Did anyone else catch the pilot of Glee on Tuesday night? Critics have been falling all over themselves praising it, and calling it the next big thing. I had high expectations, but was somewhat disappointed. It was just the first episode, and the musical numbers were fun, but I was left feeling uneasy about the portrayal of gay characters on the show. The show starts with a male teacher getting fired for touching/caressing a male student inappropriately (all above the waist, though). The girl who witnesses the touching claims she’s not really a homophobe, because she has two gay dads who have taught her everything she knows about singing show tunes. Then, the token gay guy in the glee club is shrill and effeminate and a target for bullies.
It’s entirely possible that the point of the glee club is to empower the gay kid, but I’m not sure I have the patience (or the stomach) for that long gay’s journey into the limelight. The next episode won’t premiere until the fall, so we’ll see where it goes then.
I watched it and want to say I enjoyed it for the most part. Much like you I was put off by the gay stereotypes and that bothered me. The more I thought about it though it seemed everyone on the show was a stereotype, the bitchy cheerleader, the jock bully, the limelight obsessed Jewish girl, the jock with the heart of gold, the loud black girl who worships Beyonce, the butch female PE teacher, etc etc. Maybe I just couldn’t help but focus on the gay parts though. I will keep watching it to see how it turns out, pilots are often poor representations of what a show becomes so I will wait and see.
Having been in choir in high school the teacher’s touching could be viewed as inappropriate in THAT type of setting but my old choir teacher would walk over while we were singing to emphasize that we sing from the diaphragm. Also the moment wasn’t to set her up as homophobic it was to show what she would do to get what she wanted. (Think Tracy Glick from Election) I hope that trait is not lost as it would be disappointing if all of the Glee club members are completely without fault and everyone else is bad. The show also made a point that all the glee kids were targets for bullies, not just Karl. (Well except the black girl because you did not piss off a black girl/woman in the world of TV cause hell hath no fury…)
I enjoyed the show but we know high school is all about stereotypes and cliques so we will see a lot of that. My one complaint is they set winning nationals as the goal so I hope they don’t write them into a corner storywise. Stereotypes abounded but long as the writing is sharp and FOX doesn’t kill it by constant schedule shuffling I’ll watch it.
I enjoyed the pilot, but I am also perturbed. Glee is supposed to be the one place in which the so-called misfits shine, and it has been usurped by the popular student. The girl with a non-traditional family, the girl who is overweight, the boy with a physical impairment, the boy who is gay, the girl with a speech disorder, and the students of color are all taking a backseat—in their own club no less—to the all-star quarterback.
I caught the second episode tonight, and I’m still a little queasy. Again, the musical numbers are fun. And as over-the-top as Jane Lynch is, she reminds me of the teachers who were always trying to shut down whatever extracurricular activity I started or belonged to (drama club, newspaper, the tree-planting club). Maybe the character arc for Kurt, the gay kid, will see him stand up to his tormentors. Now, however, I’m really uncomfortable with homophobic bullying being portrayed as something that’s harmless, cute and, worst of all, somehow consensual. The high school world they’ve created is definitely part fantasy, but that’s too much for me. And sends a very dangerous message about the effects of bullying and physical violence towards gay kids.
I’m going to keep watching, though, hoping they’ll prove me wrong.
While it does show Kurt just accepting the bullying, it also seems that the teachers don’t notice at all which I feel is a fairly accurate representation of what happens in a lot of high schools.
I enjoyed the 2nd episode more than the first. The characters are more fleshed out—with Jane Lynch and Jayma Mays being particularly fun to watch—and the writing is a bit more biting. This won’t be “must-watch-it-when-it-airs” (like “Lost” and “Chuck”), but I’ve set the DVR to record it every week.
Ryan Murphy has had some good shows over the years, Nip/Tuck was a favorite. Glee is good but I enjoyed none better than his WB show Popular in the late 90’s. It’s a bit dated now but I have it on DVD and still watch it religiously. Tammy Lynn Michaels-Etheridge was awesome as the evil Nicole Julien. I was partial to the silly Southern fashion queen Mary Cherry played by Leslie Bibb. I think I relate because I’m equally as dramatic lol
Here’s a quick clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuUoNwWwmd4
and one of the evil Nicole http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BP_jzp7DFkk
Jayma Mays IS amazing. While I know the whole series revolves around musical numbers, hers seemed the most honest. Also it wasn’t really thickly produced which is throwing me off a bit. Sure everyone is pretty talented, but it’s totally throwing off my understanding of how TV works. I can’t actually tell what’s a montage or lip syncing and what’s actually meant to be happening at any given moment. (it was pretty distracting with the last three numbers of the show, particularly the cheerleaders.)
