So I watched the pilot of Glee about a year and a half ago, after hearing all the buzz about it. I thought it was stupid. Whatever. Since then, as everyone knows, it’s blown up. PEOPLE ARE SO INTO GLEE. Didn’t it win a bunch of Emmys? Or something? Sure, it’s on Fox, but so was Arrested…
Ever read the Theory of 3 Glees? Glee is a tri-polar show because its 3 creators still haven’t figured out the correct direction to take it. One (huge) aspect of the show is the bombast, bright colors and just gaudy music shit. Unfortunately, that’s the Glee that the masses love, the kind of millions of people who vote for American Idol.
But, if you’ve seen more than 2 episodes, you would also know that Glee also has an almost inhumanely sad side to it. Think of the main character, that teacher dude (I forget his name at the moment, also because I don’t care). He is a former Glee club star in high school, thought he could make it big, and is now stuck teaching high school in the small town where he grew up. How can these kids truly escape from their podunk town when their mentor couldn’t even do it? One of the only images I really remember from the show was where one character, directly after performing one of those nice little musical numbers the show loves to do, is shown sadly eating a tv dinner with his single-parent mother and sister in front of the television. It’s punchy, short, and incredibly evocative and real. Glee’s message is hardly like High School Musical’s feel-goodery and dream-achieveyness. In fact, I would argue that some of it is the exact opposite.
I’m not saying Glee is a great show. I haven’t seen it since the Joss Whedon episode. Sure it indulges often with garbage like Madonna, Brittany Spears, and Gaga episodes. But deep (way deep) down, Glee’s emotional realism would put the show way above warranting two awful’s in its description.
1 year ago