Archives For Glee

Eat Your Grilled Cheesus

Chris —  October 15, 2010

Recently Glee head-on tackled the subject of religion, saying nothing new, but typifying the place of faith in our pop driven society. It’s a step up from how they’ve previously addressed the subject, mainly jabs at abstinence programs and Glenn Beck.  From the title we knew it was going be cheesy, but there are a few things worth noting.

First, the idea of the defining characteristic of churches is that they are anti-gay is so deeply embedded in the pop-consciousness, it’s a given. The action in the episode is driven by a main character’s active choice to disbelieve in God because of the pain and persecution he has experienced in his life.  The whole episode seems to be screaming, “we need to know how to deal with the pain in our lives, and the religion you’ve fed us isn’t doing the job.”

The episode struggles with prayer and the sovereignty of God.  One character, assuming Jesus acts in the world like genie asks for three wishes.  When he gets them, and they don’t work out well, he questions his faith.  In the end, he decides to choose no faith over a God who fails to answer his every whim.  When the inevitable REM song hits, one wonders how many of the young people in the church are walking away from a similar misconception of God.

Most interestingly, the episode ends with a demonstration of how the act of worship can be evangelistic.  Seeing others truly pray and sing to God doesn’t lead to an immediate conversion, but it does allow him to begin to find hope.

And if the church can’t offer hope, what are we doing here?

In Church, Culture, God, Life , ,
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Cancel Glee Before It’s Too Late!

Chris —  April 26, 2010

I LOVE Glee. After a lifetime of watching romanticized stories of jocks and cheerleaders (minus the beautiful reprieve of Freaks and Geeks) there is finally a show for us Choir nerds!

The first half of Glee’s first season brought back everything from Journey to The Thong Song in a show choir format you have to love. It’s so fun that no one cares that 20-something Broadway starlets are masquerading as ambitious teenagers. Behind the music are twisted stories of love and lies, that reached a dramatic pitch as intense as anything else on television. There’s something in it for everybody.

It’s too good to last.

By it’s very nature, Glee is a gimmick. We’ve put past the silliness of singing in the hallways and overly dramatic characters because it’s so lovable. But gimmicks can’t last forever.

What scares me is the ridiculously contrived storyline of last week’s Madonna episode will become normal. Come up with a theme, and try to fit the story into it. Glee has worked thus far because the story and characters are compelling enough to ignore it’s ridiculousness.

Last week’s episode was a cheap trick, one that would be easy for producers to repeat.

At least there’s this:

In Culture
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Gleeful

Chris —  May 25, 2009

“These kids feel invisible.  That’s why they all have MySpace.”

I participated in choir from 7th grade through High School, and went on to major in music, thinking that someday I would be a choir director.  I did choir for a few reasons:  I was a good church of Christ boy, and had been harmonizing since before I could speak.  But I was also uncoordinated, out of shape, and a terrible student. 

My dream was that if I could be good at choir, I would become a different person.  It wasn’t like I dreamed of popularity or wealth.  It was just a vague sense that I desperately needed to be good at something, and choir was my only option.

On some level, it worked.  Although I never really felt accepted or had solos or starring roles, I did get to be a part of something.  The relationships I built by participating in choir in college are still among my closest today.  But in other ways it wasn’t a success.

The fact was, I didn’t cut it as a musician, and never went on to teach like I had hoped.  Instead, I racked up an unmentionable amount of debt chasing after a misguided dream. 

The premise for Glee feels like it was taken from my teenage sense of invisibility. Somehow I missed the message that my parents loved me, Jesus died for me, and I had infinite worth.  Choir helped for a little while, but it really just put off the inevitable.  What` can we do to keep the kids from feeling invisible?

In Culture ,
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