CHALLENGE 19 - DEBATE

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CHALLENGE 19 - DEBATE
Challenge: Choose your side and discuss it with fellow gleeverse members!

Specifics:

• Who doesn't love a good debate every once in a while? For this challenge, you will choose your side on the topic below. You cannot be neutral. You MUST choose one side or the other. Once you have picked your side, write a new comment explaining your

Comments

q/c

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POST ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS HERE

Re: q/c

[burntheflaws]

Haha, so coincidental. My dad and I were just arguing about this yesterday because he didn't see how Glee could be nominated for Best Comedy if it was a drama, and even after I told him it was a dramedy that leaned more toward comedy, he was like "No. It's not funny. It's a musical drama."

Re: q/c

[jyusan]

It's kind of sad, because while Chris is wonderful in his dramatic scenes, he can't really win an Emmy in the "supporting actor in a comedy" category. Well not until he gets stronger comedic scenes.

Re: q/c

[patchsassy]

I think it's amusing that at the Golden Globes, the movies are lumped together into drama and then musical or comedy. There are so many musicals out there that aren't even close to being a comedy.

I personally think it's time to introduce the dramedy category. I'm convinced that my ultimate love show, Gilmore Girls, was always snubbed because it wasn't really a straight comedy. *shakes fist at Emmy/Globes voters*

[lesoleilluna]

(Hope I'm doing this right.)

I think Glee is more successful as a comedy, because it lacks continuity. Storylines or character arcs are forgotten easily, which isn't a big problem for comedies, but sucks when it's a more dramatic arc.
Plus, most characters are close to popular stereotypes, which works better with comedy as well.

[jyusan]

Agreed on all points. Because of the continuity issues, there are not many great overarching storylines with dramatic value you can get invested in, because the characters contradict themselves all the time.
I also agree that they can get away with stereotyping as long as it's balanced in comedy, but when it comes to drama, most of the stereotyping becomes right out offensive.

[lesoleilluna]

Exactly. Most people don't bother to really get invested anymore, if they know whatever happens won't matter during the following episodes anyway.

The stereotyping is already borderline offensive at this point (e.g: the whole slut/virgin categorizing for all the females) so I'm glad they don't want us to take most of these things seriously.

[pixiestyxs]

This! It's hard to get invested in a character's more serious/dramatic storyline when the next episode they've completely forgotten it or said or done something that rendered it meaningless.

[jyusan]

Agreed, especially the second point. Oh my god, forever laughing at their Nationals stupidity, instead of "creating more drama" they completely ruined the suspense by showing the club enter unprepared. Was there anyone who expected them to win or place after that?!

[jyusan]

Word. If you actually see them working hard for weeks, if you'd see them really caring about winning, we could have been more emotionally invested in the competition, but the glee clubbers were so wrapped up in their personal drama I didn't feel like anyone really wanted to win at all (hah, maybe Santana :D)

[appleautumn]

Glee is better suited as a comedy. While it obviously has many drama elements, the show really shines through when it puts it focuses on the comedic plot lines. This is best illustrated in the first season of Glee. The majority of the beginning episodes focus on comedy and they are the episodes that really solidified Glee's original fan base. Glee was originally marketed as a satirical comedy that played with society's notions of stereotypes. The characters were written in a way that showcase them as extreme examples of stereotypes common in the high school setting and it is through this humour that the show is able to make a political statement. While the message may not be obvious, it is definitely there and it requires the viewer to think critically in order to understand the hidden meaning.

The musical component of the show also works better when comedy is the main focus. Most screen musicals are often humorous; it's almost a requirement for the show/film. With Glee, using comedy as a tool allows the viewer to easily accept the

[appleautumn]

My Headband is perfection! Haha.

I think comedy helps with the "serious" songs at times too. I mean, think about Total Eclipse of the Heart, for example. It's a completely cheesy, over-the-top song (as great as it is), so I think looking at the show as a satirical comedy really helps you accept the dramatic love songs.

[jyusan]

This was just beautifully worded, and I agree so much. And yes, bursting out randomly into songs is normal in musicals, but when the show leans more towards drama, regular viewers find it harder to cope. All the showy performances, while utterly enjoyable, work better if the show takes itself less seriously, too (see the big money continuity issue).

[haruechan]

Glee is more successful as a drama. Take all the reviews we had for this second season. All bad reviews were due to everything that makes glee a comedy: we are talking about discontinuity, whole character's storylines being forgotten, cartoonistic characters. While all the good reviews were due to the drama of Kurt's storyline - which lacked most of his comic relief moments from season one - and how people were just rooting for him to be happy.

[jyusan]

While I agree the only critically worth part of the season were Kurt's (and Karofsky's, and Santana's) storylines, I don't believe that makes the drama the show's stronger forte, it just means the comedy was worse this season, and most of the time they resorted to over-the-top bland comedy instead of the subtle satire they used to do in the first season.

[lesoleilluna]

I don't think discontinuity, storylines being forgotten, stereotypes etc. are what makes it a comedy. It just makes it easier to forgive these things when they occur in a comedy, because then everything isn't meant to be taken too seriously.

I love Kurt as much as the next person, but I think one reason why season two wasn't that good at times, was that they focused too much on him, and other characters were forgotten in the process. If the writers had put as much thought into a lighter storyline that would have been well received as well. (I think.)

[tarnisheddesire]

I definitely agree that the highlights of reviews were Kurt's serious story-line. However, I think the lowlights of reviews this season were for the drama as-well. I don't see the plot dropping discontinuity as comedy based; for one, the dropped plots were the dramatic ones, and they certainly weren't being dropped for comedy purposes. I think, if Glee were being sold for comedy with no drama, you wouldn't care much for all the dropped story-lines, as you would be paying attention to the funny aspects, which never change.