So I have become a fan of Glee for many reasons, the amazing singing and dancing being the chief reasons. I also love that one of the co-creators, Ryan Murphy is openly gay, has a partner, and uses many gay actors on the show, including Chris Colfer, Neil Patric Harris and Jane Lynch. The sexy men also helps keep the show a top rated series.
Most recently, Glee became much more gay with the advent of the new openly gay character Blaine, played by super cute Darren Criss, and the meterosexual, body continuous Sam. If these two were not gay enough, in the same episode in which Blaine appears for the first time we discover the reason that football jock David has been harassing Curt was due to his own confusion and/or possibly budding homosexuality. While this might seem somewhat cliche to folks, I like the storyline because it proves the gay men come from all walks of life. Kurt, played by the wonder actor Chris Colfer, is rather effeminate, paying close attention to fashion and all things pop diva related. On the opposite spectrum, you have David, who is the butch closeted football player. Then their is Blaine. He appears to be right down the middle between ultra effeminate Kurt and super masculine David. The show is demonstrating that no matter how effeminate or masculine you are, the road to discovering your sexual orientation, coming out and being open about who you are a difficulty one. This could not come at a better time with all the bullying and teen suicide, much of which has been related to young people who were gay or perceived to be gay. I hope continuing these story-lines will allow for more comfort with gay people as well as challenge some people's views of what it means to be a man, in particular, a gay man.
On a related note, I feel that Max Adler, who plays David, did a wonderful job in the episode. He did not hold back and you could see the anguish on his face and in his actions. He showed the vulnerability of the character, along with his conflicting desires to kiss Kurt he wanted to hurt him as well. In an effort to deal with his own emotional pain, he is using physical pain against an openly gay teen to squash his internal feelings of homophobia. I look forward to seeing how this storyline plays out and more acting from Mr. Adler.
Here is a link to the Kurt and Blaine story via youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA1MPqu2Jac
Here is a link to the Kurt and David story aka "the gay kiss" scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LWeBtmZUwg&feature=related
I am also a big fan of Glee. I've always loved musical comedy and have seen quite a few shows. This show is a brilliant combination of comedy, music, and drama. The recent reports of gay bashing, bullying, and suicides is just horrendous, and in some way, this show is doing a great public service in this developing story about Kurt and his situation. It is really tough to look at David as he takes out his anger by ramming into Kurt in the hallway. He obviously has his issue of whether or not he's gay. So I can understand the underlying issue, but it doesn't make it any easier to watch the violence. I'm anxious to see how this all plays out, hopefully having some kind of satisfying and meaningful conclusion--at least to the show's story line. As for how society is dealing with this horrible issue is another story. I'm looking forward to Kurt and Blaine becoming a real couple in coming weeks. I read that Darren Criss (Blaine) has been signed for the rest of this season as a recurring character, and also for next season, so that's a good thing!
ReplyDeleteDave,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts. As you might have figured out if you continued to look at my blog, I have not blogged in a while. I am planning on getting back to it. I invite you to check out my post in the coming weeks.
Chris