Nashville, Glee, and the realization of creative ambition

[heresluck]

I've had this article open in a tab for... [checks article date] ...apparently about four months now? -- fully intending to link to it and talk about it! And now I finally am. *facepalm*
Unsurprisingly, the shows that include rape and murder-even as a one-off plot rather than a regularly featured occurrence, as in Nashville-dramatically outnumber

Comments

[flaming_muse]

You make some very interesting points! I, too, respond to the creative passions and ambitions of the characters in Glee, and I particularly love that the stakes can be high not just for competitions but personally for people like Rachel and Kurt. There is drama around them reaching for their dreams. mr. muse, who liks Glee well enough but is hardly a fan, really liked Smash because it was the next stage of the story, about what it really can take to succeed in the business of it, about how you translate ambition into a career and what it costs.

I think they're all interesting and valuable stories, in part because creative people DO have ambitions, and that isn't encouraged enough in most of our society, and in part because it makes for very personal, high stakes drama and arcs without, as you say, it having to be about death. It's about losing your life in a whole different way.

[heresluck]

The competition eps of Glee seldom interest me much both because we never see any work leading up to them (...and I am trying to just let that go, because obviously the show is never going to go there, but argh) and because (with the notable exception of Original Songs) they are typically so emotionally isolated from the rest of the show: they are the most likely to be Pop Song Du Jour!!! (not that the rest of the show is immune to that), which is generally not my cup of tea, especially because the cover arrangements are generally uninteresting. This is why I loved the Trebletones mashups so very much -- those girls were robbed, dammit! Heh. The show insists (and demonstrates) over and over again that the best performances are the ones that come from the heart, and then when it comes time for Regionals it's all Jackson 5 and "Gangnam Style." Oh, show

[sheafrotherdon]

This is really fascinating to me. Thanks for writing about it!

[heresluck]

I hadn't thought of the shows I'm watching in that way before, but when I looked at my list, it had a LOT of murder and mayhem and investigative procedurals, and then... these two shows!

[beerbad]

...But have you watched Bunheads?! (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

[heresluck]

Not yet!