Regardless of what I think about the show itself, some other people have things to say about it, too. All I'm going to do is post this link and preface it with this:
If you've ever felt like activism is done, at Carleton or anywhere else, just look at this link.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3226863
Rarely am I surprised by the things people say. However, this is some of the most overt ableism and just plain nastiness I've seen in a while. Gems include:
I hate the disabled.And the response to that:
edit: But I do love their ramps. gently caress stairs.
more importantly, they hate themselves.
One more, just for funsies:
Zwiftef posted:
Wait you're saying that you, a middle class white male that has nearly the most privilege in the entire world, don't understand why lesser privileged people need to have groups to advocate for their needs?
It's not acting if the deformed freak is a deformed freak. Think of the actors! They have rights too.
Really, we are talking about the land of make believe and someone bitches that it's not real. Piss off.
PS. Props to that one person in the forum who called the poster out on their privilege.
I'm definitely not trying to attack you with two comments in one night, but I worry about immediately criticizing a show like Glee. I also think there are weird, problematic portrayals of different minority groups but I worry about reacting to this by immediately writing these shows off.
ReplyDeleteAt what point do we celebrate a mainstream television show for attempting to show and explore issues other programs don't and if all we do is bash them, do we make it harder for more inclusive images to be broadcast?
By attacking shows that begin to look at these issues, do we encourage other programs to ignore them entirely? How do you think we can find a balance? Because I don't see everyone getting satisfied.
I think that one way to look at it is to ignore the issues entirely. And certainly that may be the easiest thing to do, but I would argue not the most morally responsible.
ReplyDeleteI 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."
And I think one of the best ways to do that is to have them represent themselves. 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.
And to speak of a balance? I think any press is good press. So I consider mentioning Glee at all to be me finding a balance. To quote Elie Wiesel, "The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference."
One last point: you used the word "minority." I feel this word is damaging and it's a word Glee uses a lot in reference to marginalized and oppressed groups. What it does is pander to a false sense of a "majority." Who is this majority? I find it to be an incredibly vague and ambiguous group, so much so that I doubt its existence. So when someone then talks about a majority, what I hear is that they are talking about a set of social norms and attempting to justify them through convincing people that they are in the "majority" so far as they are not of color, or so long as they do not have a disability, or so long as they are not queer. But my take on it is, if you start adding up those groups in the "minority," they aren't so much of a minority. They're a lot of voices.
So the point then, is not that they are a minority group, but that historical, institutional, and cultural forces seek to actively oppress them because of their identity or identities.
Thanks for the thoughts!
Also, the post is about the Something Awful forum, not Glee. I think it's so silly that you have glommed onto defending a show instead of thinking about what the people said on the Something Awful forum.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. As for focusing on Glee. The reason I chose to focus on that is that Something Awful is a website that panders to social depravity for comedic purpose. Glee is actually meant for a wide audience and not something that I think is deliberately trying to be offensive. But I'll make sure to read your post on glee specifically.
ReplyDelete