TV Review – Glee
Guest Post by MoleWife
So I just finished watching the pilot episode of Glee. It is a terribly hokey show in the finest traditions of 80’s underdog movies — the only thing it didn’t have is a training montage, and I’m SURE that’s coming. But it had everything else:
- Tiny (6-person) underfunded, under-appreciated collection of misfits drawn together by their talent and love of music? Check.
- Handsome, popular teacher struggling to keep said glee club alive? Check.
- Evil, popular, well-funded football team and cheerleading squad? With associated evil, territorial, elitist, conformist and ball-busting coaches? Check.
- Incredibly talented and well-funded competition doing extreme production numbers to popular songs while we see our misfits rehashing Grease? Check.
- Inspiring female friend of glee club teacher who teaches him to follow his passion instead of going for money? Check.
- Inspiring journey of hot football player who decides he won’t let conformity and peer pressure keep him away from his love of music? Check.
- End on inspiring 80’s song (Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’)? Check.
And the flip side:
- “Misfit group” comprises aforementioned football player, beautiful diva pursuing fame at all costs, one disabled boy in a wheelchair, one Asian girl, one African-American Girl (who together make up apparently 66% of the POCs in the entire town) and one gay boy? Check.
- Gay kid and disabled kid bullied in completely approved ways? Check.
- POC in glee club sassy, fat, and hip? Check.
- Gay boy loves his designer clothing and sings soprano? Check.
- Inspiring teacher’s wife a lazy, shrill, gold-digging bitch who complains of having to work three 4-hour shifts a week and only wants more THINGS? Check.
- Other female characters the aforementioned diva (raised by two gay dads, see what happens to you?), emasculating ball-busting cheerleading coach, and pretty young female friend teacher who cries to herself in car over love of hot inspiring male teacher, and hot cheerleader who is head of the celibacy club and bursts into prayer during makeout sessions? Check.
- Only other POC in the whole episode an apparently Hispanic worker at a TV “linen’s & things” who is comedically too clumsy and stupid to fold sheets? Check.
Not to mention that the original glee club teacher is fired for molesting a singing student in an absolutely HYSTERICAL way — see, he was stroking the gay boy’s chest to give him encouragement, and the diva was pissed because he gave the solo to the gay boy SHE should have gotten, so she ratted him out to the principle and AREN’T WOMEN SCHEMING AND UNDERHANDED???
And our sassy fat black chick gets approximately three token lines in the whole episode. Enough for us to know SHE is BEYONCE, not a BACKGROUND singer. But she’ll meekly fall back into line for “just this one song.” But that beats out our Asian chick, who gets one line and a “we’ll figure out what you’re good for” at the very end.** The gay and disabled boys can, quite frankly, sing circles around our hot football player, but they aren’t capable of keeping up vocally with our Diva, for some reason. And the “next on Glee” preview shows us the shrill bitchy wife lying about being pregnant in order to manipulate her husband to get a job as a CPA instead of a teacher so she can have THREE MAHOGANY TOILET PAPER HOLDERS from Pottery Barn, because Dr. Phil says there’s nothing wrong with wanting THINGS.
And don’t even get me started on the gay ex-teacher as pedophile, or how molesting a student is FUNNY, SEE?
I will probably watch the show. I’m a sucker for underdog stories and large musical production numbers of any variety. And this was just a pilot, and there’s a chance the characters will be developed as something other than caricatures. But some days I honestly have to ask if all TV studios get all their ideas from the Conservative Stereotype Vending Machine(TM).
**Oh, I just read the Asian girl is supposed to be a lesbian. Clearly, this was indicated by her singing “I kissed a girl” for her audition, since she had no other lines or displayed any evidence of being attracted to women.
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9 Comments:
but there weren’t any poop jokes!
I think I wouldn’t quite write off the show just yet. There’s something very odd about the whole thing. The only person in the entire show who isn’t a complete cliche/stereotype is the glee club teacher. I’m pretty sure that if they want this show to continue, they’ll have to do something clever.
That could easily end up justifying at least some of this.
moleboy
9:17 pm
No matter what they do with the steretyped characters, it won’t excuse the way they’ve written Arty. He is used purely as a comedy prop – his chair is pushed to and fro, he’s a blank vehicle for FootballGuy’s personal growth journey, and so on. The least they could do if they’re going to do crip-drag is teach the actor to push his own damn chair.
lauredhel
11:01 pm
But thats sort of what I was saying. They are all just like that. They are all shallow stereotypes. I don’t see treating Arty as helpless as any different than treating the black girl as being all in your face and sassy or the gay kid as being effeminate.
The stereotypes for those groups of people may bother you less, but that doesn’t make them any better.
However, there ARE places you can go with this sort of setup. You can explore an critique the stereotypes themselves. You can use them to explore culture and society.
moleboy
5:53 am
lauredhel, I tried to edit the post to add yours, but I can’t seem to — I think moleboy may have to change my access. Anyone reading this, lauredhel has a great post about this as well.
I agree that they aren’t singling out Arty for their bigotry — that they have turned EVERY character into a stereotypical caricature.
However, there ARE places you can go with this sort of setup. You can explore an critique the stereotypes themselves. You can use them to explore culture and society.
This scares me, actually. What I’m seeing are single episodes dotted throughout the season showing that the “other” (read: the non-white males) are people too, with a reset to start at the beginning of the next episode. Not that it wouldn’t be possible, interesting or entertaining to do it differently, but I don’t have any evidence that the show will have that kind of depth, nor does Fox typically offer that kind of depth.
Siobhan
9:04 am
moleboy, they’re not “all like that”. Do they have a white girl in sassy blackface? A man in a dress playing a woman, badly?
lauredhel
9:32 am
Hi. Just dropped by to let you know that I enjoyed your PicFics.
Nathalie (Spacedlaw)
9:54 am
Oh, hey! Thanks much!!
moleboy
9:55 am
moleboy, lauredhel is also talking about the fact that they used an able-bodied actor to play the disabled role. Lauredhel, I’m guessing it IS similar, at least for the gay boy and lesbian girl — I’m willing to bet they are using straight actors, and if not, it’s completely by accident.
Siobhan
10:18 am
My misunderstanding (I need more sleep).
However, Siobhan is right. There’s no real reason to believe that the gay characters are played by gay actors.
Can someone provide me with an arguement to support the idea that only people in wheelchairs should be playing people in wheelchairs?
Siobhan, regarding your comment about how this can be used well, this is a classic method. I’m not saying they WILL use it well, and you are right that they might only do it sporadically (in which case, I’m with you), all I’m saying is that it can and is done. Actually, look at the Simpsons, on Fox notably.
moleboy
10:30 am