Glee: My First and Last Rant
Right now, I am out for creator Ryan Murphy's blood. I'll explain in a minute. But please, flist, please tell me you have at least sensed what is wrong with our dear musical television program. I know that I'm not supposed to take it seriously, but let's be real here - every so often, Glee has asked us to take it seriously. And yet it
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Here's the thing: I love Glee to pieces in theory. I love the story of social outcasts finding a home due to a shared passion, I love the musical numbers, I love the sense of humor, I love Quinn's character development, I love everything Puck says or does, ever, I love Rachel's line about how being a part of something special makes you special juxtaposed with Will's line to Finn that sometimes being special sucks, because yeah, it does, and yeah, it does. But, Glee, love, having all these awesome things doesn't mean you're exempt from 1) having any semblance of consistency and 2) making sense. Because when Degrassi's relationship flip-flops make more sense than yours do, you know you're doing something wrong.
I think Sue is kind of a prime example of this-- I hear a lot about how Sue's little sister is so ~touching~ and I just don't get it. Sue Sylvester isn't anything but a ridiculous caricature of concentrated evil, and that was ( ... )
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I have surprisingly high standards for cracky TV shows, it seems.
(Despicable Me <3333 I want to see that again so much.)
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The other thing that really bothers me about the Kurt/Blaine storyline is the insanely mixed messages you get from it as a viewer. BE YOURSELF! No, wait, we mean SACRIFICE YOUR INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY TO BECOME PART OF THE TEAM! No, wait, we want you to BE YOURSELF again. I mean, what is this - a metaphor for hormonal mood swings? I don't even. Then, entertainment magazines jump up and down and squee about how fantastic the Kurt/Blaine ship is for being visible and inspiring and blah blah blah blah blah, never mentioning that there are far superior, both in terms of narrative and characterization, media representations of queer teens! It has been a good couple years for gay media, we're not THAT hungry. Honestly.
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Can I just say how smug I am about Glee's descent into commonly acknowledged blegh? I know that sounds a little bit evil, but hear me out. I am all for positive queer media representation. However, I never really liked Glee and never really expected much of it. People were always telling me, "Look! Glee! Gay characters! Ra! Ra! Sis-boom-ba!" And my reply was invariably, "I know where to find music and I know where to find relevant, three-dimensional queer characters, and none of those places include Glee, thankyouverymuch." Thus, I am now indulging in a little bit of the "I Told You So" superiority.
I think in the face of interesting, amusing, AND progressive shows like "Pretty Little Liars," "Coronation Street," and "Skins," inconsistent and trite programs such as "Glee" don't even deserve to register noticeably on the public gaydar.
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*sigh* Yeah, I should have known. And yet, I'm not much of a TV-watcher, so I really only see the good stuff that gets recommended to me. I don't ever see the inconsistent crap, so it didn't occur to me that a show that hit so many of my interests - high school music kids, gay characters, ensemble cast - could be so disappointing.
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