Madison Zierk
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015 Sec. 0002
3/17/10
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015 Sec. 0002
3/17/10
Ready For A Throwdown?
The seventh episode of the newest hit show to enter Fox’s prime time line-up, named “Glee”, deals with issues of segregation, two pregnancies (one real and one fake), a rivalry between two teachers, and the continued love triangle of three of the fellow glee club members. In this episode we find that Mr. Schuester’s (the Glee instructor) wife Terri is currently trying to cover up a hysterical pregnancy that she created in order to save her marriage. Terri and her sister have schemed to keep Terri’s false pregnancy from Will (Mr. Schuester) by giving off the charade of being pregnant and then adopt Quinn’s (the captain of the Cheerios who is pregnant) baby. Terri has quit her job in order to “prepare for her baby”. Her quitting her job has resulted in her “mommy tax”. By not having a job she is sacrificing that much needed income in order to raise her child when he or she is “born”. According to the essay “The Mommy Tax”, “men who are primary caregivers also pay a heavy price: a ‘daddy tax’” (Crittenden 341). Will’s “daddy tax” has now become the primary caregiver of their growing family. With only one person bringing in the home income (who is only a high school Spanish teacher), Will takes on a second job in the second episode as a night shift janitor.
Quinn’s pregnancy has created her own “mommy tax”. Her “mommy tax” is not necessarily all monetary though. Her pregnancy has brought up not only the money costs that come with giving birth to a child, but also the social costs too. Quinn is portrayed on the show as the most popular girl in school. She’s the typical captain of the cheerleading team who’s dating the quarterback of the football team. She has convinced her boyfriend Finn that he is the father of her child, when in fact Finn’s best friend Puck is the father. By the end of the episode Quinn pays her social “mommy tax” when Sue Sylvester (the Cheerios coach) finds out about Quinn’s pregnancy. Sue kicks her off of the team. As a result of this Quinn quickly loses her popularity and a large part of who she feels she is. Her only place to turn to is her fellow members of the Glee Club.
One of the biggest themes in this episode though is when Sue and Will begin to share the role of co-operating the glee club. Sue, who is on a relentless path of glee-club-destruction, has now found a new way of splitting up the glee club. She finds a loop hole in the rule book in which she can divide the club up and rehearse her own songs. She quickly snatches up all of the minorities in the club in an effort to make them feel as if someone is listening to their needs and cares for them (which she states that Mr. Schuester doesn’t do so). At the same time though she gives them heartless nicknames (“gay kid”, “Aretha”, “Shaft”, “Asian Kid”, “Other Asian Kid”, and “Wheels”). The only kid that she doesn’t give a crude nickname to is the Latina girl who is one of her Cheerios. Sue is the kind of woman who is bent on achieving success and doesn’t care about who she hurts along the way. Her Cheerio cheerleader squad is more known than being great cheerleaders than being smart. In fact, most of the girls on the cheerleader squad are portrayed as being stupid (with the exception of Quinn). In this episode Will even states that on one of the Spanish tests he gave a member of the Cheerios “misspelled her name and drew pictures of sombreros for all of the answers” (“Throwdown” 16:15).
According to Seely’s article “At The Table” “Music, television, and movies set the tone for behavior, style, sexuality, and gender” (Seely 103). While “Glee” is a great show that tackles many different issues such as racism, sexism, able-bodiness, and homophobia, it tends to do it in a very stereotypical fashion. The cheerleaders are dumb, the football players are popular, and the “gleeks” are the outcasts.
The seventh episode of the newest hit show to enter Fox’s prime time line-up, named “Glee”, deals with issues of segregation, two pregnancies (one real and one fake), a rivalry between two teachers, and the continued love triangle of three of the fellow glee club members. In this episode we find that Mr. Schuester’s (the Glee instructor) wife Terri is currently trying to cover up a hysterical pregnancy that she created in order to save her marriage. Terri and her sister have schemed to keep Terri’s false pregnancy from Will (Mr. Schuester) by giving off the charade of being pregnant and then adopt Quinn’s (the captain of the Cheerios who is pregnant) baby. Terri has quit her job in order to “prepare for her baby”. Her quitting her job has resulted in her “mommy tax”. By not having a job she is sacrificing that much needed income in order to raise her child when he or she is “born”. According to the essay “The Mommy Tax”, “men who are primary caregivers also pay a heavy price: a ‘daddy tax’” (Crittenden 341). Will’s “daddy tax” has now become the primary caregiver of their growing family. With only one person bringing in the home income (who is only a high school Spanish teacher), Will takes on a second job in the second episode as a night shift janitor.
