Another post about Glee: This is another article about the episode "Wheels."
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/glee-ful-appropriation
I'm kind of all over the place right now, so that's all for now.
3 years ago
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow so I spent a long time reading the comments on this Bitch magazine blog, when I finally got to the last one "this is the first time I". I think this author makes a point that I've been musing on for a while now. I'm just interested in what your response to someone who makes this argument would be.
ReplyDeleteI'd paraphrase it but I think taking it out of context might be a bad idea.
Someone on this blog made a comment similar to that post earlier, so I'll just respond something similar that:
ReplyDeleteI can see how for some people Glee would be really eye-opening. I do not mean to undermine that. I think any press is good press. So I consider mentioning Glee at all to be me finding a balance between appreciating Glee for what it is and hoping Glee would be better. To quote Elie Wiesel, "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference."
I would hope, and this is why I bring them up, that people would see these criticisms and say, "you know what? That sounds right. We did well to have these characters around, but we really should portray them honestly."
If Glee had really wanted to "explore and show" these issues in a respectful manner, I feel they would take greater lengths to represent oppressed people and allow them to speak as and for themselves.
So it is great that "those people over there" are seeing things in Glee for the first time. But wouldn't it be better if what they first learned wasn't super problematic and had to be re-examined later on? Wouldn't it be better if it was actually challenging a lot of the views very "liberal-minded" people have but attribute to "those conservatives over there"? This, to me, feels a lot like myths about a few men committing sexual violence. It's not "those people over there" but a set of societal norms that we can either seek to examine and possibly change or not.
I don't think I explained myself well enough in that post. I agree that ideally there would be accurate and honest representations of marginalized groups in the mass media. Though I can't imagine an image that would please nearly everyone (that is not said to be an excuse for the incredibly flawed images that are often seen on television and in movies, just saying that these groups are diverse and it would be difficult to create honest portrayals that ring true for everyone or even many in a marginalized group).
ReplyDeleteBut do you see any value in these often flawed, but at least present images?
I do think that there can often be a "those people over there mentality" but I see what that person is saying about being in a liberal arts, affluent, predominately white society. As someone who has a lot of experience with almost all of my relatives with opinions at least tinged with racism or homophobia and often just because of no exposure, I am glad they are at least seeing images of people who are different than them. I think I'm moving into dicey territory here by talking about my own relatives' experiences. But I have seen first hand the impact that something like a Will & Grace kind of portrayal can have on people's understanding of those around them. And I remember being incredibly grateful at one point to see images like the overly effeminate Jack or my friend referring to herself as the Grace to my Will, if only because we were at least beginning to talk about these things.
So I guess I would agree that I hope they see these complaints and say "wow, we can do this better", but I'm still grateful for these flawed images. I guess (sorry this is thinking while I write), I want a combination of praise for having these images with the knowledge that there needs to be discussion/criticism around it because when it stops there nothing is gained.