But I understand why people watch it. There are some things to like. It's simple and easy. I know who I'm supposed to root for (Glee clubbers) and who to hate (Lynch's character, Will's wife, cheerleaders). I know everything will work out in the end (even if someone dies or gets pregnant). Life goes on and they are still happy, giving us pretty things to look at, nice things to listen to.
Here is my list of things that I saw and hate about Glee:
1. Everyone is a stereotype
I could list a million of them, but I'll stick to the big three: black female diva, white hetero quarterback, promiscuous cheerleaders.
2. Bad Acting
Jane Lynch aside, the acting is terrible for tv. These are stage actors and it's obvious. Sure they can sing and dance, but that's not acting, that's performing. Besides, Lynch was better in Party Down.
This is only a small clip of how good she was on Party Down.
3. It's not funny
It's not. It's only drama; melodrama.
I laughed twice, maybe three times. Jane Lynch twice, and a little chuckle at Chris Colfer (actually my pick for a supporting actor emmy). I laugh more at three minutes of a regular episode of 30 Rock.
4. Over reliance on music
The show would be over if there were two episodes in a row without music. I understand that music is part of the premise, but it's also the show's one trick pony. Breaking Bad isn't just about cooking and dealing meth, and there are whole episodes that don't feature cooking or dealing meth. My So Called Life isn't solely about a self-centered teenage girl, and the show doesn't stay in Angela Chase's head for every episode.
5. It will never end
When are these people going to graduate and get jobs (do any of them have jobs)? Are they all going to die in a terrible plane crash? The answer is never, and no. Glee is a money machine and it's just going to be milked as long as there's milk. Imagine Glee: The New Class, or Glee: The College Years. It will die a slow and agonizing death.
The reason I hate it, which you sort of mentioned, is that it is completely based on making something that has no originality. The characters are stereotypes. As soon as an episode's conflict is set up, we know the arc and resolution it will take. And the music.
ReplyDeleteLet me just say, I have never like musicals. I saw Les Miserables on Broadway and couldn't have been more annoyed and disappointed. To think I missed Gary Sinise in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for that. Anyway, that experience taught me I wouldn't ever like musicals. But I don't hold anything against people who like musicals. They can have socially relevant stories with new, well crafted music that enters the public's consciousness. I find them melodramatic and false, but I'm a morose chump.
Glee features pop standards, not new music. Music that is already dumbed down for mass appeal gets dumbed down even more. Maybe there's something poetic about having high schoolers express their feeling in the pop music they are inundated with, but I doubt that's what's going on. Glee is the equivalent of every unnecessary movie sequel. It's an easy way to make money. It's the cover band of everything I hated about entertainment in the 2000's.
"(Glee is) the cover band of everything I hated about entertainment in the 2000's."
ReplyDeleteThat is the best thing I've heard all day.
where's the like button?
ReplyDeleteWhat I hate about Glee:
ReplyDelete- The character stereotypes and the terrible writing attempts to 'break free' of them, which they made into, what 20% of the supporting character story arcs?
- The over-use of sarcastic wit. It isn't funny, it isn't entertaining, and it makes it impossible to see these characters as high school teenagers. It makes them incredibly unrelatable. Using this much colorful non-cursing vocabulary is like gravy, when you are served a plate covered in gravy, it is used to mask the bad cooking, just like the wit is being used to cover the horrible writing.
- Even though it is a musical, it isn't a theater play. Too much musical numbers detracts from character growth and plot development.
- Zero character growth. Nothing kills an entertainment buzz more than stoic characters. They didn't grow with the fans. We matured, the characters didn't. It's almost like the show Pokemon where the main character has been adventuring for 20 years, but he is literally forever 10 years old.
- The way the characters are written to deal with their problems is completely unrealistic. Singing a song when you are frustrated doesn't magically make the problem go away. Singing about how you feel about the problem also doesn't miraculously give you the wisdom or courage to appropriately handle said problem either.
- Story arcs kept getting dropped, along with many supporting characters. There are a lot more interesting stories and backstories that could exist for the smaller supporting roles than the characters in the Glee Club.
- The characters drama was expressed way too intensely on a constant basis. I get it, teenagers can be SUPER angsty, but the reality is that people of different personality archetypes deal with situations in different ways. Some are even fairly adept in (*gasp* can it be?) avoiding/preventing drama. We usually call them: The Voice of Reason, and they don't have to be teachers. The ONLY one I could think of that could have possibly filled this role decently was the character Blaine up to a certain point.
Overall, Glee is a poor attempt at representing the troubles and typical drama of high school teenagers. The writers had quickly lost touch with the purpose of the show and in doing so, created a monstrously irritating soap opera. And now I am being subjected to listening to this show in the background while my roommate FINALLY watches through her first run of the show, ugh.
https://www.conservapedia.com/Nazism_at_Arab_Palestinians
ReplyDeleteNazism at Arab "Palestinians"
Not just in the 1930's/40's but today.