Friday, April 12, 2013

A Very Special RBI Report: "Shooting Star"

Over the years, Glee has become more and more shameless in its attempts to capitalize on current events in a bid to retain its perhaps prematurely-appropriated mantle of "revolutionary TV show."  (This posturing was made sometime in Season 1, probably around the time Kurt came out to his understanding father, Artie had a storyline from his own POV, and episodes featured more than a half-hearted miming of emotional authenticity.)  Mostly, these current events have revolved around the inclusion of the Top 40 charts, incorporating Justin Bieber and Katy Perry whenever possible, and drawing up a tribute to Whitney Houston shortly after her death.  (Despite the fact that Amber Riley's touching rendition of "I Will Always Love You" aired the week of Ms. Houston's passing and served coincidentally as a lovely and understated homage to the late music icon.)

Smattered through these relevant but mostly harmless song selections are Glee's more damaging attempts at shining a light on issues affecting teens today.  While its first season stumbled earnestly into adolescent issues of belonging, identity, and self-acceptance, the subsequent seasons rang shrilly with the hum of false emotion and forced parables.  Glee trotted out episodes devoted to exploring religion, teen drinking, texting and driving, struggling with sexuality and gender identity, physical disability, death and grief, suicide, bullying, domestic abuse, adoption, eating disorders, mental illness, race, and sex.  Only a handful of these endeavors were handled with even a modicum of sensitivity, and fewer still made it to our screens without swerving into the territory of after-school special.  Glee has never quite figured out how to balance its crown as History-making Television Program and still keep its original absurdist comedy.  It's a tonal impossibility.  Trying to fuse together comic self-reference with broadly-stroked morality tales is as futile as mixing oil and water.  And yet, for three seasons, Glee has tried, failed, and insisted it worked perfectly all along.

Tonight, they aired their latest in the attempt to remain message television: an episode featuring a possible school shooting, and those terrifying moments ticking endlessly in a darkened classroom suspended in horror and disbelief.  I suspect Glee is trying for an episode to spark a national discussion on gun violence, because they still believe they have the power to engage their audience in a thoughtful discourse on the topics affecting today's youth.  But the truth of the matter is that I've long since distrusted Glee from handling any sensitive issue gracefully - from Santana's coming-out storyline, to Artie's erasure from the narrative unless his storyline deals with his wheelchair, to Mercedes and Tina sidelined and reduced to black and Asian stereotypes, respectively, and the list goes on.  Glee has not proven themselves capable of handling an episode about a school shooting.  Not when the nation is still feeling the shock of the tragedy at Sandy Hook, and holding onto the memories of Columbine, Virginia Tech, and other losses.  And not when Glee is, at best, a poorly-written echo of a show that urges teenagers to accept their differences through song and dance.   Like oil and water: these things do not mix.

This friction between Glee's fantasy world and the rules of reality is something the writers cannot seem to negotiate and neutralize - or even acknowledge.  This has long been a show devolved into its own kind of reality, a world where rules are made up and broken as seen fit.  Characters are accepted to college when their significant others secretly apply on their behalf, as a loving surprise.  Students and teachers' personal lives are entangled and intertwined with little consequence.  College freshmen without jobs live comfortably in Brooklyn, where they will soon audition for Broadway leads.  These same jobless freshmen apparently afford airfare back home to Ohio multiple times a semester.  The rules of reality are bent and jammed as necessary to make the high-gloss fantasy of Glee's story work for the writer's ill-devised purposes, before they wipe away for the next installment.  

It is jarring, therefore, that "Shooting Star" attempted to cleanly portray reality without any illusion of a filmmaking hand.  The time spent during the shooting unfolded onscreen almost in real time, as a large chunk of the act was devoted to showing kids crouched in dark corners of the choir room, crying.  The camera was handheld, providing a documentary-style visual to make everything seem even more real, and then went one step further in shock value by actually using "cell phone footage" of the students' tearful messages to loved ones.  As expected, the editing cut quickly and frantically during initial moments of panic, and lingered uncomfortably during the seemingly endless moments of waiting, mimicking the emotions felt.  So Glee told their story.  But I'm not sure why they wanted to.  The fact of the matter is that I can't imagine anyone wanting to see, scripted onscreen to seem as real as possible, those moments of fear.  As a nation, we are already afraid.  We already read eyewitness accounts from Newtown, and put ourselves in those darkened classrooms, and wondered what we would do if we were faced with a moment where our choices and our strength and our love meant nothing to a man with a gun.  

