Glee Review: Do you sing with the return of Glee?

There are some shows that are just strange. Shows that are strange in a bad way like The Vampire Diaries, The Secret Circle and Dollhouse, all three of which I watch (or watched and enjoyed for what it was in the case of The Secret Circle and Dollhouse that got cancelled early on). You also have shows that are strange in a really good way. Shows like Dexter, Episodes, and just about every British TV show that tiny island manages to put out. And then there are shows like Glee, shows that not only border on the absurd, but actually embrace it when the story calls for it.

A show like that tends to be very divisive, there are people who hate it and people who love it. But those that love it often do so with incredible passion and devotion. This can be both a good and a bad thing depending on which you are, particularly because there are those who fall somewhere in between. I have experienced this in other fandoms. Incredibly devoted fans can begrudge the less fanatic members for sometimes being critical or less than enthusiastic about the show. As a result these “more moderate” fans can feel less engaged and drop off from a show if it becomes too much for them to handle.

Social media platforms can be the bridge that keeps that from happening, and one of the things that Glee has done really well is embrace social media like Twitter to keep people interested. Most of the cast is on Twitter like Lea Michele, Naya Rivera, Kevin McHale and others, though they seem to be the most prominent members on a consistent basis. The fans appreciate it no matter what your level of devotion, but then I count myself among those who are more moderate in my opinion.

One of the best aspects of the show though is the music, the way in which music is both the focus of the story and the thing that makes it different from others. Before the show came on the scene four years ago, musicals were a rare thing. There were occasional successes like Moulin Rouge and West Side Story, but in general they were something to be ridiculed and looked down upon in the film community, then came Glee. A show that preyed upon the nostalgia of music from the 80s and 90s, making the music cool again for the current generation. It even managed to revive some long dead tunes that were themselves ridiculed and kind of weird.

This too is at the heart of the show. It’s about a group of misfits who are constantly made fun of and fight tooth and nail to get respect from people who don’t want to give it to them. As I was reminded quite well recently, everyone loves an underdog. People love to root for the guy or girl who had it rough but manages to succeed anyway. Succeed despite the detractors and critics, despite the authority figures trying to keep them down and despite everyone who might otherwise have an obvious advantage.

With more number 1 hits then they can count, over 36 million digital single sales and 11 million album sales worldwide, I would say they certainly achieved their goal. Interestingly enough, the show reflects that success in many ways. As the show gears up for season 4, its characters have achieved success and are now wondering what is next, and I am too. But more than that I am curious...

Do you sing with the return of Glee? I have in the past, and I am going to be doing it again this year.

Who was more tied down by Black Snake Moan?

Musicals are a tricky thing to pull off. Whether they are on stage or in a film so many of them can fall flat if the mind behind them isn’t exceptional or they have a team behind them that is exceptional. But when they do and they get it right, they have the ability to go beyond the simple box that people tend to place them in. To put women and children and men in the seats eager to experience the magic that flows from them. And then there are films like Black Snake Moan. The type that occupies this weird middle place that is both great and controversial at the same time, great because of the music that is used within it (the director suggests that while not your typical musical, it is a musical) and controversial because of the subject matter that it deals with throughout the film.

A film like this can sometimes attract a very narrow audience given the basic framework of how the story plays out, but I can’t help but feel that a wider audience should have the benefit of watching it and trying to understand the concepts and ideas that the film is all about. It centers around two main characters, Rae (played by Christina Ricci), and Lazarus (played by Samuel L Jackson), two people who are both broken inside for different reasons that have never met but through a series of unfortunate circumstances will be thrust together and force each other to deal with what broke them in the first place.

Now I can hear people who have never heard of the movie saying, what’s so controversial about that? It sounds like your typical everyday Hollywood plot. And I can see how people might jump to that conclusion, but where the controversy comes in is in how they end up forced to deal with each other. Lazarus, because of many of the circumstances that brought Rae to him, is forced to tie a chain around Rae’s waist and keep her chained to the house until he can figure out a way to help her. She also happens to spend most of her time around the house half naked. I know, it sounds like the beginning of a torture porn film like Saw, or the premise for a really well written porn film. Many of the people who have seen the film have come to the conclusion that the chain is a metaphor for men needing to assert their power over women, and that in order to control women they have to be domesticated.

I however would take a much broader view of the film in really analyzing it. The director, for all intents and purposes, has tried to plead the fifth on whether or not the message of the film is anti-feminist. Honestly, I don’t think feminism enters into the equation of this film. Not all films have to have female empowerment or feminist, or anti-feminist messages in them, in the same way that not all movies with a racially diverse cast have to be about race. Some movies do, and some don’t. My opinion is that this movie isn’t really about race, or female empowerment. It’s a film about trauma.

Both the main characters are dealing with a type of trauma. Both of them have had key people in their lives leave them for one reason or another recently and they are both trying to come to terms with the fact that they are now alone, either temporarily or permanently. Rae being the one who has more troubles then she knows what to deal with, is metaphorically and literally tied down by the pain of what she’s going through and Lazarus is trying to help her see the metaphorical chain that she refuses to set herself free from. And so the question becomes:

Who was more tied down by Black Snake Moan? The audience or the characters?