Connections: Glee to Grinner and Raby Pieces

While the television show, Glee, claims to be raising awareness on issues teenagers face and changing the way we view teenagers as a society, it is still stuck in stereotypical depictions of its characters and dominant ideologies in its themes. The show does bring light to some issues and does try to offer advice or a solution to the problems teens are facing. But it also is laden with stereotypical depictions of so many of its characters. There are the jocks and cheerleaders who are mean, stupid, and only concerned with being popular and having sex. (“How is it that we date the only two girls in high school that don’t put out”-Finn, Never Been Kissed) Kurt, the one gay character, speaks in an overly feminine voice, wears really extravagant clothing, and prefers to hang out with the girl members of the club. (This is exemplified in Never Been Kissed when he has to be told yet again that he is on the boy’s side for battle of the sexes) Then there is the one handicapped character who is treated like a community service project by the equally stereotypical bad boy character. It seems as though Glee takes one step forward but two steps back with these characters.

Leslie Grinner’s SCWAAMP framework can easily be applied to this TV show. Almost every character, except one, is straight and both Never Been Kissed and Furt exemplify this. For the most part, all of the kids in the club are paired off into heterosexual couples. In Never Been Kissed, Coach Beiste is tortured from her high school years and the fact that she has never been kissed nor had the picture perfect relationship with a man. In Furt, the focus of the episode is the heterosexual wedding of Finn’s mom and Kurt’s dad. Sam also gives Quinn a promise ring in this episode, symbolizing yet another heterosexual tradition.

In terms of Christian ideology, this was also present in the episodes. Some of the girls seem to be saving themselves for marriage and are shown wearing cross necklaces. Also, the wedding between Kurt’s dad and Finn’s mom is officiated by some sort of a priest. Whiteness as the norm is also present in this show. While there are a few non-White characters, one black girl and two Asian people, the cast is predominantly White. Even though there are characters with different ethnicities they are not really the main characters or the focus of the stories. All of the characters are able-bodied except for one. He is shown as a community service project in Never Been Kissed. I do have to applaud Glee though because, for the most part, Artie is a part of the dance numbers and is perfectly capable of keeping up with the rest of his peers.

All of the characters in the three episodes were American and there was really no depiction of anything non-American. Male dominance is definitely represented on this show. The girls’ entire status and being are dependent on their boyfriends. In order to become popular, the girls find the most popular guy (the football players mostly) and start dating him. In Never Been Kissed, the girls dumb themselves down in order for Puck to like them. The only aspect of the SCWAAMP framework that cannot really be applied is property holding. None of the students really have property besides Puck and Artie when they collect money for singing.

Elements of Raby’s discourses are also present on Glee. The “Storm”, “Becoming”, and “At Risk” are depicted because the teenagers on the show are shown as being experimental, risk taking, and uncertain of who they are. The boys and girls are experimenting with sex in the Never Been Kissed episode and I’m sure they experiment with drugs and/or alcohol in other episodes (I do not watch the show on a regular basis so I can only assume). These also tie in with the risk taking factor. Tina and Mike take this riskiness to a different level when they do into a classroom to fool around. In the episode, Furt, the boys take a risk when they stand up to the school bully and end up in a violent altercation. Quinn is shown as uncertain of what she wants in terms of a boyfriend, Kurt is uncertain of his place in the school and with his identity, and the school bully is uncertain of his sexuality (shown when he kisses Kurt in the locker room).

This article further emphasizes the stereotypes in the show.

Points to Share: I wonder what the other members of the class think about these obvious stereotypes. I also wonder if they think Glee has the potential to ever accomplish it's goals of being more open and honest about teenagers or if these depictions have set them too far back. Also, I question whether or not people are really bothered by these stereotypical characters or if they simply take them at face value as characters on an entertaining show.