Glee’s Gravity
I’m an increasingly big fan of Glee, a show on Fox about a high school glee club. (There will be spoilers, so stop reading now if you’re worried about that.) Initially, I felt like all of characters were incredibly obnoxious, and excessively flawed to the point of driving me crazy. Now, however, I think they’ve done a good job humanizing all of them, and they’ve all really grown on me. (With the exception of Will’s wife. She’s obviously supposed to be disliked, but I think the writers have gone too far with her. She was one of the initial reasons I doubted the show, but they’ve focused more on other characters in the last few episodes.)
I’m conflicted about this past week’s show, though…
One of the students, Kurt, is gay (very effeminately, stereotypically gay…not a problem, but not very original in and of itself). He decides to try out for the solo in Wicked’s Defying Gravity, a part for a woman, but very much about bucking societal expectations and forging your own path. (I’m going to hope that, if you’re reading this blog, you’re already familiar with Wicked. If not, you should be.) However, the glee club coach initially won’t let him, and Kurt’s dad (who is awkwardly supportive of his son’s sexuality) goes to bat for him and says that, if Kurt isn’t allowed to try out for the part, he’ll sue the school. However, Kurt’s dad gets an ominous phone call – “Your son’s a fag” – and Kurt, worried about the effect his very public female solo part might have on his dad, throws the audition and doesn’t get the solo.
I’m really torn about whether this was the best writing decision. At the very least, I would have liked to see the stakes raised over the course of more than one episode. But even if the outcome had been the same after a more prolonged amping up of the homophobia, what does the outcome communicate?
On the one hand, I completely agree that it’s a realistic choice. Kurt is confident in who he is, but understands that his ‘out’ness has an effect on the people in his life that he loves. On the other hand, compromising yourself for another – even if it’s out of love – isn’t an easy pill for me to swallow; my transition has certainly been more difficult because I’ve seen the effect it’s had on other people in my life but obviously I shouldn’t have postponed or stopped my transition because of other people.
And yet, being gay is not the same as being trans. Kurt isn’t being as out as he possibly could be, but he’s not suppressing or denying his sexuality or identity in the same way that not transitioning might be.
I’m probably putting too much thought into what is, admittedly, a very silly TV show. But I can’t decide how much the positive message of having a strong, gay character in Kurt (even if he’s a bit stereotypical for my taste) is countered by ambiguous messages about his identity…
Themocracy
(I love Kurt too.)
(And I’m annoyed that they opened and closed this plot in one episode–especially one that had eight other plots. I kind of want to know who the anonymous phone caller is.)
I think the analogy holds with lesser compromises, too, though. What if, say, your parents acknowledged your gender but asked you to please keep quiet in front of your relatives or their friends? For now, you know. What if your boss made you to feel unprofessional for transitioning or being out at work? What if you felt a little weird asking your coworkers to acknowledge your new gender?
I think it was an interesting exploration of passive bigotry. You could draw a pretty clear line between the school’s unwillingness to stop treating bullies like royalty and Kurt’s understanding that his father will be too badly hurt by the Wicked solo.
It’s also an interesting situation because his father isn’t encouraging him to be less gay. In fact, his father steps up to make sure he does have the opportunity to do this “gay” thing.
My feelings about it are complicated by being unsure whether I think Kurt is performing this selfless and loving act, or being unfair to his father and himself by not being who he wants to be. (Or both.)
[...] got back from the gym, where I watched last week’s episode of Glee on my phone. I’ve mentioned Glee before, both positively and negatively, but this episode really left a foul taste in my mouth. [...]