Does anyone here watch Glee?

[algernonsidney]

I decided to give this show a try based on the fact that I know so many other people who seem to like it a lot. This includes lots of people I know from the acting community. I respect their opinions.

Since it debuted in 2009, I decided to go on the Net and find episodes from the beginning. I figured if I did decide to get into the show, I wanted to see it from the beginning. The show just debuted season three.

First of all, can Hollywood please stop promoting these idiotic stereotypes of high school kids? I went to high school myself. I don't remember it being like this at all. I don't remember seeing people through drinks or slushies in people's faces. I don't remember seeing a group of students throwing a kid into a dumpster. I didn't think people in high school were that bad to each other. But on this show, everybody just treats everyone else like dirt.

This brings me to my other problem. There are too many villains who are glorified and come out winning. And too many heroes who end up getting the short end.

Let's take a look at the character of Will Schuester, the teacher who leads the glee club. He is a passionate and dedicated teacher who cares deeply about everyone else. In spite of this, he has a wife who fakes a pregnancy on him. He has a principal who is a total dunce and non-supportive of anything he does. He has no respect whatsoever from any other employee in the school, except for the guidance counselor who wants to jump his bones. He is a good guy who is constantly punished for being one.

Contrast this to Sue Sylvester, who is the enemy of the glee club. She gets what she wants most of the time. She trips someone so they fall down the steps. She gets pissed when someone is using "her" copier. She puts down everything and is just a misanthrope all-around. She is also a successful cheer coach. She's an even bigger shrew than Will's wife.

Then there is the young shrew, Quinn Fabray. She is the cheer captain who gets pregnant. She also lies about the identity of the father. When she is introduced, she is supposed to be Christian and celebate. She gets pregnant in a drunken one-nighter and then tells her boy friend that he's the father. Even though he buys her story completely and is committed to raising the child (hasn't come yet), Quinn won't even go past kissing him.

Is this uplifting? Is this inspiring? Is this fun? Am I getting old? Maybe I just don't like a show that has so many shrewish women who get their way all the time.

To be honest, the main thing that has kept me interested in this show is the magnificent eye candy.

Edited September 25, 2011 by Chris Baker

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Chris,

I haven't seen this yet, but I have seen Glenn Beck bash this program hard.

Michael

[algernonsidney]

It's actually gotten a whole lot better since I put this post up. Or, maybe I have just opened up to it. As of now, I have seen every episode. That's 46 episodes in about ten days.

I suspect that Glenn Beck and the other usual suspects hate it because it has several gay characters and deals a lot with the gay-straight-bi issues. Bottom line, if gays like it, someone like Beck will hate it for that reason alone.

Glee is often very hilarious. It features an interesting mix of outrageous characters and often caricatures their problems. There is the drama queen (Rachel Berry), the "bad ass" who sleeps with all the cheerleaders and everyone else (Noah Puckerman), the stereotypical dumb blonde (Brittany S Pierce), the girl who always says yes (Santana Lopez), the flaming homo (Kurt Hummel), the more reserved homo that girls actually hit on (Blaine Anderson), the pretty boy quarterback (Finn Hudson), the cheer captain (Quinn Fabrary), "pure evil" (Sue Sylvester), and the OCD person (Emma Pilsbury). They are all somewhat stereotypical, but the interactions between everyone works very well.

Some things are very well done. There is the relationship between auto mechanic father (Burt Hummel) and his very gay son (Kurt). And Quinn is actually one of the most complicated characters I have watched in any series. There are moments that will make you laugh and cry.

And some of the one-liners are legendary:

"It's a Britney Spears sex riot."

"When the balloon pops, the noise makes the angels cry."

I would give it a shot. I am also happy now that I started from the beginning. It's on season three now.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

I suspect that Glenn Beck and the other usual suspects hate it because it has several gay characters and deals a lot with the gay-straight-bi issues. Bottom line, if gays like it, someone like Beck will hate it for that reason alone.

Chris,

You couldn't be more wrong. All you have to do is see Beck's shows and it becomes clear.

