Ok, so thanks to the magic of Facebook and friends who seem to have the same interests and feelings about such things they way I do, I stumbled upon an article posted to ChristianWire.org in late January. The article examines the show Glee; spouting out nonsensical arguments about how it will turn your children gay, how the characters are horrible and the actors who play them are ill fit, how it is filled with way too much sex and violence, and how the show is oddly like Golden Girls, in the sense that it will turn this decade's generation of boys into wimpy men looking to indulge in sleazy motel acts with foreigners.
So, paragraph by paragraph, piece by piece, I will tear this article (and it's writer) a new one. Cause frankly, I can't stand that 1) there are people who actually think this crap, and 2) that those who do decide to spend time writing up some sort of soap box article about such matters fail to use actual fact or anything resembling fact to back up their arguments. Come on people!! If you actually watched the show you would know whats in it and what is not, and if you have any sort of open, intelligent, and logical mind, you would clearly be aware that there is a lot more going on in the show than just a gay guy who wants to date a football jock. SHIT.
The article opens with an outright accusation that Glee is intentionally wholesome for the first 15 minutes, then afterwards, once parents turn their heads, it becomes a "dark" show. A direct quotation from the article states that "It contains a surprising number of mature scenarios– from pre-marital sex to drug use, from adultery to abortion, from premature ejaculation to explicit homosexual experimentation."
Pre-marital sex: In the show's first season, a large part of the plot revolved around this topic. Quinn was dating Fin; Quinn leads the abstinence club, and Fin is the head of the football team. Quinn dates Fin because he and she are the "most popular" kids in school. Quinn sticks to abstinence because her parents believe in it, and she knows it is the sort of thing that ropes in horny guys. If you ever were a high school student, you KNOW a lot of the creepy jocks were into hot virgins, and a lot of the hot chicks played hard to get. This whole thing is just formulaic and typical. Fin genuinely loves Quinn, and unfortunately is too innocent and dopey to realize she is a confused, lonely girl, and a big lying manipulator. So here is the kicker: Quinn gets pregnant by the more rebellious foot ball player, Puck, but lets Fin know he is the father.
Premature ejaculation: This happens in ONE episode for 5 SECONDS. A little scene of Quinn and Fin in Quinn's parent's hot tub. It is assumed she was being way too touchy feely with Fin, and he ends up, you know...in the hot tub. THE END. This was used to illustrate Quinn's reasoning to Fin as to why he is the father, even though they had never had sex. Fin, because he is sweet and innocent, and because this is HIGH SCHOOL people - not everyone is sex crazy or 100% knowledgable about sex, and if they are, its either because of sex ed, other students, or the shit you see in music videos, which are easy to find online, so if you really want a solution to your child's potential depletion of innocence, then take away their computer and smart phone - believe that uncontrollably ejaculating into a pool of water can get girls pregnant.
*Side Note: If you know ANYTHING about biology, then you'd know that young guys, with little to no experience with sex, are just gunna ejaculate every now and then. Unless you are the purest and simplest of minds, you know exactly what turns you on, and gets your gears moving. Most men are built and engineered to like breasts and ass, and a first encounter with real ones could cause an accident down under.
Abortion: Quinn considers this maybe one time, for two seconds, then changes her mind because she feels it is wrong and she could never do such a thing. Hey look, the Christians win with this one. So wouldn't you be happy that your child saw such a brimming example of good decision making? I know Quinn made the mistake of having sex with Puck, but at least she is going in the right direction right???
Drugs: Ok, so the old choir teacher sells pot, and Puck buys some in hopes of reselling it (or baking it into bake sale brownies) to get money for his and Quinn's baby. So accidentally getting the whole student body high is pretty bad, but from what I can recall, pot never gets into the brownies...does it?
Adultery: So why can't Mr. Schuester make friends with the only nice teacher/admin at school? He thinks Emma is nice, and Emma loves him dearly, but that doesn't mean Mr. Married Schuester is thinking about cheating on his wife. He doesn't even find out Emma loves him till he leaves his wife, and even then it took extreme events to cause Mr. Schuester to leave his wife; who was faking being pregnant just to keep his interest in her. Can you say psycho?
Explicit homosexual experimentation: Uhhh....what? Just cause there is a gay character in this show, doesn't mean explicit homosexual experimentation is going on. How small minded can some people be? Kurt is gay, and Kurt likes Fin. Kurt never tries to kiss him, or make Fin gay at all. Kurt tries to get close to Fin, become friends with him, and get Fin to realize that homosexuals aren't the scum of the earth, aren't out to homo everyone else up, etc. But that is how the writer of this article thinks; Kurt is trying to get Fin (and others I guess) to explicitly experiment with homosexuality.
