Oh, Glee, No....
Sep. 27th, 2012 10:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteI have been a fan of Glee since the first episode. I have promoted it to my friends. I have bought songs from the show. I have stood by it through the loss of focus that hit somewhere around the second season, and was willing to see what they did with the third season, after half their main characters graduated.
But I think I may have just found the line I can't cross.
Specifically, their portrayal of the school's D&D Club as a bunch of hyperkinetic nerds who dress up in wizard robes and pointy hats and jump around hitting each other with cardboard swords while an even more angsty pencil-necked dweeb gesticulates wildly, trying to control them and failing.
I am livid that a show whose primary message is about underdogs, losers, and unpopular kids triumphing in the face of bullying; whose characters include a transgendered student, openly gay couples, and a student in a wheelchair; that makes such an ostentatious point of acceptance, openness, and inclusivity, still thinks it's okay to make fun of gamers and geeks. Because, you know, they're just funny. It's okay to mock them.
I'm probably overreacting. But I'm sick and tired of the media stereotype of gamers as asthmatic, cheeto-chowing, socially retarded nerds who can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. It's not accurate, and it's hurtful - both to those of us who actually enjoy RPG's and to those who are driven away from a hobby and a social circle they might enjoy because of the negative associations.
Maybe someday I'll watch this show again. But right now? I highly doubt it....
But I think I may have just found the line I can't cross.
Specifically, their portrayal of the school's D&D Club as a bunch of hyperkinetic nerds who dress up in wizard robes and pointy hats and jump around hitting each other with cardboard swords while an even more angsty pencil-necked dweeb gesticulates wildly, trying to control them and failing.
I am livid that a show whose primary message is about underdogs, losers, and unpopular kids triumphing in the face of bullying; whose characters include a transgendered student, openly gay couples, and a student in a wheelchair; that makes such an ostentatious point of acceptance, openness, and inclusivity, still thinks it's okay to make fun of gamers and geeks. Because, you know, they're just funny. It's okay to mock them.
I'm probably overreacting. But I'm sick and tired of the media stereotype of gamers as asthmatic, cheeto-chowing, socially retarded nerds who can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. It's not accurate, and it's hurtful - both to those of us who actually enjoy RPG's and to those who are driven away from a hobby and a social circle they might enjoy because of the negative associations.
Maybe someday I'll watch this show again. But right now? I highly doubt it....
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Date: 2012-09-29 04:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-29 06:34 am (UTC)And, sure enough, you were not overreacting. That was really some base and egregious demeanifying there (and yes, I did just make up that word). I can sort of see what they were going for, if I squint - people hunched over a table, consulting books, does not make for a Pop! Wow! Exciting! Musical! Number! so they gussied it up with thrown sparkles and faux swordfights, but it's obvious that the people who wrote it had no idea what they were writing about, and didn't bother to ask anyone what it was like.
Hollywood is actually getting better at showing geek culture - consider the movie Role Models, for example - but this is a giant step back. This is pretty good confirmation that my not watching the show was the right choice.
Especially since I see Sarah Jessica Parker just wedged herself into it as well. Yug.