Glee: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Glee-cast_6047.jpg|frame|''Don't Stop Believin''']]
{{quote|''"Being a part of something special makes you special!"''
|'''Rachel Berry'''|"Pilot"}}
What happens when you pump ''[[High School Musical]]'' full of antidepressants? You get ''Glee'', where every episode is the [[Musical Episode]]!
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The musical numbers are usually given an in-universe justification with the activities of the Glee club, instead of seemingly springing fully formed from the minds of characters in normal situations, as with most musicals. [[That Reminds Me of a Song]] is in full effect here. From time to time, an individual ''does'' just break into a full-on song and dance sequence with back-up dancers and props and so forth, and it cuts from location to location mid-stream (just like a music video); based on contextual clues, these moments appear to be taking place at least partially in the individual's thoughts.
Tons of character stereotypes show up (arguably on purpose) to the point of reviving a few [[Dead Horse Trope
Although the first half of Season 1 was well received and put all of its main cast in the spotlight, Glee became one of Fox's most divisive shows. This was helped by the fact that before the first season was finished it was renewed for both a second and third season, both with 22 episodes. A fourth 22-episode season was ordered for 2012. The show finished its fifth season, as part of another double renewal deal. It was later confirmed by Ryan Murphy that the sixth season would be the final season, and it ended on March 20, 2015 after six seasons and 121 episodes.
The series had a [[Fake Crossover]] [http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/archie-glee-crossover-sees-clash-between-riverdale-and-mckinley-1.1374719 with the Archie universe] in ''Archie Meets Glee''. It also spawned a British singing contest called ''Don't Stop Believing'' (yes, with the 'g') that [[British Brevity|lasted six episodes]] in summer 2010, was won by the only team who sang [[Barbra Streisand]], and has never been mentioned since.
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** While the Aesop in "Blame it on the Alcohol" was good, the kids most likely threw up onstage not because they were drunk but because what they drank contained [[Gargle Blaster|various remnants of Rachel's dads' liquor cabinet, kool-aid]], [[Squick|cough syrup, and crumbled up oreos]]. Many believe the episode to be a [[Spoof Aesop]] that's been [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|thinly disguised to appease the network.]]
** Another one in "Blame it on the Alcohol": Kurt says that bisexuality is a myth used by people who are afraid of being "totally gay," and Blaine calls him out on it. In the end, Blaine realizes that he isn't actually bi because he has no chemistry with Rachel. So bisexuality isn't a shield to hide your gayness, it's just brought on by drunkeness!
** Many of Quinn's storylines appear to be this—she creates the "Glist" to regain her popularity or something even though she knows exactly how it feels to be teased and ostracized, as she was when she was pregnant. And then in "Born This Way," it's revealed she {{spoiler|used to be overweight and "ugly" and was mocked for it, so [[I Just Want to Be Beautiful|she lost weight, got a nose job,]] [[Do Not Call Me "Paul"|and changed her name]]}}. Instead of learning from this how it feels to be bullied, she instead bullies others for exactly those same shallow reasons. And when Lauren reveals the truth about her to the school to hurt her chances for prom queen, they [[Completely Missing the Point|completely miss the point]] and suddenly love her because she was once "one of them." Never mind the fact that she's now beautiful and a heinous bitch. And this is in the episode about embracing your imperfections.
** There seems to even be one in-story in "Born This Way". The word Will writes on the board is acceptance and then tells the kids to make t-shirts about things that make them different and special that they should embrace because they can't change, and most of the kids do that but Will tells Emma that her shirt should have been about her OCD, and while she does need to admit that she's OCD, it's not something that she should just accept because it can be changed and in Emma's case it really needs to change because her OCD is having severe effects on her ability to live her life.
* [[Brutal Honesty]]: In "Unicorn", Kurt is feeling insecure about his masculinity, after learning he may not be a shoo-in for the lead in ''[[West Side Story]]'' as he previously though, and goes to his dad for advice. Burt, on the other hand, tells his son he's probably one of the most least masculine boys ever, but manages to turn this speech into a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]].
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** The previous episode where she was outed carried the Aesop of "Don't out people against their will," but this too was lacking. First, Santana was an [[Alpha Bitch]] who had spent the entire episode bullying Finn, so she was hardly the most sympathetic victim. Second, the outing happened after she was once again making fun of him, at which point he responded, "So when are you going to come out? Everybody knows you have feelings for Brittany..." Finn didn't make a scene nor was he spreading this fact to everybody; he had angrily said the one thing he knew would unnerve her after he grew tired of her insults. Though he did say it loudly in a crowded hallway, it was technically ''someone else'', an unnamed girl looking over her shoulder, who overheard the conversation and told her uncle, who was running for state representative against cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester. He ran a smear ad claiming that Sue was "harboring an open lesbian" on the cheerleading team, and ''that'' was the moment Santana was outed. As you can see, the situation was a little more complicated than "Finn outed Santana," and yet that formed the basis of the next episode. And at no point in ''the entire series'' did Santana ever apologize to anyone for being such a bitch.