Quinn’s pregnancy has created her own “mommy tax”. Her “mommy tax” is not necessarily all monetary though. Her pregnancy has brought up not only the money costs that come with giving birth to a child, but also the social costs too. Quinn is portrayed on the show as the most popular girl in school. She’s the typical captain of the cheerleading team who’s dating the quarterback of the football team. She has convinced her boyfriend Finn that he is the father of her child, when in fact Finn’s best friend Puck is the father. By the end of the episode Quinn pays her social “mommy tax” when Sue Sylvester (the Cheerios coach) finds out about Quinn’s pregnancy. Sue kicks her off of the team. As a result of this Quinn quickly loses her popularity and a large part of who she feels she is. Her only place to turn to is her fellow members of the Glee Club.
One of the biggest themes in this episode though is when Sue and Will begin to share the role of co-operating the glee club. Sue, who is on a relentless path of glee-club-destruction, has now found a new way of splitting up the glee club. She finds a loop hole in the rule book in which she can divide the club up and rehearse her own songs. She quickly snatches up all of the minorities in the club in an effort to make them feel as if someone is listening to their needs and cares for them (which she states that Mr. Schuester doesn’t do so). At the same time though she gives them heartless nicknames (“gay kid”, “Aretha”, “Shaft”, “Asian Kid”, “Other Asian Kid”, and “Wheels”). The only kid that she doesn’t give a crude nickname to is the Latina girl who is one of her Cheerios. Sue is the kind of woman who is bent on achieving success and doesn’t care about who she hurts along the way. Her Cheerio cheerleader squad is more known than being great cheerleaders than being smart. In fact, most of the girls on the cheerleader squad are portrayed as being stupid (with the exception of Quinn). In this episode Will even states that on one of the Spanish tests he gave a member of the Cheerios “misspelled her name and drew pictures of sombreros for all of the answers” (“Throwdown” 16:15).
According to Seely’s article “At The Table” “Music, television, and movies set the tone for behavior, style, sexuality, and gender” (Seely 103). While “Glee” is a great show that tackles many different issues such as racism, sexism, able-bodiness, and homophobia, it tends to do it in a very stereotypical fashion. The cheerleaders are dumb, the football players are popular, and the “gleeks” are the outcasts.
Works Cited
Crittenden, Ann. "The Mommy Tax." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 337-45. Print.
Falchuk, Brad, Ryan Murphy, and Ian Brennan. "Throwdown." Glee. Dir. Ryan Murphy. Fox. 14 Oct. 2009. Mega Video. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
Seely, Megan. "At The Table." Fight Like A Girl. New York: New York UP, 2009. 93-121. Print.
Crittenden, Ann. "The Mommy Tax." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Ed. Gwyn Kirk and Margo Okazawa-Rey. 5th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2009. 337-45. Print.
Falchuk, Brad, Ryan Murphy, and Ian Brennan. "Throwdown." Glee. Dir. Ryan Murphy. Fox. 14 Oct. 2009. Mega Video. Web. 18 Mar. 2010.
Seely, Megan. "At The Table." Fight Like A Girl. New York: New York UP, 2009. 93-121. Print.
I also did Glee and I found it so hard to try to focus on the mothering parts of it because of all the other ethnic diversity and racist issues going on in this episode. The show is really good about showing a diverse bunch of people, more so than almost every other show on television right now. I really appreciate it for that. And even though Sue is supposed to be "the bad guy" because of her blunt comments, it was interesting to me in the episode when you find out her older sister is mentally challenged
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad someone else did Glee. I found this episode to be so hard to relate to the readings but I wasn't going to give up on it. It was so hard not to talk about the first season as a whole. I loved the episode where you find out that Sue has a sister with down syndrome.
ReplyDeleteI also did Glee and too had troubling zeroing on only a few things. So many things were going on in this episode ha. But I would like to comment on your part about Quinn's Mommy Tax. I could agree with this more. If anything, this episode showed just how many things Quinn was going to have to give up and how many things were taken away from her.
ReplyDeleteMaddie,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not watch the show, I am aware of the various stereotypes that exist within the show. I agree with what you wrote in reference to the textbook and various media outlets do set the tone for behavior, style, sexuality, and gender.It's very sad that we often look to television,movies,ads,etc for what the norm should be. Unfortunately stereotypes is something that we will never be able to break away from but within our own lives, we can start by thinking outside the box and learning to accept everyone as equal because we are human.