GLEE!

On the surface level, Glee looks like it is a very diverse show that pushes typical boundaries and stereotypes. With such a diverse cast, this appears to be the truth, however, after watching the pilot, the show seems to revert to typical stereotypes that are often played out in television shows.

In his engaging article “Stage Left: Glee and the textual politics of difference,” Lucas Hilderbrand discusses the pilot episode of Glee. In the first episode, while all of the characters are given face time, the audience is given extensive background information about Rachel and Finn, the two white lead characters. All of the other characters, which include Artie, a paraplegic, Mercedes, an overweight black girl and Kurt, a homosexual white boy, receive very little attention. Hilderbrand goes so far as to say “The rest of the cast seemed like set dressing.”

I really think that Hilderbrand is on to something, however, when he says “I have no actual access to network scheming, but this seemed to reek of the logic that the show had to be palatable enough for mainstream ratings before the minorities would incrementally get their own numbers and subplots.” Lets face it, America is pretty critical and still by some terms very conservative. I’m sure network executives were fearful of producing a show that pushed the limits too much early on in a new series. They probably thought that they needed to maintain a steady, consistent viewership before delving into more controversial topics; after all, they are all about the ratings.

Hilderbrand argues that Glee, in its second season, is now starting to create actual storylines that are somewhat ground breaking for television in their controversiality. In its diversity, however surface level it may have initially been, Glee allowed itself the room to create such controversial storylines, and for that I commend it and hope that it continues to further develop characters other than the main white characters.

Lastly, as I side note I have to ask: did anyone else find it odd that Quinn, the cheerleader, was the head of the celibacy club when thinking back to The Secret Life of the American Teenager where Grace was also very religious and committed to abstinence? I, personally found it to be an odd coincidence and wonder what it suggests about millennial religiosity especially when (SPOILER ALERT) both girls end up ignoring their pledges.