This post was originally posted on OneWhiteDuck.com.
Admittedly I am not a fan of the Fox hit TV show, Glee - and I understand I am in the minority here. Although the show is a runaway hit, I just never got into it; I guess I am just not a fan of fictitious high school musical “dramedies”. But still, I can appreciate it for its entertainment value – and if it does have so-called “liberal” overtones, then so be it. With the onslaught of positively horrible and outright disturbingly idiotic programming polluting the airwaves these days, Glee is the least of our problems.
However, the show seems to be taking a large and unjustified hit from conservative-types who are latching on to its sexual themes as though they are the signs of the coming Rapture.
In a conservative-speak tirade this last week, author Erin R. Brown from Newsbusterswrote an aptly disturbing piece on the show, where she lambasts its popularity due to its seemingly over-abundant “lesbian fantasies, gay kissing, teen pregnancy and racy photos of the actors” as well as other “immorality-promoting content.”
Brown lashes out against the media’s love affair with the supposed pro-liberal smut-fest that is Glee, where “[b]isexual teen girls making out in revealing cheerleading outfits referencing sex acts” is yet “just another typical scene viewers will see on ‘Glee.’”
As evident in her post, entitled Glee: Sex, Songs and Sleaze, Brown is apparently a bigGlee-watcher – as she makes an uncanny effort to detail, frame by frame, key events throughout the series’ two-season run and critiques each with the Bible-thumping ferocity of John Lithgow’s Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose.
“But despite its quick wit and impressive following,” she writes, “’Glee’ has a disgusting track record of underage drinking, one night stands, anti-conservative jabs, teen pregnancy, and smutty performances.”
(Is she referring to Glee or Bristol Palin’s stint on Dancing with the Stars?)
“Kurt’s emerging sexuality has been a major theme throughout the two seasons of ‘Glee’ thus far. In one emotionally charged episode, Kurt is forced to confront his inappropriate feelings for straight, handsome football quarter back Finn….Kurt’s father Burt (Mike O’Malley) overheard the boys’ exchange and came running in accusing Finn of calling his gay son a ‘fag’ …launches into a two minute long lecture about the use of the word ‘fag,’ calling that rhetoric ‘poison.’”
Regardless of projected angst toward on-screen “immoral” sexuality, it is incredibly transparent that the show is obviously being targeted for its apparent “gayness” – while other shows that tout the same if not higher levels of utter human “debauchery” and downright stupidity go unexamined.
As I wrote in an earlier post, American entertainment (TV in particular) has taken a huge hit recently in terms of quality and substance. And sadly, hit shows are usually not good shows, and even good shows cater to the occasional foray into shock-value territory.
While Glee may in fact flash images of drunken, scantily-clad teen sex and slams against Sarah Palin, why should it be subjected to an onslaught of conservative criticism while other shows are not, simply because its subject matter dabbles in “gayness?”
Just flip through the stations (using picture-in-picture, mind you – we wouldn’t want to miss a minute of Huckabee), and you can see so-called “sleaze” up and down the channel guide where barely-of-age, alcoholic brats are dry-humping each other in HD: Jersey Shore, Kardashians, 90210, Friday Night Lights and more.
You can practically dive into human remains thanks to the grotesque imagery of shows like CSI and Criminal Minds, and experience the adrenaline rush that comes along with Jack Bauer brutally killing off scores of anti-American extremists in “real time” and the cringe-inducing, bone-crunching action of UFC.
We indulge our masochistic, misogynistic fantasies with shows like America’s Next Top Model, BridalPlasty, Celebrity Rehab and Toddlers & Tiaras, deface the precious “sanctity of marriage” with bullshit like The Bachelor and devalue love, sex and so-called “morality” with Flavor of Love.
Season after season, nation-sized audiences tune into So You Think You Can Dance, Biggest Loser, Dancing with the Stars and American Idol not merely to discover talent or reward physical determination, but all-too-often to revel in who sucks the most while living vicariously through those who make the cut.
The list goes on – but my personal favorite has got to be the all-time ring leader of American shock-entertainment: WWE.
Growing up, I was a wrestling (then WWF) fan – I loved watching the cartoonish characters’ choreographed fight numbers in loud, colorful, superhero-like costumes, pretending to pummel each other according to some poorly written script. I had all the toys. It was fun and mindless, but in the end displayed a clear distinction of good and bad, right and wrong. You had your “good guys” and your “bad guys” and ultimately the good guys always won out.
I think I stopped watching “wrestling” at about 10 years old.
Since then, though, the genre has morphed into something darker and edgier and much more profitable. Instead of colorful characters with cheesy theme songs and bad 80’s hair “clothes-lining” each other over a giant belt, today’s “cast” revels in the violent criminality and sexuality aspects of the “sport”. Now, it is all about who is the bigger bad-ass (of the men) and who has the biggest tits (of the women). The storylines include incredibly profane references to sex, nudity, anti-feminism, pregnancy, drugs, criminal violence, satanism, necrophilia, abortion, domestic/spousal abuse, religion, lynchings and racism.
So-called “wrestling matches” regularly consist of steroid-pumped men gesturing to a largely underage audience to “fuck themselves”. Plastic-implanted pinup dolls grapple each other’s barely-covered bodies in lingerie tag teams and “Billion Dollar Booty Contests”. Grown men are shoving their faces – their FACES – between other grown men’s bare ass cheeks as part of the quite literal “Kiss My Ass Club”.
