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Anonymous asked: NOT trying to start an argument at all, just genuinely curious. When/where has Glee said it's "trying to teach lessons about equality and individuality and shit"? I know you didn't make the post, but you seem significantly more in-fandom. |
Well in theory, that’s the whole point of glee, right? And it worked in the front 13 - we got a band of genuine misfits that banded together to find a place that they could not only survive and get along, but really thrive and be true to themselves. Sure, there were issues back then, but they weren’t as glaring. Lessons learned from the episodes were what you took out of it, nothing more or less.
Then starting in season two, glee really started shoving itself in your face with all of that, and it ended up being preachy and condescending instead of whatever they were actually aiming for. Storylines and characters began to be shaped around these specific lessons. And then when they run out of anti-teen-drinking/anti-anything-other-than-Christianity stories, they kind of fall back on the whole “equality and individuality” thing.
To an extent, they do achieve that sense of equality. To an extent, I’m sure that having openly gay characters like Kurt and Santana has helped a lot of people come to terms with their identities. The problem is that it doesn’t push beyond that when it should. There are many opportunities for them to deal with bisexuality, but instead we have Sam (who many believed to be bi) openly declaring how straight he is and Brittany not being able to talk about it, period. This show has instead opted to deal with a trans* character, which is definitely a lot more controversial, than finishing what they started with their bisexual character(s). They refused to keep anyone in the middle ground, pushing them to either “full gay” or “full straight” except for Brittany, who they can’t really undo (though lord knows they’ve tried). They have made openly anti-bisexual statements. This has nothing to do with your question, but I got off on a tangent and I apologize for that.
Back on topic. Basically, glee promotes togetherness, and teamwork, and equality regardless of gender/sex/race/orientation. Maybe it hasn’t said that in so many words, but it’s obvious that that’s what it’s going for. That’s why it’s such a shame that it ultimately achieves none of that.
