars, are not straight. This is mindblowing and allows for so many more viewers to find characters that they can relate to in new ways.
Sexuality isn't the only way Glee breaks media and character stereotypes, however.
Meet Burt Hummel.
Kurt's dad admits that when he was a kid, he and his friends used words like fag as an insult. When the series began, he'd taken Kurt's Navigator away because Kurt was wearing his tiara collection to school. But when Kurt came out to him weeks later, he just hugged him and said that he loved him just the same. He's as blue collar and small town Ohio as they come, but he continually stands up for Kurt, loves him deeply and would do anything for him. Even if he thinks that wearing a kilt to Prom is a mistake.
Meet Artie Abrams.
Artie looks like a nerd, and likes to think of himself as hardcore thug. He has an in with the jazz band, due to his guitar skills, and tries to talk R&B. He's in a wheelchair, but he's not defined by what he can't do. The dance choreography is always, always inclusive and as a sibling of a young man with special needs, I love to watch him dance as part of the group. I also love that he can be a complete and total jerk - Glee has gone down the overtrodden path of "disabled angel" before, and it's so great to see a character with a disability and the temperament expected of a teen boy.
Meet Becky Johnson.
Becky is an even better example of this. Becky is bitchy, sweet, a follower, a leader, Sue's right hand gal and co-captain of the Cheerios cheerleading team. Her inner voice is that of Dame Helen Mirren - because she "can sound however [she] wants in her head." Becky is a teenage girl who has Down Syndrome and I cheer every time she opens her mouth and something awesomely bitchy comes out because that is real and that is never shown. The stereotype is that people with special needs exist to show everyone else what love is, that their lives could be worse, WHATEVER. They exist to live full lives of their own and that means that sometimes they are bitchy and mean and angry as well as sweet and loving and a good friend. I will forever love Glee for showing that people with special needs are just people.
Meet Emma Pillsbury.
I love Emma. I love her style, I love her personality. Emma's got a lot of issues - she's currently on medication and in therapy for OCD, and despite having been married before (and now engaged twice on top of that), she cannot handle physical intimacy. Sometimes these things are played for jokes, but it is easy to see how difficult life is for Emma and how hard she tries, and so much of her character arc resonates with me.
That's groundbreaking. Now let's talk music - joy.
Glee covers at least a hundred songs a year. They do Broadway, pop, country, classics, jazz, swing, 80 hair rock, folk music and everything in between. They bring back old favorites into the public mind and introduce teenagers to songs that their parents and grandparents loved, and the other way around. Many of their covers are straight covers, and some are amazing.
Other times they have a blast with mashups.
Sometimes there's so much joy that it's infectious.
Sometimes they do their own arrangements and break your heart even as you fall in love.
Is the show perfect? So far from it. But I watch because every week, there is at least one things that touches me, makes me smile or brings me joy. What more can you ask of a TV show?
Words = 1027, 20 points. Pics = 31 points. Vids = 5 points
Total = 50+
Click to viewSome would argue the rest of the series hasn't matched the potential shown in the pilot, and that's fair. But I would argue that, despite its flaws, it's a groundbreaking show and a joy to watch.
Let's talk stereotypes.
How many mainstream shows out there have not only one gay character, but multiple? Characters who live and break stereotypes all at once, just like real people.
Meet Kurt Hummel.
Yep, he's gay. He wears runway fashion to a public high school in Ohio. He has a high voice, loves to sing Broadway numbers usually performed by women, is addicted to Vogue and works in his Dad's tire and lube shop. He also won the football team's only game his sophomore year.
Meet Blaine Anderson.
He's also gay. He also loves Vogue and Patti LuPone and singing songs usually performed by women (although he tends to Katy Perry and Pink rather than Judy Garland). He loves Kurt, football, and was a founder of his old school's Fight Club. He wears bow ties to school, but unlike Kurt, he likes to sing with the guys instead of the girls.