And this is all prime time entertainment, ladies and gentleman. And you know what else? It is making a killing; as millions of dollars line the pockets of WWE production execs, the American public is eating this shit up week after week.
But it’s okay, though – after all, at least cast members are not portraying the “immoral” plight of often-tormented teens struggling with their sexual identity. I mean, it’s not likethat kind of thing has been in the news lately, right? It’s not like would-be-gay teens have been ostracized, humiliated and persecuted thanks to peer prejudices fueled and “justified” by the same conservative morality police propaganda that turns a blind eye to everything else on TV, right?
Right?
- Joe Ascanio, OneWhiteDuck.com | Twitter | Facebook
As a self-identified ‘political conservative’ it drives me N U T S when bigots either claim to be or are labeled as ‘conservative’
It would be great if politics could be completely divorced from culture (or whatever you want to call it) so that people could discuss political issues on their merits and NOT have those discussions poisoned by idiotic, hate-filled BS…
Bigotry is NOT a political viewpoint and the yahoos who claim to be ‘conservative’ because they have ass-backwards social views are the furthest thing from being ‘conservative’ in a political sense IMO…
I actually touched upon this in on of my personal blogs. This is an excerpt:
Let me explain what drove me to write this article. I was reading the paper and came across the “Ask Cherie” section. Unlike Annie, Cherie usually deals with younger adults who write in for advice. Here is the question someone sent her: “I am a 16-year-old guy. This is a confession I have to make, because I can’t tell anyone I know. My parents are liberal, and so are my friends, and everyone thinks I am too. But the truth about what I really think and feel is completely different. First of all, I hate gay guys. It’s sick and gross, and I just don’t want to have anything to do with them. I also think illegal immigrants should get shipped back to their own countries. They broke the law, right? Why should real Americans suffer because a bunch of people cheated to get here and drain the services of our economy? Who pays for their free healthcare? People like my parents, who have good insurance. I also think so-called affirmative action is a crock. Why should one person get an advantage over another just because of the color of his skin? It’s not going change the past when we had slavery. Even I think slavery was wrong. I know you are one of those liberals like our so-called President, but you seem fair-minded. If my parents and friends knew the truth about how I feel, I’d be toast. Aren’t I entitled to my beliefs without being crucified for them? ‘” I Am What I Am
This letter disturbed me, not because of how he feels (even though I strongly disagree), it was because this is how he identifies with the Republican Party or defines himself as a conservative. When did we start defining the political parties we associate with by these labels and not by policies? Has the Republican Party really gone down a road they cannot come back from? 16-year-old kids are defining themselves as conservative because they too “hate gays” and hate illegal immigrants. There has always been a huge divide between republicans and democrats on a fiscal level, but until recently, they have only been marginally divided on social issues. Has compassion left the Republican Party completely or is this just what the media has promoted?
It would’ve disturbed me as well, and I’m a trained psychologist, whose work has centered on children, especially children who’ve undergone serious trauma, and attempting to undo damage that’s taken years to set in. I’ve worked with the courts, with children of divorce, death and abuse. Hate such as this young man exhibits is a learned behavior. It didn’t come out of no-where. My first thought was that he may be afraid that HE may be attracted sexually to males, at his age, that confusion often leads to self loathing, and presents with hatred and often violence. Who ever is his charge needs to be aware that he could possibly BE violent to LBGT’s and immigrants.
I’d bet on Fox-TV being on 24hrs a day in his home. Rush Limbaugh o his Sirius Radio. Attendance at Glenn Beck rallies and other tea party activism. What he doesn’t get is that the super-rich, like the Koch Bros, the DeVos Family, the Wal-Mart Waltons, all contribute the majority of the so-called tea party funding. Thanks to Citizens United, they can give as much as they want. No IRS reporting, No FEC checking. That’s how the 1% or the super-rich, have gone from extremists in the Republican Party, to the mainstream if it. It’s money, where the root of all evil is always to be found.
The Democrats are just now learning to fight back in the same fashion, and the results are will not be pretty. Plenty of work ahead for me I’m afraid. I do NOT look forward to it. Give me a neurotic adult with addiction issues any day. At least the results are somewhat predictable. With kids, especially adolesants, things can turn on a dime.
Maybe it’s time, after 23 years in medicine, that I retire to Belize as I had planned for. Medicaid won’t be paying my bills for much longer, and I charge VERY little as it is. They have Universal Healthcare in Belize. The primary language is English. Why deal with this disbelief in compassion any longer? Maybe because unlike many in both parties, I still care. I guess that makes me a Communist? I hate labels, that’s what I hate.
You mean to tell me that grown-ass people are blaming high school kids for the growth of homosexuality now? What about Will and Grace; or, Klinger on the old Mash Show. Glee just came out a year or so ago. I’m sure others can name a few other shows too. Heck, Milton Berle did a wonderful woman impersonation. I think he called her Millie. It was one of my favorite parts of his show when I was a kid.
Why won’t people just accept the fact that adults can do whatever they want in their bedrooms/private lives. Get over it!!! Or, at least, grow up!!! “Act your age and not your shoe size” (Prince).
I agree with most of the stuff that you said but you are
misinformed on professional wrestling. They cleaned up the programing
2 years ago. So you are basically doing the same thing as the woman in the article. By the way they now have a very strict wellness policy and no wrestler ever told the audience to “fuck themselves”. Don’t stoop to their tactics to get your point across.