http://www.afterelton.com/TV/2010/12/haters-bullying-glee-kurt-hummel
Why are Hater's Bullying 'Glee's' Kurt?
If the first season of Fox's hit show Glee kept Kurt Hummel in the background for some, this season’s most recent episodes have brought him front and center. In the culmination of a story arc on bullying spanning several episodes, the latest Glee rallied the cast in defense of our embattled hero: the girls unleashed their boyfriends on Dave the bully, Mike Chang and Sam roughed Dave up, Sue Sylvester expelled him, while Finn and the rest of the gang lifted Kurt’s spirits with song.
All in all, it was pretty amazing television and Chris Colfer continued to prove himself one of the show’s breakout stars.
So why did the episode seem to start a trickle of haterade from the blogosphere, complete with calls that the show had “jumped the shark” and lost its mojo?
The complaints about Glee have been varied and not all crazy, and nearly all of them implicate the show’s Kurt-heavy episode arc as symptomatic of bigger problems.
Brian Moylan over at Gawker blames Kurt explicitly, saying the show has “canonized” our bullied gay teen and that Kurt is still a pretty cool and strong guy, but we don’t have to keep going on and on about it. Constantly extolling his virtues (and there are many) is making him the most unlikable person on the show.”
TV Guide takes the Kurt saga as evidence the show has, somehow, lost focus: “This show used to be about an idealistic teacher trying to help a group of misfits find their voice through show choir. Now it's all about a kid who is bullied at a school where there are a few less-important misfits in a show choir that never seems to rehearse for the upcoming sectionals, and an annoying teacher with the worst boundaries on the planet. The glee has given way to gloom.”
Other critics, like The Vancouver Sun’s Shelley Fralic, expand the critique to one about the tone of the show: from campy and fun to sappy and overwrought. Writes Fralic, “How did the Fox network singing and dancing Glee club sensation of a series … become so formulaic and cringe-worthy, so preachy and unwatchable that even its campiness can't save it?”
These arguments are not entirely without merit and a worrying drop of 20% in last week’s ratings indicate viewers might be tuning out as well. It was, however a holiday week. People were headed home and perhaps many couldn’t make it to the TV – except to watch the older-skewing Dancing with Stars, which followed the Glee episode and delivered stellar ratings.
Fans of other campy network primetime shows – from Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty to Arrested Development and 30 Rock – know how hard it is to sustain the sexy irony and detachment camp demands.
Shows can either go too far (Housewives), which eventually bores viewers; maintain their edge (Arrested Development), which never gains viewers; or delve into conventional sap (Ugly Betty), which irks your fan base. (PS – I watched all those shows to the end, thank you very much!)
The current Kurt storyline is about Glee “getting real:" bullying is no fun and games. Since the show has many younger viewers, perhaps creator Ryan Murphy and his writers feel a responsibility to show an emboldened victim (Kurt) and a loving supporting environment – hence the Kurt lovefest at the wedding.
Unfortunately, this means that Sue Sylvester has to be a real person for five minutes and protest the bully’s readmittance into the school. It means Kurt has to do something drastic like leave for a more tolerant institution (I don’t suspect he’ll gone long) and for the rest of the cast to literally sing his praises.
And critics like Moylan and Fralic don’t find that much fun to watch.
But the most unsettling part of the Glee backlash, if it is in fact happening, is how much blame Kurt is getting for the show’s apparent slide.
Is there such a thing as too much Kurt? AfterElton readers no doubt support the turn the narrative has taken in the last few weeks, with most episodes delivering a strong Kurt storyline. But perhaps for some viewers there has been too much Kurt.
Glee still is network primetime after all. What’s more: it’s the most popular scripted show on television. The week before its ratings nosedive, Glee was bested only by football and the Country Music Awards, beating out Big Bang Theory, Dancing with the Stars and everything else.
So the stakes are high and the audience is big – not “Will & Grace big,” but big. Murphy is being brave by giving us so much Kurt. Still, it’s an ensemble, and you could argue he has a duty to showcase everyone, not just Kurt. On the other hand, Rachel and Finn (who actually haven’t had much to do this season) did have their turn in the spotlight for much of the first season.
