I’m just really tired of the Glee hate I always see both inside and outside the fandom. Like there’s a lot of posts making the show into a meme of sorts nowadays, but people seem to forget how much it meant back in the day
I mean where else could the gay kid with a dad like Burt come out and be told that he’s still just as loved, and be supported unconditionally by said father every moment afterwards? How many shows are there like that now?
Where else could the hot cheerleaders make out and it’s not just queer bait or fan service? Where there’s actually a genuine, emotional, heart felt story surrounding it? How many shows do you know like that?
Part of Glee’s whole thing was subverting stereotypes. Yes, you’ve got the sassy black girl, the gay who loves fashion, the bitchy cheerleader, the ditzy blonde, the asshole jock. But those characters are so much more than that. Even though they fell into said stereotypes at times, I think the show spent much more time showing the characters behind the clichés
Mercedes could be vulnerable, and soft, and loving. She didn’t always have to be the Strong Black Woman that didn’t need no man
Kurt could be serious, and tough, and masculine. He didn’t always have to be the sassy gbf
Quinn could be selfless, Brittany could be smart, Puck could be kind.
And right out of the gate, the cast of characters was so diverse. The only main characters that actually fit the bill of a cis, straight, white, able bodied male were Will and Finn. Sam and Ryder were both dyslexic. I guess you could count Mason later on, but even he was on the Cheerios, which I’d argue was a good way to subvert the typical image of masculinity
For six years, we got to meet and fall in love with multiple gay, lesbian, trans, and bi characters. Characters that were black, Asian, Latina, and mixed race. Characters that were Jewish and atheist, as well as several denominations of Christian. Characters with anxiety, OCD, depression, dyslexia, down syndrome, bulimia, paraplegia. And most of the characters can check off multiple boxes
Glee gave us dozens of characters that we would have never found anywhere else. It gave us happy endings for characters that usually don’t receive them
We got to see the big black girl with big dreams get everything she ever wanted. We got to see the broken Cheerio learn to love herself, and let others in, in the process. We got to see a gay and a lesbian couple go through the same highs and lows typically afforded to any average heteronormative high school relationship, and end with the gayest double wedding ever aired on television
You don’t have to preface every shred of positivity about the show with “Glee wasn’t perfect but…”. Every show has its flaws. It’s redundant to keep rehashing that point when there’s other things to talk about. Glee tried harder in 2009 than a lot of shows do now. Glee did more for unheard voices in 2009 than most of the shows out there now
No one is accusing this show of being perfect, trust me. But it tried. Maybe sometimes they tried too hard, or maybe sometimes things got a little crazy. But the heart was always there. People today don’t seem to know, or seem to have forgotten how revolutionary this show was. It changed representation in a big way. And no matter what, I’ll always be grateful for it, and I’ll always love the wonderful characters the show has given us over the years
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