And to cover my tracks a bit: for some of these plot scenarios, I do not deny that they happened, that they are somewhat adult in theme, and that they are somewhat a bit out there. I will say this, for each and everyone of these "adult" matters, the high schoolers always learn what is write (or socially acceptable) in the end. Quinn learns having sex was a poor choice, because the consequence now is a baby; she learns lying to Fin was a poor choice because she lost him; she learns that telling the truth hurts, and has consequences, but that you are still better off in doing so. Kurt learns that feeling the way he does is hard, especially when those you love the most don't reciprocate, not even you own parents.
*Side Note: I mean COME ON. If you are going to call Glee a show that is only on the side of the devil and dark forces, trying to get our kids pregnant or gay, then you clearly haven't watched a lick of it. Kurt's father is the epitome of a man who struggles with homophobia, stereotyping, and "man" issues. He wants his son to be a football player, so Kurt joins the team to get his father's love. Kurt wants to be close to Fin, so he sets his father and Fin's mother up, and they end up falling in love and moving in. Fin hates to be moving in with Kurt, because Fin is a homophobe and afraid of being turned gay. Each of these scenarios end poorly, for the intended result is not what actually happens. Kurt can't take the jock role for it is not who he is; Kurt's dad loves Fin, for Fin is everything he's wanted in a son; Fin becomes overly homophobic and bigoted at Kurt, and Kurt's dad kicks Fin out in defense of Kurt, for Kurt's dad learns to accept and love Kurt for who he is.
Glee always explores both side of any issue it chooses to write into its episodes. It never choses to be strictly liberal or strictly conservative. It explores the consequences of good and bad choices, and involves in these events all types of youth and adults.
“gratuitous sex, explicit dialogue, violent content, and obscene language. It is completely unsuitable for children.” Uhh, k, what the fuck? There is no more sex in this show than there are in the dance routines on "Dancing with the Stars." Maybe as much explicit dialog as you would find on the news. Who considers jocks throwing geeks into dumpsters as "violent content?" Obscene language; I guess if the words Gay, sequence, crap, and practically everything that comes out of Sue's mouth is "obscene." I'd say rude, but not obscene. She is in fact very witty and clever with her insults.
"To understand the dangerous implications of this poorly conceived series, let me start with the characters. They are just not believable. All the women students look to be in their late 20s or early 30s in real life. The teachers aren’t the suffering and hardened types you’ll find in real American public schools. This rosy little place of Glee is devoid of gun violence, sexting, drug dealing, suicide and larger questions of faith."
Ok, so let me get this strait (hehe strait): You want there to be gun violence, sexting, drug dealing, suicide, and large questions of faith in this show, or any show depticting high school life for that matter??? STOP FLIP FLOPPING YOUR ARGUMENT!!
Also, all public school teachers are suffering and hardened types? What??? At least half of the high school teachers I have met are there because they love to teach, and care about the future of our youth. Yes teaching sucks for most, and yes it is hard and makes you hate your life sometimes (or at least, that is the stereotype) but why does every teacher need to be portrayed this way. Ins't it good to think that at least some teachers care about their kids? Thats why Mr. Schuester's wife is a good "other side of the argument" in this. She condemned her husbands love for the kids. Also, there are plenty of faculty, even key character ones (like Sue) who hate being a teacher.
As far as hiring older actors go...yes, it needs to be done. You can't take actual high schoolers and throw them into the cast. There are things like child labor laws that keep that from happening. Also, not everyone wants to be a home schooled tv star. In addition, there are PLENTY of high schoolers that look like they are in their 20's, and plenty of people in their 20's that look like they are in their teens.. Thats why we I.D. people who wish to partake of adult thingies...
"Instead of a real world high school, we have a fantasyland of happy, shirtless teens hanging out in the showers or dancing on million dollar stages."
Some schools have nice setups, and actually have stages for performing on. Not every school in America, but I'd be comfortable with saying plenty. And Shirtless? What the hell???
"Why must the producers of this show have so many shots of the football team in the locker room? They’re constantly dropping their shorts and jumping into a steamy shower, showing off tight biceps or lathering themselves all over with a fresh bar of soap. Is this some crafty attempt to appeal to the homosexual segment of the show’s audience? Is it really appropriate for today’s male teens to let this sort of softcore utopia influence them?"
Again...steamy shower scenes hardly happen in this show. And locker room confessionals are perfectly normal when conversations are happening between members of a sports team. Lastly, I think show tune are enough appeal for the homosexual audience.
"Additionally, the show has far too many musical numbers. From R&B hits to showtunes to classic rock & roll, the boys and girls of Glee really can put on a performance. But it’s not convincing on that million-dollar stage. They come across as trying too hard with their exaggerated facial expressions and hip posturings, the soaring voices ranges. They’ve clearly been coached. The singing is just too finely polished. The dance numbers are too excruciatingly choreographed. No high school kids can put on these sorts of shows at the spur of a moment. These things require years of gut-wrenching training."
