Comments on: TV Review – Glee

By: moleboy

moleboy — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:30:18 +0000

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.

By: Siobhan

Siobhan — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:18:00 +0000

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.

By: moleboy

moleboy — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:55:55 +0000

Oh, hey! Thanks much!!

By: Nathalie (Spacedlaw)

Nathalie (Spacedlaw) — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:54:45 +0000

Hi. Just dropped by to let you know that I enjoyed your PicFics.

By: lauredhel

lauredhel — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:32:25 +0000

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?

By: Siobhan

Siobhan — Thu, 21 May 2009 13:04:02 +0000

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.

By: moleboy

moleboy — Thu, 21 May 2009 09:53:29 +0000

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.

By: lauredhel

lauredhel — Thu, 21 May 2009 03:01:48 +0000

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.

By: moleboy

moleboy — Thu, 21 May 2009 01:17:36 +0000

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.