** Another example would be "Shooting Star", where they had a school shooting... but the gun going off was entirely accidental and didn't hurt anyone, and a teacher covered for the student at fault. So there were no actual consequences for the student who brought a gun to school and caused gunshots and terrified the entire student body and faculty. Many reviews of the episode claimed the message was lost by the end, or it was a failure, or it could've been much better, etc.
** There's also ''Glee'''s harmful portrayal of eating disorders in season 4. [http://proud2bme.org/node/510 As Catherine Weingarten says], "Marley was convinced to become bulimic to avoid becoming like her [morbidly obese] mother. The mean girl Kitty easily convinces Marley that in order to play the part of “Sandy” in ''Grease'' she has to look a certain way. Marley does not even seem to understand that Kitty is getting her to experiment with dangerous eating disorder behavior. So Marley becomes fully bulimic and later even passes out during sectionals, which prompts everyone in Glee club to hate her. There is so much misinformation here about how one gets an eating disorder and the seriousness of eating disorders. It is common for people to not fully understand what an eating disorder is and only know about them through sensationalist tabloids or TV shows. Now ''Glee'' is adding itself to the list of shows spreading harmful and untrue information about eating disorders. ''Glee'' makes eating disorders seem campy and not very serious. We are supposed to be annoyed by Marley and not even care when she passes out at sectionals." There is also Liana Rosenman who wrote, "It is really dangerous [for ''Glee''] not to include a public service announcement of the dangers of eating disorders." and "Marley has an eating disorder for two days and then magically recovers. That is far from the truth. I struggled with anorexia for five years." [https://web.archive.org/web/20100209065204/http://http/://haveuheard.net/2012/11/glees-eating-disorders-sucks/ Other people have published similar sentiments]: "One topic ''Glee'' has failed horribly at covering is eating disorders. Eating disorders are often life threatening and last night's episode of ''Glee'' made it nothing short of a joke."
** Coach Beiste coming out as female-to-male transgender and beginning the transition process was supposed to carry the message that you're never too old to come out and live openly and happily. The show was trying to cash in on growing transgender visibility in the media, but Beiste was ''already'' popular with transgender/genderqueer viewers for being a masculine, cisgender, straight woman who is upfront about her feelings and insecurities, since she proved that gender expression isn't always cut-and-dry. Making her trans actually made her ''less'' interesting a character, since it carried the implication that ''all'' tomboyish women secretly want to be men.
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]:
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* [[Once a Season]]: The sixth episode of every season is a mash-off competition. In the first two seasons, it was boys vs. girls ("Vitamin D" and "Never Been Kissed"), and in the third, it was New Directions vs. The Troubletones ("Mash Off").
* [[One-Gender School]]: Dalton Academy and its sister school, Crawford Country Day.
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Many fans are already clamoring for the return of Bryan Ryan, a one-episode character played by [[Neil Patrick Harris]]. Does this really surprise anyone? [[Neil Patrick Harris]] + [[Joss Whedon]] = [[
** More like a One Episode Wonder, but The Papas Berry, as played by [[Jeff Goldblum]] and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Pure gold from start to finish and by ''God'' they cast those roles well!
* [[One Steve Limit]]:
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** This trope often occurs in scenes involving Santana and Brittany, as the first season introduced them as sidekicks to [[Alpha Bitch|Quinn]] that assisted her in being unrepentantly and unremittingly villainous. Quinn ended up [[Character Development|becoming a better person]] when fans started feeling sympathetic to what she was going through, whereas Santana and Brittany [[Ensemble Darkhorse|gained a throng of fans]] that instead embraced their [[Deadpan Snarker|incredibly snarky]] one-liners. This lead to their bullying being dialed [[Up To Eleven]], with varying results:
*** One of the reasons some critics found the bullying storyline which begun in "Never Been Kissed" inherently flawed is the fact that the show had previously treated bullying in a light-hearted manner. Dave Karofsky is revealed to be a closeted homosexual and these feelings cause him a lot of difficulties and confusion, something that Kurt and Blaine try to get him to come to terms with. However, Karofsky denies that anything happened and soon returns to bullying Kurt, which includes threatening to kill him if Kurt reveals his closeted homosexuality. It's clear that the show treats Karofsky's bullying seriously and his [[Villainous Crush]] does not frame him in a positive light just because he is putting himself through confusion and torture being closeted. The issue arises when the show does just that with Santana's bullying. In "Sexy", she tearfully confesses to Brittany that she is love with her and wants to be with her, but is also afraid of being bullied and ostracized for coming out as a lesbian. She too continues to act like a bitch even after the truth [[Incredibly Lame Pun|comes out]] despite Brittany encouraging her to be true to herself, but she nonetheless still insists that Santana is not a bad person and defends her - it gets especially egregious in "Pot o' Gold" where Brittany's response to Finn merely telling her that leprechauns are not real and that she is being stupid is to tell him that such talk "is bullying and [she] won't accept it" as [[Alpha Bitch|Santana]] is standing ''right next to her''.