We already know this reality.  We've imagined this reality.  We are living this reality.  We don't need to see it packaged up and presented to us on a television show which usually parades through with a glossy world of bright colors and narrative fluff.  At this stage in Glee's storytelling, the show is best suited for escapist television, and little more.  Not only did "Shooting Star" endeavor to show a beat-by-beat experience of violence in school, but it also put the gun in the hands of a student with Down Syndrome, who until now was one of the few examples of a usually "otherized" character being wielded sensitively as a real person.  She was allowed to be her own character, with her own POV, and while Down Syndrome played a part in her identity, she was also a sometimes-bitchy cheerleading captain who could dish a pretty inspired barb.  Becky existed without being reduced to or defined by her "other" trait.  Unfortunately, she was the easiest figure for Glee's writers to pawn off as an overwhelmed student who brings her dad's gun to school and scares the shit out of everyone.  But with only two scenes where Becky reveals how scared she is of the real world (news to me), it's difficult to dredge up the sympathy - or even understanding - for her when we spent ten minutes cowering with the glee club in fear.  Truthfully, I feel more sympathy for Lauren Potter, the actress portraying Becky, who has been vocal about advocating positive representation and visibility for those with Down Syndrome in popular media.  I fear audience members may assume, because of the shooting, that Down Syndrome is a mental illness and not a genetic condition, and only hope the sudden introduction of Becky's distress helps illuminate the fact that her emotional crisis is unrelated to her "label" as a character with Down Syndrome.  Regardless, it's a sloppy and somewhat disheartening choice for a pretty beloved character.

In another stomach-turning decision, Glee also chose to wield the school shooting situation as an opportunity to resolve a bunch of storylines they didn't care to give closure to anytime sooner.  Much like their (now-repeated) threats of apocalypse, it seems the easiest way to raise the emotional stakes in a Glee script is to loom the threat of death and make all that resolution come swiftly.  The high-pressure scenario dissolved Kitty's meanness towards Marley and Unique, huddled Ryder and Unique together, presumably without the conflict of gender identity, and gave suspense to the storylines quickly minted for Brittany and Sam and Will and Shannon at episode's beginning.  The takeaway, even before the shooting happened, was that with or without a meteor hurdling towards earth, you should live your days as though they are your last.  Knowing that school violence was pending only made this message more awkward as it was hamfisted into the beginning of the episode like an anvil about to drop.

All of this was wrapped up in the title "Shooting Star."  Unfortunately, this episode's existence serves primarily as evidence to a complete lack of respect by the Glee showrunners, and a display of deluded arrogance by a group of people who somehow believe it falls on their shoulders to script and deliver what is essentially a horror story for humanity and a still-bleeding wound in the collective heart of a fearful nation.  To poke at that, even with the best intentions, only reveals an utter lack of self-awareness and humility that, unfortunately, Glee has displayed for years now under the guise of revolutionary television.  Would that any indication otherwise - of reality - fall on listening ears. 

22 comments:

  1. Preach! This pretty much sums up all my thoughts about the episode.

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  2. There is literally no reason for Glee to continue. It is an affront to television creation from top to bottom, with blatantly offensive storylines and condensing of its characters into one-dimensional caricatures. The showrunners have no perspective and their subject matter quickly escaped them while they were busy thinking of ways to appeal to a non-existent demographic.
    This recent episode is just another layer of icing on a monstrous cake that will only continue to grow the longer this insult to television is allowed into the public eye. We can do so much better.

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  3. DR SHE BLOGGO YOU B*TCH ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT ISN'T NAYA..

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    1. I agree if Naya was in this episode they would be praising it... *eyeroll* and who gives a fly f what a nobody wanna be blogger says

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    2. You cared enough to click on this site, read this and comment so...

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    3. true. ans it's embarrassing really because Naya never achieved the level of acting those kids did last night. and boy she had her chances!

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    4. Oh show it up your asses, this isn´t about some damn actor, is about a serious issue handdle in the worest way possible and since DR didn´t write what you wanted to hear you are just complaining you sorry asses off. STFU.

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    5. This is a difficult conversation to follow, since everyone's anonymous.

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    6. True that, anon #6.

      Negative anons, you're missing the entire point of this post. She didn't say anything negative whatsoever about the acting abilities of the cast. They did a fine job with what they were given. It's what they were given that was the problem with last night's episode.

      Naya usually gets praised because she takes the material they give her (which is, to be fair, usually less shitty than what they give the rest of the cast), and she makes it better through her comedic timing and delivery. But her presence couldn't have made up for the disgrace that was "Shooting Star". The whole concept of the episode was just wrong, and that has nothing to do with which actors are present.

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    7. THAT IS SOOO VEEEERY TRUE!!!!

      But it is quite possible that Dr She Bloggo will never again write one positive sentence about Glee, because let`s be real: Last year Naya did get loads of songs and storylines because she was going out with one of the writers and not because she had been recognised for her talent. On the other hand this year she is trying to be a music world groupie - so anything can happen...

