Glee's title this week was simple: Alcohol.
"This episode isn't that good," said Jessie over a plate of Simmons baked veggies and a glass of cranberry juice mixed with gingerale. "It all about" she grimaces "drinking."
I bump into my roommate Elisa in the hallway.
"Aww I heard it's great," she says turning. The whole club, Mr. Shu- they all get wasted. The songs are all about it- so fun!"
"Guess I'll stay in tonight and live vicariously!" rasp- still no voice since THON, She laughs. "The singing" I say, "not the drinking."
Neither Elisa nor I drink. I never have had so much as a sip outside the Sunday morning communion line. But this week's Glee episode- so kairotically coincidental considering State Patty's Day Weekend- made me wish I did.
I was shocked at first by how, well, fun the show made alcohol sound. Not like I haven't been to parties, haven't hung around and taken care of wasted friends, but for Glee to glorify it- I was taken aback. The actors play high school students- like most of their audience is. It didn’t seem appropriate. And the parties, the games, the making out, the pro-drinking songs and karaoke at bars. None of it seemed a bad- it seemed great.
But when the club went on stage to preform [drunk], and the lead actresses vomited on each other mid-number, the show's tone changed.
It wasn't a public service announcement, nor did it give underage drinking a thumbs up. This week’s Glee did something most public education boards still won't- acknowledged kids drink and aren't going to stop any time soon. Mr. Shu acts as more than a scolding teacher, but a related role model. He plays up his ethos (which had taken a dive after some drunk dialing gone public) by telling his students he's not going to drink until their next competition and hopes they won't either. Consider it part of training before a big sports game- so no pregaming for the athletes. He gives them his phone number, a way to keep them from ever saying they don't have a choice but to drunk drive. He, and the writers of Glee showed the reality of underage drinking- the consequences and the fun side. But they didn't pretend it doesn't happen or can be "cured." For touching on this touchy subject, I give them a Rachel Berry gold star.
“So what about after the performance?” asks Finn Hudson, the male lead.
Mr. Shu pauses “I’ll buy the sparkling cider.”
I have never gotten into this show, but it seems like a really good one. I am kind of curious to the drinking songs that they were singing, so maybe I will check out youtube later this week.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to watch Glee anymore because it is so addicting. Isn't it crazy how it doesn't matter what they are trying to say but how it is done that sways our opinions about things? They could have told us to blow up a building and it would have sounded fine to do based on how "fun it sounds." I think tv shows are so persuasive in advertising for this particular reason. Obviously they are not selling an actual project, but are selling the image.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post and I was able to understand everything without seeing more than just a couple minutes of Glee before. I strongly agree with what you had to say in your last paragraph! So many touchy subjects are still well, "touchy" because those in charge of PSAs often fail to recognize the reality of things and instead try to preach, which usually doesn't work well with teenagers.
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