The first time he discussed Glee, his stated issues were self-gratification and propaganda. And he thinks the show is brilliant. I know enough of Beck to know that he means self-gratification as a primary value (something like when Rand talked about mindless hedonism) and the propaganda he talks about is obviously left-wing.

Here's what he said. Of course, the left went nuts with it like they always do (Google Beck and Glee and you'll see what I mean).

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G-Hx7pCMS_c?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If all someone knows is the mainstream press's image of Beck, I can understand the error of thinking he is a homophobe (he is not, but he's not an advocate of gay qua gay either--he is anti-class warfare in all its guises, i.e. being gay is an individual matter to him, not a collective one).

From what I have read, you normally do not adopt mainstream agendas like this, but I guess people end up swallowing some mainstream swill now and then based on their own preconceptions...

Michael

[Selene]

Thanks Michael.

I was going to make this exact point.

[algernonsidney]

His comment that "everybody is sleeping with everybody else" is way off. There are two characters on the show that I would call promiscuous--Santana Lopez and Noah Puckerman. Several characters on the show haven't had sex at all. This includes the counselor Emma Pillsbury. The characters do go from relationship to relationship and do seem to cheat a lot. I can't say that they are perfect, but there is not much that sex on Glee. There aren't even very many makeout scenes. It's more talk than action.

Naturally I wonder how he came to these conclusions after watching only TWO episodes. I'm willing to bet that his anti-Glee rants are based on other things he has read or has heard from people who are just like him. I would love to know what his "sources" are for all this. The song comes from the episode "Comeback," and there isn't any sex in that episode at all. The most "objectionable" thing in that episode is a fake suicide attempt.

The show certainly does exploit sex appeal. I have called it the "best eye candy show I've watched." The cheerleaders are constantly in uniform when they are on the squad and even wear their uniforms in makeout scenes and sex scenes. And when Quinn is pregnant, it hardly shows.

I don't care if you watch the show or not. I was looking for people who have actually watched it. The only Randist I know who watches it is Jim Peron. He even has posted on his Facebook about the show.

Beck's criticisms of the show seem a lot like the socialist criticisms of Rand. They are uninformed and misinformed. They generally grab one piece of "evidence" and just run with it. I suspect there is more confirmation bias here than an actual attempt to watch the show and learn something about it.

I know that Beck doesn't come out and say that he hates it because gays love it. Most conservatives do not do this. But when conservatives read about all these gay awards that the show has won, I suspect that most conservatives already go into watching the show with a negative attitude.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Chris,

LOL...

With all due respect, your post reads like confirmation bias.

If you can, step back and try to read it with an independent frame of mind and you'll see what I mean. If not, or you don't want to, well... not.

Whatever...

I do agree that Beck is a Christian and has some standard Christian attitudes--ones that even I don't share. But, frankly, from what I have seen, he has far more libertarian attitudes in social matters than Christian ones--except maybe for the fact that he promotes charity as an individually chosen virtue (note--he hates the idea of collectively enforced charity).

He certainly has far healthier epistemological habits than many--not all, but many--libertarians and Objectivists I have read (i.e., he questions his own sacred cows, checks original sources for history, sees if a person has had a "major change point" in his life when his words do not fit with his past, he openly and publicly corrects himself when he believes he was wrong, etc.).

I think this is a good way to use your mind.

And he is a producer in the most noble entrepreneurial spirit I can think of. He kinda reminds me of Hank Rearden in the way he slaps him name on everything he builds.

Michael

[algernonsidney]

Jim Peron said that I could post this comment here: "If anything, the characters in Glee have sex less often that real high school students."

I suspect that he meant than instead of that.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Chris Baker

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Chris,

Jim doesn't like Glenn Beck, but, hell, nobody's perfect. Jim has many other redeeming qualities. As do you.

Michael

[algernonsidney]

Glenn Beck admits to watching two episodes. I have watched 46. Who do you think knows more about the show?

In fact, Glee does agree with my politics in at least one instance. It portarys public schools very negatively with regard to the issue of bullying gays. It portrays a private school positively.