With media and social
entertainment easily obtained through television use or the internet, it’s hard
to resist temptation to just tune in and watch the latest hit show. I’ll admit
there are far too many times when I would fall victim to the draining colored
images of mindless entertainment. But I’m not ashamed and why should I be? The
television is there for people to unwind from a long day at school, at work, or
to just simply relax and stay informed. It requires little to no mental effort
and with moderation and a good selection of shows, it can seem harmless. One
day, as I was sitting back, with my shoes off and my pajamas on, one
particularly interesting show caught my attention. Glee, a musical show focusing on a group of high school outsiders,
left a great impression. While this show addressed the struggles of high school
bullying and harassment, it also embedded personal feelings of young gay and
lesbian teenagers, disabled teenagers, ethnic minorities, and stereotypically
popular students. I can see how the show’s depiction of a young gay teenager
can be viewed as an over-exaggerated, possibly tainting the LGBTQ community,
but I also perceive it as a great advancement, identifying issues and
broadcasting it to a greater community.
For my paper proposal,
there are various articles I’d like to use to argue my point. Nan Stein’s
“Bullying, Harassment and Violence among Students” and Theo van der Meer’s “Gay
Bashing- a rite of passage?” both bring up interesting factors about bullying
that can relate to the messages presented from Glee. They present issues of peer groups in a personal level and in
a broad setting, making it relatable to individuals who are attacked for
reasons that may not relate to homophobia (Van der Meer 61). It is difficult to
be on the radar as a minority and it’s even more difficult when you are a
multiple minority, including race, gender, sexuality, disability, and the
struggles of high school. Thus, two more interesting articles come to mind.
Smith’s “Homophobia: Why bring it up?” and Tomas Almaguer’s “Chicano Men: A
Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior” does an amazing job bring up
new issues to the table. They present ideas of complexity within one’s
identity, making gender, race and ethnicity growing factors of homosexuality,
issues that white males can’t truly understand (Smith 112). Santana, one of the
main characters in Glee, is a strong Chicana woman who struggles
with her lesbian identity, drawing in Almaguer’s point of Chicano families, sometimes
unable to accept a lesbian family member (547). With Glee, there are many
angles to approach the diversity presented in this show, making it difficult to
really address the LGBTQ community more appropriately or without attachments of
stereotypes. It is one of the best ways to gain popularity, attacking all minorities,
saying things out loud that many people were already thinking. But the way I
see it, by presenting issues up front and being able to laugh at uninformed
perspectives of certain individuals creatively brings up social issues that need
to be made known at a greater population.
Works
Cited
Almaguer,
Tomas. “Chicano Men: A Cartography of Homosexual Identity and Behavior.” A Journal
of Feminism Cultural Studies 3.2 (1991) 75-100.
Smith,
Barbara. “Homophobia: Why Bring it Up?” The
Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. New York
& London: Routledge (1993) 111-115.
Stein,
Nan. “Bullying, Harassment and Violence Among Students.” Racial Teacher. 80 (2007) 30-35.
Van
Der Meer, Theo. “Gay bashing- a rite of passage?” Culture, Health & Sexuality 5.2 (2003) 153-165.
One of the claims that you make in you blog that I found very intriguing is how you state that, “It is difficult to be on the radar as a minority and it’s even more difficult when you are a multiple minority.” I found this very interesting, because as a film major I’ve learned about improper representation of minorities in films and television shows, but I’ve never thought about intersectional minorities being improperly represented in films and in television. Even Barbara Smith makes this claim in her article, she says that the typical gay man is portrayed as “white with a large discretionary income” which “allows one to ignore . . . women and people of color and working class and poor and disabled and old.” As scholar and media critic Jonathan Gray states, “if a person has never seen certain things or been to certain places, the media provides the ability to fill that missing information,” therefore it is the media’s responsibility to properly represent the LGBTQ community in order to properly educate society. That is way it is important that they address the issues that Santana goes through, in order to properly represent intersectional minorities and educate society about the issues that these minorities encounter on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteGray, Jonathan. “Keeping it real: Reality and representation.” Television Entertainment. Routledge. New York and London. 2008
Smith, Barbara. “Homophobia: Why Bring it Up?” The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. ed. Henry Ablelove et al New York & London: Routledge, 1993.
I really like your post because I agree that Glee broadcasts the realities (maybe slightly exaggerated realities) of bullying to a broader audience. We've all seen shows involving bullying issues, but rarely do they entail bullying due to sexual orientation or minority background. I believe this is because this is a sensitive topic that many shows do not want to address. The fact that Glee clashes together the use of song and high school life makes it attractive to the younger demographic and subsequently raises awareness among high school communities. Homosexual prejudice and racism are extremely prevalent issues nowadays, and I am glad that there is a show that is not afraid to tackle these issues headfirst. I also agree that by attacking these issues and being upfront, Glee is raising awareness that needs to be raised. Sometimes, simply hosting an assembly or seminar about gay issues in the community does not engage or attract listeners, especially high school and middle school students. By creating this extremely popular television series, viewers are entertained, and in a way, educated at the same time.
ReplyDeleteMichael Inouye
Glee truly does stand out from the other hit teen shows in that it represents nearly every minority group that is stigmatized or bullied in the U.S. high school environment. It features multiple characters who are gay or lesbian, as well as characters who do not conform to gender norms, such as coach Beiste. The show should be taken seriously and not just as mindless entertainment, since it does address stereotypes as well as informing the greater community about various social issues. It certainly presents a nonrealistic and somewhat idealized view of the high school experience, but then again it is meant to provide entertainment first, not education. It might show over-exaggerated or stereotyped presentations of the LGBTQ community, but at least it addresses the issues and doesn’t pretend they don’t exist like other popular shows might.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Glee addresses intersecting identities including LGBTQ, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities has many connections to the course and the course readings. I think it definitely incorporates the concept of intersectionality, such as in Tomas Almaguer’s essay which explains the difficulties gay Chicano men face when trying to juggle multiple aspects of identity (Almaguer, 115). The teens in Glee similarly struggle with developing their identities and still managing to stay afloat in the bully-ridden battleground of the high school campus.
I agree with how you believe that media portrayal of diversity is a step in the right direction. However, creating matters of race, gender, and sex into jokes, in a way trivializes these issues. Publicity is not necessarily always a good thing if it only reinforces the stereotypes that have been made prevalent in mainstream culture. I personally enjoy watching Glee myself, but have noticed that they tend to play to the extreme racial and sexist stereotypes of high school students; for example, Brittany as a dumb blonde, Santana as a ghetto Hispanic, Rachel a Jewish female initially insecure about her “large nose”, as well as other members of the cast. Kurt as the original main gay character was portrayed as bullied and teased; however, still fulfills the type-cast for “white gay men…as members of the privileged racial group”(Almaguer 544). He is well-off, supported by his father, and is impeccably dressed at all times. He is a perfect representation of the chic-gay culture that is supported by the media. In no way am I discrediting the positive messages Glee has presented, but I still feel that they lose a sense of authenticity by making their characters represent specific groups of people in a stereotypical fashion.
ReplyDelete