I saw the first episode of "Glee"

[eumelia]

And am puzzled.

Perhaps because I am not American, this seems like a replication of every single high school drama ever?
Barring Degrassi which was Canadian and Buffy which mocked high school more than anything.

I mean the songs were good, very talented peeps.

But really? The clump of over done stereotypes is America's top show. I'm not judging anyone who watches it, god knows the stuff I like is considered trash, but really?

Where is the New-ness?
Where am I seeing something that is a little different?

I'll probably view the series, because I can see other members of my family are utterly smitten, but really?
One's inner conflict is by being both a jock and a glee club singer?

Also, why is every female character obsessing over something and it's made to seem dysfunctional? Why is the football coach not taking "No" for an answer when the teacher with OCD rejects him? Why is Jane Lynch constantly type cast as the mannish coach?!

Why is everyone so mean to Artie!? The kid in the wheelchair, the only thing he is, is the geeky kid in the wheelchair.

Again, perhaps because the notion of cliques and this type of stratification of social circles isn't something I've actually experienced and it all seems to be this imaginary and fantastical Jungian thing... it all seems a bit much.

Help me here US friends, is high school really like that? Or is this also Buffy-esque and the monsters are instead simply exaggerated stereotypical roles?

As an aside, my mom told me not to read too much into it. At which point I laughed me EVIL LAUGH! Mwahahahaha.

Comments

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

It's very much the common image of high school, and I think some people do have experiences that hew pretty closely to same. Personally speaking, I certainly didn't.

[http://users.livejournal.com/vinyl__/]

I agree with this, with the addition that I have actually never in my life seen high school faithfully represented on screen.

[mao4269.livejournal.com]

My sister is a fan and I know that for her the appeal is the singing (and associate choreography, mash-up construction, etc.) along with seeing what utterly preposterous, cracktastic plot twist the writers will toss out next.

More generally, I think that some of the appeal is supposed to be that all of the characters are such stereotypes and yet drop it all to spontaneously burst into song.

As for whether high school is actually like that, mine certainly wasn't, by my high school wasn't exactly typical.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

High school for me was clearly divided into tribes gangs clans cliques, and they often were stereotyped. Probably because people believed they had to live up to them. There was a lot of piss-poor behavior and general bullshit. High school sucked. Don't know what your experience was but am curious to know ... a professor of mine said her high school in France was very homey and everyone looked out for each other, which made me wonder if it's only American high schools that are (sometime literally) war zones.

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen Glee, but I just wanted to note that I like that you know about Degrassi <3 Sometimes you don't know how widely-recognized a Canadian show is without outside confirmation.

[constintina.livejournal.com]

I think for a lot of people in the US, the appeal lies in part in how much it is like a million things that have come before. It's like television comfort food with singing and choreography.

I haven't seen it, but I have friends who are in love with it. I have one friend who loves it who told me that she found the first episode or two kind of offensive in its stereotyping and tokenization, but it got better. I've also read critiques that say it doesn't. I'm fairly agnostic, having never seen it, but it doesn't look like something I want to go out of my way to watch. I added it to my Hulu queue, but it's just not happening.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Yes, I like it because its like comfort food. It's just a genuinely nice good gentle funny show.

Plus its very very queer. Which for a primetime show on Fox? Is quite an achievement.

[austengirl.livejournal.com]

Life at my high school was nothing at all like what 'American high school' looks like on film or TV. I was in the marching band and thus a music nerd, had a few good friends (one or two I still keep in touch with) and was mostly extremely glad to graduate and go to college/uni 500 miles away.

I don't think I've ever seen a realistic representation of high school in a mainstream production. A lot of people think My So-Called Life was the most realistic drama about American teenagers; I wasn't a huge fan at the time, but I might enjoy it more now if i watched it again.

Glee has just started in the UK, and here's an article attempting to explain its appeal to a non-American audience: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2010/jan/09/glee-guardian-guide-feature There's also a link to an interview with Jane Lynch, who is very funny on the show, and out.

All that said, I do enjoy Glee, partially for the comfort factor, partially the humour and partially the music and choreography. It's escapist entertainment and I'm ok with that. ;)

[lishablog.livejournal.com]

First off, my impression of high school was that it was exactly what all the stereotypes present. Most of my high schools, anyway. There's the exception of the 6 months I spent in a small, 40 student boarding school situation. Aside from that, high school is a big place where people split up into cliques. You have a few classes that everyone has to take, and then a lot of classes that you can take one of several for each requirement category.

A certain amount of the cliquing up happens in the breakdown of who picks what electives to fulfill which requirement. Did you take ROTC or PE? Did you take film or music or drama for performing arts? Did you take algebra 1 in your freshman year? Or were you already in trig by that time? Which "world history" class did you take? etc.

The next layer of division comes from what you do in terms of extracurricular activities. Here you get Glee club, chess club, French club versus any sport, as an example.

As for the show? I think that it gets better as the characters become more defined. That said, it does take the stereotypes and push them a little too hard, maybe. The evil cheerleading coach in particular. As the show progresses, most of the characters become less one dimensional and more interesting. It wasn't quite enough to hold my interest for more than about a half a season, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Its a big joke. School wasn't like that even here. High school was, for me, a bunch of very frightened teens trying to do what was 'cool' and trying to fit it in with an increasingly diluted, unrealistic worldview.

As for "Glee" - its what passes as muse around here. It has music and its enjoyable, and that translates into "uniqueness" I guess. I don;t know anyone who seriously cares for it except as a background thing.

[(Anonymous)]

oh and this was ninboydean :P

[treesahquiche]

It mostly is just Wonder bread vanilla comfort food, to be quite honest. I think I really only enjoy it because Jane Lynch is wonderful as Sue Sylvester, and the only times when I am actually really and truly paying attention are the times when she's on. She's a fantastic actress and her performances are brilliant, even if she does constantly get typecast.

As you get further into the show, despite all the "we are taking ourselves seriously" sort of drama, it is very tongue-in-cheek. Part of it is visual, with the overly-saturated colors and bright, wet-paint artifice of the entire set, but it's mostly within the acting and dialogue.

The only thing that vaguely makes me uncomfortable is the ableism. The show is ableist while attempting to expose ableism and criticize it. Artie's character is fleshed out more, although it's mostly through the "kid in the wheelchair" angle. He's a good character, well-acted and likable, and there's nothing overtly offensive about the way he's portrayed. Artie is not the only disabled character in the show, but Artie is the only one who really gets any screentime.