Meet Dave Karofsky.
Yep, another gay boy. He's a jock, and he's only slowly coming to terms with his sexuality. After years of hurting Kurt physically and emotionally, he's finding his niche among the local gay men and learning what he wants out of his life.
Meet Sebastian Smythe.
He's a bastard. He's mean and self-serving and doesn't take no for an answer. He's a schemer and if you believe Kurt, smells like Craigslist. And, yep, gay.
Meet Santana Lopez.
Bitchy, mean, loving, gay. She has been trying to figure out herself all three years so far - her one constant is that she will do anything for her best friend and love, Brittany.
Meet Brittany Pierce.
Britt's hilarious, emotionally smart but mentally dim and bisexual. Many of the show's best lines are from her. "Dolphins are just gay sharks." "I had a cold and I took all my antibiotics at the same time and I forgot how to leave." She loves Santana, her girlfriend, but is she in love? Yet to be explored.
Six characters, four of whom are regulars, are not straight. This is mindblowing and allows for so many more viewers to find characters that they can relate to in new ways.
Sexuality isn't the only way Glee breaks media and character stereotypes, however.
Meet Burt Hummel.
Kurt's dad admits that when he was a kid, he and his friends used words like fag as an insult. When the series began, he'd taken Kurt's Navigator away because Kurt was wearing his tiara collection to school. But when Kurt came out to him weeks later, he just hugged him and said that he loved him just the same. He's as blue collar and small town Ohio as they come, but he continually stands up for Kurt, loves him deeply and would do anything for him. Even if he thinks that wearing a kilt to Prom is a mistake.
Meet Artie Abrams.
Artie looks like a nerd, and likes to think of himself as hardcore thug. He has an in with the jazz band, due to his guitar skills, and tries to talk R&B. He's in a wheelchair, but he's not defined by what he can't do. The dance choreography is always, always inclusive and as a sibling of a young man with special needs, I love to watch him dance as part of the group. I also love that he can be a complete and total jerk - Glee has gone down the overtrodden path of "disabled angel" before, and it's so great to see a character with a disability and the temperament expected of a teen boy.
Meet Becky Johnson.
Becky is an even better example of this. Becky is bitchy, sweet, a follower, a leader, Sue's right hand gal and co-captain of the Cheerios cheerleading team. Her inner voice is that of Dame Helen Mirren - because she "can sound however [she] wants in her head." Becky is a teenage girl who has Down Syndrome and I cheer every time she opens her mouth and something awesomely bitchy comes out because that is real and that is never shown. The stereotype is that people with special needs exist to show everyone else what love is, that their lives could be worse, WHATEVER. They exist to live full lives of their own and that means that sometimes they are bitchy and mean and angry as well as sweet and loving and a good friend. I will forever love Glee for showing that people with special needs are just people.
Meet Emma Pillsbury.
I love Emma. I love her style, I love her personality. Emma's got a lot of issues - she's currently on medication and in therapy for OCD, and despite having been married before (and now engaged twice on top of that), she cannot handle physical intimacy. Sometimes these things are played for jokes, but it is easy to see how difficult life is for Emma and how hard she tries, and so much of her character arc resonates with me.
That's groundbreaking. Now let's talk music - joy.
Glee covers at least a hundred songs a year. They do Broadway, pop, country, classics, jazz, swing, 80 hair rock, folk music and everything in between. They bring back old favorites into the public mind and introduce teenagers to songs that their parents and grandparents loved, and the other way around. Many of their covers are straight covers, and some are amazing.
Other times they have a blast with mashups.
Sometimes there's so much joy that it's infectious.
Sometimes they do their own arrangements and break your heart even as you fall in love.
Is the show perfect? So far from it. But I watch because every week, there is at least one things that touches me, makes me smile or brings me joy. What more can you ask of a TV show?
Words = 1027, 20 points. Pics = 31 points. Vids = 5 points
Total = 50+