We Need to Talk About Glee (Yes, Again.)

So, we need to talk about Glee again.  Because I am getting extremely frustrated with the messages this show is sending to relatively impressionable audiences.  Now, I know the show's average audience is 18 and up, but an 18 year old is still impressionable, and I strongly suspect that there are plenty of people younger than 18 avidly following this show.

Let me also just add that no, I don't know why I still watch this show.  It's one of those things I do when I'm bored.  I like listening to the music.  I like Lea Michelle and her character, even though sometimes her character is an idiot.  (That's part of what makes her interesting.)  Also I'm self-admittedly living out my personal fantasies through her character, because Rachel (yes, we have the same name) has now landed the lead role in her dream Broadway production even though she hasn't even been in college for a year.  Yes, I have issues.  I know.

That said, this time, we're not here to talk about Rachel or her unhealthy relationships with EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER COME INTO CONTACT WITH HER.  No, this time we're here to talk about Marley, and more importantly the teachers in this show, Mr. Schue, and yes, Finn Hudson.

If you've ever talked to me about this show, you know that I have anger management issues with Finn Hudson because of the way he treated Rachel.  However, I want to make it clear that that loathing does not extend to the actor Cory Monteith.  I disliked his character, but I thought the actor who played him was a lovely young man who overcame a lot of hardship in his life, and it is nothing short of a tragedy that he died so young this summer.  May he rest in peace.  This, however, does not prevent me from having issues with his character.

It starts with Marley, a young lady in high school who has some serious body issues.  Her mother is dangerously obese, and Marley is terrified of one day having the same serious weight problems as her mother.  These weight issues were intensely magnified by villainous cheerleader Kitty, who first convinced Marley to become bulimic and then secretly sewed all of Marley's show costumes smaller so that Marley would think she was gaining weight.

The result?  Marley passed out in the middle of a show choir event, causing the New Directions to lose the competition.  But did Kitty get in trouble?  Did anyone show actual concern for Marley who just fainted on stage from mal-nourishment?  No, her friends ripped into her for causing them to lose.  Because obviously winning is far and away the most important thing to a bunch of high schoolers.  As it should be.

In other words, there were absolutely no consequences for Kitty, who still got accepted as one of the gang and idolized by thousands of fans.  When she finally did confess to Marley on the show what she had done, months later, it was in a setting where we were begged to feel pity for her.  Even Marley forgave her instantly.  Never mind the fact that best case scenario, bulimia could destroy her voice and therefore her dream of being a singer/songwriter.  Worst case, bulimia could hospitalize or even kill her.  But lol no worries.  Kitty's a popular character so we all like her anyway.  No harm, no foul.  She's just instilled traumatizing fears in another character, scarring her for life and on-setting a dangerous disease.  It's all good.

Meanwhile, in the land of absurd lessons to instill in young people, all of the students in show choir disbanded and joined other clubs because show choir wasn't going to nationals, so they wanted to find other things to do with their lives for the rest of the school year.  Some joined sports teams, and others joined clubs and groups.  Sounds healthy, right?  Find other interests to excel in and don't let losing one competition destroy your entire life.  WRONG.  According to the world of Glee and Finn Hudson, the student teacher leading the show choir at this time in the show, moving on and not dwelling on your losses is horrible and unacceptable.  He actually yelled at students for giving up.  How dare they have healthy, well-balanced lives.

And would you look at that?  Magically, weeks later, two students, Sam and Blaine, found a way to prove that one of the other local show choirs had cheated during the competition.  So hooray, hoorah, the New Directions get to go to Nationals after all.  Yay.  Never mind your balanced lives, kiddies.  We've got more winning to obsess over.  But don't worry, there's still plenty of time to treat Marley like crap for letting the team down at that last competition.

In the most recent episode of Glee, "Katy vs. Gaga" although Kitty has finally undergone some reasonable character growth and generally been treating Marley better, the onslaught from the general public continues.

The premise of the episode is that if you are an artist you are either a Katy Perry or a Lady Gaga (a flawed theory in and of itself, but whatever, Glee.  We'll roll with it.), i.e. a girl-next-door type versus an edgy performer.  Never mind that when I think "girl next door" I think Michele Branch, Sara Bareilles, or even Taylor Swift, not Katy Perry.  But like I said, we're rolling with it.

Although the week's "assignment" is for the Gagas of the group to do a Katy performance, and the Katys of the group to do a Gaga show, there is a clear emphasis that anyone who's anyone should want to be a Gaga.  Marley's boyfriend, Jake, puts her down for being "such a Katy" and telling her there's no way she's going to be able to pull off a Gaga song.  Why?  Because she won't have sex with him.  I'd like to applaud the show for having Marley throw Jake out of his own bedroom during this episode because he's pressuring her to do something she doesn't want to.  But alas, having seen this show in its entirety, I know that it's only a matter of three or so episodes before Marley suddenly realizes that because she loves Jake, of course she should have 16-year-old sex with him.  It's true love, bitches.

To make matters worse still, when the group assigned a Gaga performance finally does their number, all of them are decked out in elaborate, bizarre Gaga-style costumes, except Marley, who comes dancing out on stage in an elaborate, bizarre Katy-style costume.  At the end of the number, one of her fellow classmates, a senior with impeccable abs who used to be a stripper, demands to know why she isn't wearing "the seashell bikini."

Stammering out that she just wasn't comfortable in something so revealing, Marley is attacked not only by her fellow students, but also by Mr. Schue, the alleged voice of reason in the show.  The allegedly mature, caring, responsible adult figure. 

"Marley, we're all trying to win a championship here, as a team, but you put your personal agenda above that.  I'm sorry, but you're suspended for the rest of the week."

I almost threw my laptop at the wall.  I know that Glee is not the real world, in which a high school show choir would not have the funds for elaborate costumes only to be used for one week of practice in the first place, let alone in which a teacher would probably get thrown in jail for suspending a student for refusing to come to school in a seashell bikini.  It's not the real world, but it consistently tackles real-world problems.  And I'm sorry, but there is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING wrong with not wanting to wear a skimpy outfit, especially as a minor.

Should Marley have worn something that fit the confines of the assignment, arguably yes.  But did it have to be a bikini?  I think not.  Lady Gaga herself would probably advocate Marley being true to herself and wearing what she feels good in.  Although I want to see the character overcome her body issues, she can be just as comfortable with herself in a turtleneck as she can in a bikini for all I care.

Gettin' real tired of your shit, Glee.