The show is about musical numbers...and I can't think of any stage performance that ins't coached...its a fucking Glee club. Now as for the spontaneous choreographed routines in the school hallways, or the local shopping mall, I'd like to defend the show by saying that I am sure 99.9% of people who watch this aren't so dumb as to think these type of on the fly performances are completely doable and realistic. They are used to illustrate what is going on with the characters at the moment. Music is a way of expressing feeling. So when Artie dreams about being able to dance while shopping at the mall, he is perfectly free to imagine himself dancing with several others to "Safety Dance." And lastly, have you met some of the tallented kids that are popping up all over the country? These kids are born with the ability to sing and dance so well, without training, and on the fly. I've met teens who learn to dance from youtube, and can break out some killer moves the moment a fly tune comes on. And singlers like Leah Michaels are just born that way. End of story. As a singer myself (but not as good as she) I will admit I had no training outside the school choir, and I can break out into a song and dance just fine :)
"Ultimately, these ad hoc songfests give children a very false impression about talent and success. They areled to believe if they just spin around and shout, they’re creating world-class music. They are led to believe we live in a world where anybody and everybody can succeed as long as they have heart. But this is far from true. Some people are born with the vocal chords for music, others have the bodies for football and others have the brains for math. That is reality. But this show is a drug of false expectations that will inevitably harm our children. It convinces impressionable teens to avoid serious career training in favor of having “fun” in the “arts.” Also, the music numbers just drag down the plot of the show."
Most of the "talent" we see on tv and in other media are poor examples of talent and success. Most of these famous folks get lucky, or are attractive enough and can sing well enough to get signed and use auto tune to wow the world with their original written for them not by them music. What is wrong with believing that heart can get you where you wanna be? It is kinda true. Heart plus working hard! And when is serious career training a part of high school? High school is about learning the basics, self discovery, personality and social skill development. So having fun and dabbling in the arts is a sure fire way to accomplish all of the above! And lastly, like I said, the show IS ABOUT MUSIC AND MUSIC EXPRESSION. There kinds needs to be a plot thrown in so that we have a basis for the music chosen, and a feel for what is going on with the characters. Glee is the real high school musical, not that crappy Disney shit.
"Another major fault with the show is its fawning celebration of teenage homosexuality and consumer indulgence. Again the show makes the case that accepting the gay lifestyle and making yourself as outrageous as possible will help you achieve something despite whatever social limitations you may have. Disregarding any sense of fair play, the show does not offer any alternative to the gay lifestyle argument. There are no teens cured of their relentless and wild male sex desires, there are no moral figures on hand to give a comforting hand, there are no popular boys who say, “I don’t want to hurt my family anymore and I love Jesus, so I am going to stop doing gay things with guys in the bathroom.”
THIS DOESN'T EVEN HAPPEN IN THE SHOW!!! Do I have to repeat myself? Eh no.
"Recently, I wrote about studies that revealed the dangerous influence that the 1980s tv show “The Golden Girls” had on American men now in their 30s, 40s and 50s (see “The Golden Girls: How One TV Show Turned A Generation Of American Boys Into Homosexuals”). The link between watching the Girls and increased risks of homosexual behavior was made abundantly meaningful. In a nutshell, the Golden Girls turned a generation away from procreation. It made our American boys into the most raunchy, campy, carnal people on the planet. If, as a society, we could have returned to the 80s with what we know now and stop that show, American culture might be drastically different today."
BETTY WHITE IS THE BADDEST BITCH I KNOW, AND SHE IS ALSO SWEET AND CLEAN AND WHOLESOME. SHE EVEN ORDERS HER PET MEDICINE ONLINE AND HAS IT SENT RIGHT TO HER DOOR STEP!! DON'T KNOCK TO GOLDEN GIRLS!! AND FURTHER MORE, WHAT YOUNG MEN EVEN WATCHED THAT SHOW IN THE 80'S??? I AM SURE ONLY OLDER MEN DID, AND IF ANY YOUNG MEN (NOW ADULTS) DID WATCH THE SHOW, THEY WERE PROBABLY ALREADY GAY TO BEGIN WITH. JUST SAYING... (and excuse the bigotry in that statement).
So it is needless to elaborate any further on just how much this article pissed me the hell off. Glee is all about the joy people find in music, and through musical expression. It is about the goodness in people, and the struggles we all face as adults and kids. I don't deny that Glee certainly touches on almost every taboo topic: from homosexuality and Lady Gaga, to unrealistic song and dance routines and fat football couches in Bermuda shorts. Glee is definitely dangerous people! Damn you -the most conservative channel on prime time tv-FOX !!!
