Before I even get into this week’s episode, I have to just comment on everybody being atwitter about a Tweet put out there by ex-American Idol castoff Elliott Yamin. This is pretty much what he said:
“Can someone please xplain what the big deal is with #Glee ?..what’s so entertaining about watchin actors lip sync 4 an hour?..I don’t get it…oh…so…this is what really goes on in HS nowadays?…kids walk around lip syncin 2 auto tuned radio garbage? ..not hatin,just dont get it”
Well, for starters, I have to say, this is why I don’t Tweet—because I much prefer the ability to actually stay as close to English grammar as possible, so blogging allows me to re-read what I’ve written and at least correct the occasional typo. Plus, rather than the knee-jerk reaction to stimulus that Tweeting is (the kind that leaves you looking all jerk, without the knee), blogging offers you time to RATIONALLY think about what you’re saying before you say it.
As for Yamin’s comments, doesn’t Elliott expect people to watch and like his lip synced videos on MTV Hits??? Judging a show simply as the one with ‘the lip syncing high school kids’ (which many haters on message boards do with this show) is incredibly shallow for someone like Yamin, who claims to be an artist. As an artist, he should recognize the aristry that goes into the show–there’s a whole lot more than just lip syncing going on here. The writing is complex, there’s characterization, human emotions and social experiences are explored, and the humor is fantastic even if not everyone’s cup of tea (all humor is subjective—how else would Russell Brand keep getting jobs?). Most importantly, despite lip syncing during filming (something that’s been done in movie musicals since their inception–is West Side Story a piece of garbage?), just like Elliott, these kids are going into recording studios to actually sing this stuff first, where there may be some fine-tuning of vocals, just as there is with every recording artist. But on top of that, these kids are learning lines, acting and emoting, spending hours learning choreography, getting fit into costumes–yeah, sure. This show is just a bunch of hacks being autotuned for a living…
But on to last night’s episode, a perfect demonstration of why this show is loved and appreciated by so many. The show was all about the struggles of being who we are, saying what we feel, and the masks we wear to hide the painful truths and our own insecurities. Musically, it was all brilliantly captured through the music and personas of Lady GaGa and Kiss (who would ever have imagined this kind of combination?). Sure, the girls’ (and gay’s) performance of “Bad Romance” was fun, and the boys’ performance of Kiss’s “Shout it Out Loud” a hot mess. But a song like “Poker Face” took on a totally different meaning when being sung as a duet between Lea Michele and her TV mom Idina Menzel—revealing that while the two women were claiming they weren’t ready to be mother and daughter, what they were feeling inside, behind their ‘poker faces’ was a totally different story. And how brilliant of the writers to pull back on a story that seemed to be propelling forward way too fast. That’s a not-uncommon practice on the show, which often feels like it’s giving you the money shot way too fast, but then gives the ‘predictable’ storyline a complicated twist that is far being resolved. Sure, Rachel and her mom have called off a hugs and kisses reunion for now, because that would be too easy. Instead, the show is opting for realism. This is going to be a slow burn.
And then we have the harshly realistic tension that has arisen between Kurt and Finn, even if the circumstances are kind of ridiculous with their parents deciding to move the two families in together and force the classmates to share a single bedroom as if they are brothers. For starters, if Kurt’s house is so much bigger than Finn’s house with two and a half bathrooms, why the frick do Kurt and Finn have to SHARE a room—the basement, no less? What exactly is the rest of the house comprised of? A kitchen, living room, dad’s bedroom and two and a half bathrooms? But, whatever. Because the results of this new living arrangement are painfully real—especially on Finn’s part. And my only problem with the whole storyline is that it’s so unbalanced. Two teenage boys have to share a room—one straight, one gay. Why is it that the straight boy is the only one who has to learn to deal with it? When Kurt makes their space look like something out of The King and I, Finn flips out and calls some of the décor ‘faggy.’ Kurt’s dad goes ballistic and makes a heart-wrenching speech about expecting more from Finn and the true homophobia that using that word reveals in a person. Kurt, just like most gays, is so used to hearing the word, often simply as a synonym for ‘not cool,’ so he tries to defend Finn’s usage. But in the end, it is Finn who is pretty much told he just has to deal and accept that he’s a homophobe. But that’s not reality, and that’s not really the full extent of Finn’s side of the story, which is where the writing became one sided.
The fact is, in high school, everyone is uncomfortable—with their bodies, with their sexuality, with the thought of changing in front of their peers in the locker room. All the gay guys I know were the ones who were incredibly uncomfortable with stripping down to their undies in front of other boys. And let’s be honest. What straight teenage boy wouldn’t be uncomfortable in an intimate setting like sharing a bed and bathroom if he knew the boy he is sharing with is gay AND has a crush on him? Finn’s feelings are perfectly natural and he has every right to express them, even if they way he expressed it wasn’t particularly PC. And it doesn’t help that Kurt is so stalkerish in his feelings for Finn. It would be more realistic if Kurt was awkward and uncomfortable around Finn rather than trying to devise a plot to get them to be roomies. The whole plot makes his character seem way too calculated and, you know, like the stereotypical gay predator. Considering the majority of the creators behind the show probably ARE gay, it’s surprising that they would paint him this way and then berate the straight character for being an ‘insensitive,’ homophobic bully. It feels to me like they’ve written themselves into a problematic situation that is only managing to present both characters involved as two-dimensional stereotypes. In the end, it is Finn who sees that it is HE who is completely in the wrong, so he comes to his senses, admits he has a lot to learn, and protects Kurt from other bullies. Well, when is it Kurt’s turn to learn to respect others? Sure, he claims he got over Finn a long time ago, but that’s way too easy an out for him. He also needs to learn that straights have feelings that are just as real. Hopefully the creators are going to work on that.
But one more smart moment stems from the boys’ new living arrangement—which began weeks ago in the ‘Home’ episode, which included the song “A House is Not a Home” being sung by Kurt and Finn. The thinking ahead that must go into this show, because continuing the Kiss theme, Puck sings Kiss’s “Beth” to Quinn in reference to what they are going to name their baby, but Finn takes over for one verse—a verse that includes the line “our house just ain’t a home,” which he sings while looking directly at Kurt. Wow. Yeah, these Glee people are a real bunch of hacks.
