The popular hit series Glee helps to perpetuate gender stereotypes and encourages young people to follow them by telling the audience being this way is “cool”. All of the girls in the Glee show al
ways look very pretty; they wear skirts, dresses, and other very fashionable outfits. They also wear makeup and usually have their hair down. A stereotype about women is that they should always look nice and wear “gender appropriate” clothes. Glee helps carry on this stereotype by making their female characters conform to gender norms. Women are also said to be catty and very into their own groups. Glee portrays this by making a few of the girls mean cheerleaders that band together to pick on the other girls. In truth high school does not have clearly defined groups anymore, but Glee makes the line between popular high schoolers and non-popular high schoolers very clear.
ways look very pretty; they wear skirts, dresses, and other very fashionable outfits. They also wear makeup and usually have their hair down. A stereotype about women is that they should always look nice and wear “gender appropriate” clothes. Glee helps carry on this stereotype by making their female characters conform to gender norms. Women are also said to be catty and very into their own groups. Glee portrays this by making a few of the girls mean cheerleaders that band together to pick on the other girls. In truth high school does not have clearly defined groups anymore, but Glee makes the line between popular high schoolers and non-popular high schoolers very clear.
The show portrays stereotypes about men too. They wear generally more comfortable clothes at school in the form of jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hoodies. In the earlier episodes not many boys wanted to join the high school Glee club because they considered it “uncool” to sing. This is a common stereotype among high schoolers today. Boys in choir are often made fun of or it is assumed that they are gay. Glee also has a gay character that faces being bullied and frowned upon in almost every episode. The gay character is very feminine in his dress and mannerisms, therefore; the more “manly” men (such as the football players) make fun of and haze the poor boy for not conforming to the gender norm. The favorite form of torture the bullies prefer besides the usual verbal abuse is a slushie to the face. Here's a compliation of some hits...
Most of the Glee characters follow a specific gender norm. If there are characters that are out of the ordinary for men or women they are generally picked on by the other young people in the school. This popular TV program helps reinforce gender stereotypes and norms to all viewers watching whether they realize it or not.
I don't think I would agree that Glee helps reinforce gender stereotypes. Quite the contrary. While I do agree that some highschoolers today would make fun of a choir boy and even assume he's gay, I don't believe Glee is doing anything but making more people aware that it's wrong to do that.
ReplyDeleteGlee is based loosely off of the creator's (Ian Brennan) high school experiences. As far as the the girls dressing like girls and the guys dressing like guys, I believe that's not inaccurate of todays common high schooler's clothing line. You mentioned that the gay character faces bullies a lot. I believe that Glee does this to mirror what real gay highschoolers go through, not reinforce the stereotype. In later episodes they even show that (*SPOILER ALERT*) The main bully whose responsible for most of Kurt's hatred towards bullies, turns out to be gay as well, and has developed a self hatred that lashes out at other gay high schoolers.
All in all I believe that Glee creates a televised window into a fictional high school whose characters deal with common issues likely to be found in today's real high school.
I agree. I think it is more clear that all of the kids in this show are "good looking". This is entirely untrue about most glee clubs. Kids in glee, art clubs, and other clubs of the like generally turn to these clubs because they do not fit in with the rest of the crowd. The show Glee does not portray this AT ALL. The show itself is subconciously making kids in these clubs feel inadequate about themselves. Unknowingly, these kids who don't fit in are watching a show intended on forcing them into a group, to buy things to look better, and etc.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don't agree that kids don't hang out in groups anymore. That is not true. There are still stereotypes, jokes, bullying and cliques in high school. This will never go away. It just a matter of how it is handled.
II was the youngest boy in my school class, had the deepest voice and had to sing in a choir. It was the worst time in my life. Everybody could hear if I sing at all or don't or if I sing wrong. Never in my life I would do something like that again. Boys preferring a club to a choir have my fullest support.Whoever thinks that would be a "stereotype" has not the lightest clue of boyhood.
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