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    8. What's with the Naya-haters? She wasn't even in this episode.

      Did she steal your boyfriend/girlfriend? Are you jealous of her ability to rise above the often mediocre Glee writing?

      Personally, I'm with those who were surprised they didn't bring back crazy-Quinn as the shooter. That at least would make sense contextually. (I bet Quinn fired that 3rd shot!)

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  4. For me, it was a new low for Glee, exploiting school shootings. I can’t believe they used a tragedy to manipulate the audience and make them care for what they have not been able to sell all season: The new characters and Bram. That is pathetic, and despicable opportunist.

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  5. this was just awful television from start to finish.The sad part is that teen dramas have actually done school-shooting episodes that are geniually affecting televison and when you compare this to say OTHs season 3 episode it somehow seems even more tactless and insincere.

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  6. Very very very well said. You absolutely articulated what I felt was wrong with this episode. With all Glee episodes in fact. Their utter lack of humility is so disgusting that I'm so baffled by the mainstream media praise this episode got - I can't believe it.

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  7. ICAM, this was a cheap shot as gathering sympathy towards the newbies and Bram, it had worked to a small degree, it was disgusting and I hope Glee and Fox get reamed for this! Next week everyone will act like this didn't happened.

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  8. Yup, this was a manipulative pile of crap designed to make us care about the new kids we've rejected all season long. Fail. Side of fail. With a fail taco. Give me my NYC or cancel this shit.

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  9. Best and most accurate review I've read so far. Thank you.

    Do you think that on some level, it was a manipulative attempt to get the fans to finally connect with the new characters? Or just the Lima side in general? With everything still up in the air regarding season five and all? It bothers me that some people are talking about this episode as if it was intended to raise awareness for gun violence, because it didn't feel that way to me. In the end, they were never in any harm? There was no violence. It was an accident. And it felt like a cop out. Like they weren't simply capitalizing on school shootings, but specifically a victim's fear, and not so much to facilitate any gun control conversations, but for some kind of emotional blackmail/manipulation.

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  10. For the second time this season HEATHER MORRIS has proved how an outstanding performance acting-wise she can give when she is given the right material. And it frustrates me to no end that instead of using her talent properly, the writers pushed her into background and used as a prop in Santana`s coming out storyline, while she is much more talented actress when it comes to drama/crying scenes/kissing etc. then Naya Rivera will ever be. IMO opinion the only reason that Naya was so overexposed during Season 3 is because she had been going out/sleepping with one of the writers – which makes the whole situation even more gross.

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    1. Such nastiness. Do you know all this for a fact or did you see it on the internet.

      Not sure what your apparent hate of an actress who didn't even appear in the episode has to do with the Glee PTB blatant attempt to make us care about the 'new gang'.

      Also, Brittany was never meant to be a major character. She's comic relief (when written correctly). And she apparently doesn't WANT the heavy emotional scenes.

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  11. This episode was frustrating for me as someone who never even saw the drama of it.

    To me, it tried to be emotionally manipulative. And it failed. The episode was just boring.

    Worst of all, through all the tearful goodbyes, none of the characters were actually in any real danger.

    The standout for me this episode was Jane Lynch. As soon as Sue said the gun was hers, I instantly knew she was protecting Becky. That's the one thing that got me.

    As for everything else: confirmation of why they should have just dropped the Lima side. It was and is BORING.

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  12. Well after that I almost feel ashamed for liking it. I don't have much trust in the writers but I thought it was reasonably well done. I didn't see it as overly manipulative, because well... they are trying to manipulate us, every week, like every other show that we watch.

    If nothing else I thought there were some surprisingly great performances.. like from Chord and Becca, and plenty of good camera work. This was also the first episode all season that I chose to watch twice... and all my favorites are in the NYC side of things.

    My biggest problem was with Brittany's end of the world repeat. She's just not funny any more. Plus as a reformed Brittana shipper, I am disappointed that with two end of the world scenarios she hasn't had even a throw away line like "Maybe I should say goodbye to Santana." Heather's bathroom scenes, however, were so on point and probably the best non-dancing work I've seen her do on this show. Everyone has said she can't handle the heavy stuff, but damn if I didn't feel her terror.

    My other problem is how disjointed next week (errr Today) will feel as we skip merrily back to NY. In general Glee is not aces about remembering what happened in the previous eps, but people who go throw something like this are deeply changed and well be lucky if Glee even acknowledges that this happened in a future episode. Most likely we'll be back to cracktastic/crapstatic shenanigans and it'll be like this never happened.

    Sue me (another great showing for Jane Lynch too and for Sue's character too), but I kind of liked it.

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