GLEE'S MESSAGE OF TOLERANCE IS LAUDABLE:
BUT IT WORKS BOTH WAYS
Now back from my 5-week trip mostly abroad, I've been catching up and
just watched "Theatricality," the latest episode of Glee on
Fox.
I'm a huge fan of the series and, though there are mixed moments, I
support the humanistic message of tolerance pervading the show. I like
the zaniness, especially over-the-top Sue Sylvester, played by Jane
Lynch, and adore the mix of folks drawn to the glee club.
However, I think Glee went too far in this episode, painting
Finn's actions and dialogue with Kurt as black and white wrong, when,
in my view, though Finn descended to the primal in his criticism of
Kurt, nothing was inserted by the writers and producers to indicate Finn
had been pushed to the limit by the overly aggressive and shocking
behavior by Kurt.
The set-up is that Kurt, a gay character who, though flamboyant from
the series' outset and played wonderfully by Chris Colfer, has only
recently come out as gay. He is in love with Finn, a football hero,
terrifically portrayed by Cory Monteith, who has been tolerant and kind
-- he's really the nicest character in the show. Finn is pulled in so
many directions, from his Neanderthal football teammates, who can't
figure out why he joined the glee club, to Quinn, who convinced him he'd
impregnated her though they'd never had actual sex, to the pushy
singing diva Rachel and by the aforementioned not so subtle advances of
Kurt.
Through it all Finn mostly remains cool, though he begins to crack a
bit after Kurt arranges a romance between his blue collar father and
Finn's mother, and to the decision that both families cohabitate.
Although this comes about because Kurt's father supposedly has a bigger
house, it is not clear how this is, as Kurt lives in the basement and
Finn will have to share his room. Their house only has one proper
bedroom and yet it's bigger than Finn's, where he had his own room?
That's the set-up to the uninitiated, and here is a bit of the
dialogue that triggered Finn's outburst when Kurt leads him into their
redecorated room. A room which Kurt describes as having been inspired
by Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper in the film Morocco, but
which wouldn't look out of place in an exotic whorehouse:
Kurt -- A perfect blend of the masculine and feminine. The muted and
the theatrical.
Finn -- Are you freakin' insane? I can't live here. I'm a dude....
Kurt -- Why are you getting angry about everything? I worked hard on
this.
Finn -- Why is it so hard for you to understand? I don't want to get
dressed in front of you. You know that I put my underwear on in the
shower before I come out when you're around? I don't want to have to
worry about that kind of stuff in my own room, man.
Kurt -- And what stuff are you referring to?
Finn -- You know. You know what I'm talking about. Don't play dumb. Why can't you just accept that I'm not like you?
Kurt -- I have accepted that.
Finn -- No, you haven't. You think I don't see the way you stare at
me? How flirty you get? You think I don't know why you got so excited
that we were going to be moving in together?
Kurt -- (screaming) It's just a room, Finn. We can redecorate it if
you want to.
Finn -- Okay. Good, well then the first thing that needs to go is
that faggy lamp, and then we need to get rid of this faggy couch....
....at which time Kurt's father comes in and bawls Finn out for
calling his son a "fag," which he had not directly done and then orders
him out of the house.
First, I'd like to say that it's laudable Kurt has such an
overprotective father, who accepted him for what he was even before Kurt
had the guts to tell him. And I can understand not wanting to use any
epithets as adjectives, even as Finn immediately apologizes and
struggles to explain.
Okay, so the father is one-sided, that much I can understand. He
doesn't want to hear anything derogatory about his son. But we as the
audience have to be offended as well that Kurt is portrayed as the beset
upon poor soul who needs protection, when it is Finn who has been
assaulted.
Finn has been terrific as a friend to Kurt and very patient, even as
Kurt doesn't give a damn about Finn's feelings and sexuality, so long as
he gets what he wants. That he is unrealistic about Finn, which even
Rachel warned him about in an earlier episode, is one thing. Many of us
shoot for the moon only to get turned down.
But to have done what Kurt has, pushing for a living arrangement he
must know will be uncomfortable for Finn, not because Kurt is gay, but
because he has been throwing himself at Finn since the beginning of the
series, is downright insolent. Who wants to live with someone lusting
openly for our affections in a one-sided manner, straight or gay? And
to have decorated their close quarters in a way Kurt surely knows will
make Finn uncomfortable and to essentially get a pass by the producers,
who decide to make Finn the bad guy, because he's been pushed to the
extreme due to Kurt's actions, is not balanced writing and it sends the
wrong message.
It sends a signal that gay people or any put upon minority can behave
any way they like, however reprehensible. However, if someone
momentarily and uncharacteristically reacts in the manner Finn did --
and it's not like he overtly called Kurt a fag, though the reference was
unfortunate -- after warning him in earlier dialogue that the room was
unacceptable, and Kurt, in his "ignorance," essentially baits him, then
Kurt's actions get swept under the rug.
Finn's dialogue about being uncomfortable about being in the same
bedroom with Kurt were more about the fact it was so clear Kurt was in
love with him, and his "colorful" decorative talents accentuated the
tension. Had Kurt been gay and respected Finn's feelings without such
an overstated display, Finn would have been cool even about living in
the same room, though he still would have preferred his own digs, which
had been the case before his mother and Kurt's father got together.
But Kurt only thinks of himself and instead of focusing on how
perhaps he had gone too far, the producers preferred to present him as
an independent rebel who should be applauded instead of likewise being
chastised for pushing Finn to descend to base levels, which he
immediately regretted.
In a follow-up scene, when Finn wanted to talk with Kurt, the ensuing
dialogue went like this:
Finn -- I want to talk about this.
Kurt -- There's not much to say. I feel sorry for you. I thought
you were different.
Finn -- I am different.
We were left with the sense that Finn was totally wrong, and that
Kurt was the innocent victim. He was not, and though the series should
be commended for supporting gay rights and mocking prejudices on all
levels it should also note that people being targeted have a
responsibility to behave like decent people to others as well.
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