That said, it’s in this bizarre heightened world so even if everything is a ridiculous stereotype then it’s even more interesting when they choose to subvert it or not actually follow. (The fact the hot teacher watches a likewise attractive but slightly dim student singing in the shower and talks about making a bad moral choice… and it’s as innocent as framing him for drug possession to make him join the team.)
Plus if they burn their way through the obvious plots like they promised they would then maybe this could be my occasionally musical comedic drama substitute for Pushing Daisies.
Definitely enjoying it so far. I am looking forward to the characters getting more fleshed out. For whatever reason, the bullying actually didn’t bother me much, because I viewed it as a caricature of bullying. It reminds me of the Wile E Coyote cartoons that had the sheepdog, where they clocked in and out. It’s like Kurt and the football players have this agreement that he goes in the garbage can every day, but they don’t physically hurt him, and also have enough of their own gay sensibility to not damage his accoutrement. I do understand the point that any portrayal of bullying as harmless is bad, though. It’s ironic, I’m often accused of being too sensitive to gay jokes in media. When Brokeback Mountain was nominated for Best Picture, I felt there were way too many gay jokes, and my non-gay friends told me I was just being too sensitive.
Possible spoiler alert:
I think that in tonight’s episode, Kurt actually joins the football team.
My largest concern with the show is that it doesn’t hold up the expectations it created with the pilot episode. While the “token gay character” did seem to be a bit too much like what we had seen before, the pilot showed us a nuanced character who was capable of being something that we could identify with, while at the same time could be something new. Then the season actually began, with the second episode teaching us about coming out (or not) and the third episode limiting Kurt to a Beyonce commercial.
One has to consider the question: when does a character stop being a representation and become a stereotype? I think Kurt had the potential, to yes be effeminate, but also be a person. Instead they give us the canned gay, with a dissaproving father, who cares about fashion and only wants to Single Ladies. We as a community are more than that, and the fact of the matter is is that while these types of depiction serve a purpose, you have to wonder when primetime is going to be willing to go further than that. Gay men are more complex than that, or at least, I’d like to think they are.
Well said, Egamboa2007. Watching the whole “Single Ladies” episode, I couldn’t help feeling like I was watching a pantomime, with the most basic, stock characters hauled out and dusted off for the occasion.
Effeminate gay characters don’t bother me. The effeminate gays have been on the front lines of visibility and activism forever. But the same story, with the same tired old plot points. Same “are you sure you’re gay” reaction from the parents. Same fears being trotted out that the gays are after the straight guys. There’s gay archetypal mythos, yes, but there’s also just lazy writing.
“Gay men are more complex than that, or at least, I’d like to think they are.”
Are they, though, when they’re in high school? While I’d like to think I was complex and no one could possibly understand me while I was in high school, in retrospect, I probably wasn’t. And I used to dance and lipsynch to Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.
I can’t count how many times I’ve been out to the bar, and seen younger gay guys dancing an entire Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera routine, and none of them have half the talent that Kurt had in the Beyonce number.
And man, if football players did musical numbers before each play, I’d be much more likely to watch.
I actually had much more of a problem with Kurt not being out. That, I found very unbelievable. His interaction with his father in the last episode was a little contrived, but was very touching to me, as well.
Are they, though, when they’re in high school? While I’d like to think I was complex and no one could possibly understand me while I was in high school, in retrospect, I probably wasn’t. And I used to dance and lipsynch to Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.
What I said does not suggest that the depictions are incorrect or not prevalent, but rather a question of when a representation crosses over into a stereotype. I won’t deny that I listen to the same music, but does that mean that this is all we do in high school. I was also involved in orginizations, I also had relationships, and crushes on gay and straight men, and went to class. Does that mean that this was the entire experience? No, reducing gay characters to nothing more than an individual who can only dance to express themselves is problematic. And given that popular culture has the influence that it does, this narrative is now considered universal, when it can not, and frankly flat out refuses, to see that these individuals are more than just their sexuality.
Kurt playing football was a contrived attempt to circumvent that, but at the end of the day all we are left with is an after school special about acceptance, and not even with real people. If that’s the case, I’d rather watch Strangers With Candy.