Nonetheless, something more is going on here. Feelings of Kurt-overload are really driven, I believe, by the fact that we haven’t seen – or rarely see – a character like Kurt get so much earnest attention in network primetime. Jack on Will & Grace was comic relief. Cam and Mitchell on Modern Family are part of an ensemble cast that keeps the spotlight on all the characters pretty equally.
And none of them, I would argue, are flamboyantly gay as Kurt.
Kurt is fashionable – he has the best outfits on the show, by far. He can sing in a female register. He likes all the gay divas, from Barbra to Gaga. He’s a “flame,” to use an outdated gay put-down.
Don’t get me wrong: Kurt is also a fully realized character. He’s deep, as evidenced by the fantastic “religion episode,” where he refused to give in to religious pressure and renounce atheism (a brave decision by Murphy).
But he’s also the sort of character character we’re used to laughing at before cutting to the straight couple that is the focus of the story, which some would say happened often in Glee’s first season. On any other show, Kurt would be the sassy gay who walks into a room, quips about tops and bottoms, and scurries off to some gay bar we’ll never walk into.
But Glee is pushing us to deal with Kurt on a real level, with the issues that gay teens like Kurt – like us! – have to deal with at some point in our lives. And the show is justified in taking its time.
After all, when the President, Secretary of State, the state of New Jersey and half of Hollywood’s celebrities decide bullying is a serious problem, shouldn’t TV’s most popular show, with TV’s most popular gay character, be allowed to do the same?
Network primetime rarely gives us gay characters with actual stories, even less often in one-hour story arcs across several episodes. If there really is a backlash brewing against Glee as it tries to push these boundaries, it’s sad and just a bit short-sighted.
End of article
This is me applauding this article. I also read through the three pages of comments yesterday, and there were some very passionate, thoughtful responses. I think the main thing I would want to say here is that I actually can understand the fans that are frustrated because their favorite character has not had a major storyline this season. The fan base that I think has the most reason to gripe is the Mercedes camp. She has still been featured prominently in song, especially in the "Grilled Cheesus" episode when she had two solos. But she has not had her own storyline this season, except her tots campaign two episodes ago. Mercedes is the only New Directions member besides Kurt who has never had a significant other. Okay, she and Puck sort of dated in season one, but I don't count that. He was using her for popularity.
Unfortunately we live in a very impatient society. We live our lives in sound bites and thirty second recaps. We get frustrated when we have to wait for something - a light to turn green, our cofee to be ready at Starbucks, a television show to come back from commercial. We don't want the whole story. We want just the headlines, and then we want to move on to something else. And if we don't like something, we want it altered or dismissed - immediately.
Bullying is an important, relevant, timely issue. Lots of people are talking about it and trying to do something about it. But its a tough cookie. There are no simple solutions, no quick fix. Its not fun to talk about and its not fun to watch.
Television episodes are filmed weeks to months in advance. If an audience grows tired of a particular storyline, not much can be done about that. The episodes are already completed; the story has to play out. I just wish people would have a little more patience. The show is an ensemble cast, and there are multiple storylines in each episode. I can't promise that a character like Tina or Santana will ever get as much attention as Rachel or Kurt. But they will have their moments to shine.
I do NOT believe that everyone who is sick of Kurt or tired of the bullying storyline is homophobic. However, I think homophobia IS a factor in the backlash. As the author asserts, the television audience has never been exposed to such a complex gay character in the forefront of a major television show. And he's a teenager to boot. What I view as a gift and a privilege, to watch this young man's journey influence the lives of so many, young and old, male and female, gay and straight, has the opposite effect on some. The character of Kurt makes some people uncomfortable, and other people irritable. Its a very very difficult situation. I don't want to see Ryan Murphy and crew cave to public pressure. But I also don't want the show to die because too many viewers get frustrated and stop watching. And just as importantly, I don't want to see the character of Kurt ruined in the process. I of course don't feel that the bullying storyline is making him unlikeable, but obviously some people do feel that way. Its an unfortunate consequence of our increasing reliance on social media for our information and news that if enough people write that Glee is jumping the shark, it could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ratings are lower than they were at the beginning of the season, but the show continues to win its time slot in the key 18 - 49 demographic.
"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Mark Twain
gleekette
No comments:
Post a Comment