*** In "Rumors", a blind item in the McKinley paper talks about a prom queen candidate "spending a lot of time in the closet" after Brittany casually confirms a rumor about Santana playing for the other team on her new internet talk show... meaning it's not much of a blind item at all. [[The Ditz|Brittany]] claims [[Bait and Switch|she was referring to the fact that Santana used to be on the Cheerios and now is in New Directions]], but the fact that her guests already ''knew'' this and had nothing to gain from spreading that gossip around the school makes this out to be [[Blatant Lies]]. This is treated as not being that big a deal, and [[Easily Forgiven|Santana holds it against her for all of ten seconds before dropping the subject altogether]]. In "Mash Off", Finn tells Santana to come out of the closet in the school hallway and [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|calls her a coward for constantly tearing others down while not accepting herself and her relationship with Brittany]]. Finn claims everyone knows and doesn't care, but the fact that one of Sue's opponents releases an attack ad criticizing her for choosing a lesbian as head cheerleader ''just'' after his niece tells him about the conversation between Santana and Finn, and that some douchey sophomore named Josh tries to seduce Santana to "make her normal" after seeing it, makes this claim seem like [[Blatant Lies]]. However, [[Metaphorically True|Finn's claim does still ring true to a certain degree]]; gossip is not of much use for a serious political campaign since information is more credible if it's from a specific source, and Josh would just dismiss simple gossip that seriously acknowledges a relationship between two women since [[Cure Your Gays|being gay is just some silly fantasy to be corrected and doesn't actually exist]] in the minds of men like him, but a commercial on TV is presumably strong enough to get over the same threshold that hearing it from the source does. Considering that Finn is made to look like the bad guy in this glee club competition storyline - be it through treating Blaine like shit, failing to stand up for Rory, or [[Beware the Nice Ones|losing his temper blasting Brittany's simple, goofy belief system]] - this is framed as him [[Kick the Dog|succumbing to his less nice and less responsible side]] once more, and Santana holds it against him to the point that she [[Armor-Piercing Slap|slaps him in the face]].
*** Most of the glee kids are less than enthused after Finn and Rachel reveal their marriage plans, and their parents go as far as to arrange for the couple to spend the night together in Rachel's room expecting that the reality of having to live together will encourage the teens to postpone their wedding. The fact that Finn drives her to a train station and tells her that he loves her too much to marry her if it means she has to give up her dreams, after Rachel decides to defer her college admission for a year to help Finn and Kurt reapply for their colleges, proves those factions all correct in being dead set against teen marriage. Although Burt ''does'' tell Kurt a story while heading to Blaine's surprise proposal about how he met his mom young and proposed to her quite early on, and even though it was hard he just wished he had more time with her before she died and asked her even sooner<ref>This talk about only having a few days when you come down to it implies that a certain real-life tragedy caused this [[Hypocrite|sudden in-universe 360]], since the news of [[Cory Monteith|Cory Monteith's]] passing came out just before the fifth season started production and caused it to be delayed a week later than originally planned.</ref> - Kurt calls off the engagement after his fantasies about what life with Blaine was going to be like fell apart and he didn't know how to deal with that.<ref>[[History Repeats|Their expectations about love as a magical remedy to their problems could remind one of Finn]] after he found out his dad suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and that plus a dishonorable discharge started a chain of events that led to him ending up in Cincinnati where he died from a drug overdose in "Yes/No", to the point where Kurt even tells him that [[What the Hell, Hero?|he believes he is considering matrimony because he has given up too early on his own dreams]].</ref> [[Earn Your Happy Ending|In the process of putting themselves back together and finding their way to each other]] before Kurt is manipulated into matrimonial commitment ''again'', he and Blaine talk in their vows about how they'd make the same choice to marry each other even if someone told them their struggle would end up in heartache. In "Jagged Little Tapestry", Kurt objects after Santana proposes marriage to Brittany and says the two are too young, but the fact that Santana later finds him and unleashes the most ''scathing'' [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] in ''Glee'' history where she also manages to insult Kurt's own brand of gayness while she's at it really shows that she's still [[Alpha Bitch|the same high school bitch]] [[Static Character|she's always been]]. [[Positive Discrimination|Kurt is framed as the wrong party who is really just against people marrying young because of his relationship with Blaine going south and the fact that Blaine has moved on a serious amount, and ''he's'' the one who has to apologize]]. Go figure.
** In "Hold onto Sixteen", Quinn is repeatedly told by Rachel that she would be doing the wrong thing by informing people of Shelby's sexual relationship with Puck, which would cause her to lose her job, prove her an unfit mother and allow Quinn to retake her child. Despite Quinn having selfish motives for wanting to reveal the affair, the fact remains that Shelby ''shouldn't'' have gotten involved with Puck, a student at the school she works at and if she had lost the job and the child as a result of this, it would have ultimately been her ''own'' fault.
* [[Put on a Bus]]: Multiple characters. Special note goes to pretty much all of the new New Directioners, with Kitty being the only one retained for the final season, although Unique does make a cameo. It makes sense, mind you, since their plot was intended to be tied to Finn's, with his death making them more or less redundant, but it doesn't make it any less jarring when they essentially disappeared, with only Marley even getting a line in the episode "New Directions."
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[[Category:Glee]]
[[Category:TV Series]]
[[Category:School Club Stories]]
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