Unpopular Fannish Opinion: Why I'm breaking up with Glee after only three dates.

[rsadelle]

I loved the first ep of Glee when it first aired. It was quirky, Jane Lynch is amazingly funny, and I love a good musical number. The rerun of the first ep, though, didn't charm me quite as much. In part, I think this is because in the intervening time, I dived myself into two different RPS fandoms, which means (a) I have a different relationship to TV at the moment and (b) I found Brendon and Fall Out Boy's version of "Don't Stop Believin'" more charming than Glee's.

By the second ep, I had a real problem with Will's wife. She has no redeeming qualities, which means I don't understand why Will married her in the first place and see no reason why he's still with her now. I also found the second ep less fun than the first.

Then between the second and third eps, I stumbled across stardustonsable's post in which she and the commenters talked about the way all of the characters are stereotypes. I think that was in my head - and it's probably telling that I only know the names of three characters (Will, Rachel, and Sue Sylvester) - as I watched the third ep last night. I was bothered by the way the black girl went from being not only the stereotypical black girl to being the stereotypical black girl and the stereotypical fat girl: interested in the gay boy, oblivious to the fact that he's gay, takes out of proportion physical revenge when she's hurt by him saying he's not interested. And then there's her musical number, in which the fat black girl is dressed in long pants, a shirt that covers her cleavage, and a jacket with long sleeves, and her backup dancers are uniformly thin, predominantly white girls in cheerleader skirts and bikini tops. I found the visual unappealing. Yay for the fat black girl being the star, I suppose, but why cover her up? Why not give her fat girl backup dancers? That in itself might not be quite enough for me to break up with it, but that combined with the way I found it less charming and the way I find that I'm not connecting with the characters means we're going to have to part ways. I do love musical numbers, so I may go back and watch those online the next day, but I can't promise anything - the times I've been using to watch TV online (cooking, lifting weights) are now times I'm using for things related to my new fandoms, namely catching up on Fuck City podcasts and occasionally watching interviews or performances.

Comments

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Well, if I couldn't watch it live I wouldn't watch it either; last night I found myself watching it the way I watch a lot of shows these days: leaving it playing in the background and looking up every so often when a musical number or Jane Lynch was onscreen.

Though I suspect the thing about character stereotypes is quite deliberate; genre-wise, this is closer to satire than anything else, so it's not surprising that they're starting with really broad stereotypes. The real question for me is are they going to keep the stereotypes stereotypical or make them into real characters as the show goes on.

[rsadelle]

I think it's deliberate, too, but I don't necessarily trust them to be going anywhere with it. If you keep watching, you'll have to tell me if they do.