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Saturday, March 6, 2010

Glee- i'm not enthused

This media clip was a lot to take in at once. Having never seen it before, i now understand that it is mean to be stereotypical highschool, include "all" the minorities, sing throughout, and send the message that "anyone's can be a winner". Unfortunatly, this intention is not the implication, because the LGBT community is getting slammed the whole time.

Here are my notes about the pilot:

1. glee club consists of minorities- asian, black, differently abled, female, and (gay?)

  • the leads are still a white man and a white woman
  • the black woman is "angry" at one point, but when challenged fades into the background again
  • if they're so hooked on minorities, wheres the latino?
  • the asian woman doesn't get assigned a "specialty" like all the others

2. other downfalls/stereotypes

  • all females are portrayed as weak and impressionable, unless they are "two-faced", "bitchy", and "loose cannons", like the wife, the cheerleading coach, and the lead cheerleader
  • the lawn guy, who is average, even ugly, ends up with a very beautiful woman
  • principle called the differently abled person a "cripple"
  • principle is india and is portayed as caring only about money
  • footabll players lock the differently abled student in a port a potty and plan to roll it

3. building a better world, at the expense of the gay community (all differenly gender presenting and references to alternate sexuality are VERY negative)

  • boy thrown in trash at beginning is (gay?) differently gendered, has a higher voice then the average boy, appriciates handbages and sweaters, the prof does nothing to stop his harrasement
  • past prof of glee club protrayed in negative way, high voice, wears a lot of pink, becomes a drug dealer, is mentally unstable, appriciates thread count and pillows. has a "long distance girlfriend in san francisco" uses termonology of teenage girl "call me"
  • past prof of glee club accused of having a relationship with a male student, who is obiously uncomfortable
  • female lead says "im not homophobic, i have two dads!" this is the same as saying "im not racist, i have black friends!"
  • football players held down their teammate and shaved off his eyebrows becasue he watched grey's anatomy
  • "gaylord" and "butmuncher" are the first two insults on the signup sheet after the locker room scene
  • football team painballs the male lead becasue he skipped practice to go on a fieldtrip with the glee club
  • football player says "if i joined the flag team, you would beat the crap outta me"
  • football players threw "peeballs" at the (gay?) kid, and nailed his furnature to the roof
  • football players ask their roommate "what, are you quitting to join the homo-explosion?! (glee club)"

What i don't understand:

  • what the producers of this series intended by making it
  • what effect it has on teenagers that watch it

Connection: TEENAGERS ARE NOT SOME ALIEN LIFE FORM

  • the prof that runs the club says "one day you guys are going to grow up and understand" (it doesnt get more condescending then that)

media clip:from the l word, that i credit as one of my favorite shows for being so positive for the glbt community, still, it is riddeld with problems like:

  • it only aired because there are lesbian sex scenes every other second
  • they arent true portrayls of lesbian sex, they are what straight men picture of when they think of lesbian sex
  • all the women are high femmes, save a tranny boi, and an andro-dyke (shane is no butch)
  • all the women are sleeping with eachother and there is mad drama
  • absence of gay culture (like that there is only ONE drag queen, and she doesnt show up 'til the last season, the ONE drag king doesn't show 'til the second season)
  • it spreads the idea that all lesbians are engaged in a meat market, check out every woman they see, and seek to "recruit" for our community
  • WATCH HERE


5 comments:

Eva said...

what i find really funny is that i didn't look at dr. bloga's links until after i had written ,y blog, and the main arguments of many people are the same as mine- the portayls, however intended, came across as degrading on so many levels

Mindy said...

In this episode, the gay characters are not given a voice; they are ridiculed. I wonder if this changes in subsequent episodes when characters should be truly developed. Are they given dimension or are they still stereotypes? I actually ordered season one from Netflix (long waiting list) to see if the future storyline focuses on any of the marginalized groups. As a teacher, I am very aware of my students who are shunned because they are perceived as gay. They are simultaneously struggling with their own identity as they deal with the prejudice they get from others.

Eva said...

i would love to hear about the rest fo the season. i suspect that it doesn't get much better, but we are watching "wheels" in class, so maybe the issue of ability will be tackled

Kelsey Morris said...

I think that the L word looks interesting. I like how they brought about a stereotype, but made the girl look stupid for not wanting a half-black baby. I think I'll check it out!

Samantha said...

I have never heard/ seen of this show. I likeed it because it depicts issues that happen on a dailt basis that the poeople do not "see" OR "hear" about on a daily basis because we are blindfolded by the media. Its unfortunate that something so valuable of a gift (such as a beatuful baby) could be looked at in any negative way because of color and the way it is raised. I know it may be tough but if some people do not take the challange then society will not grow as quick in diversity becoming a norm. More people need to look at differences in the positive light as a beauty and stop focusing on the negative.