THE MUSIC IN ME A Glee Study Guide TROY BULLOCK ISSUE 61 ISSUE SCREEN EDUCATION 26 Sue Sylvester: High school is a caste system. Kids fall into certain slots. Your jocks and your popular kids – up in the penthouse. The invisibles and the kids playing live-action druids and trolls out in the forest – bottom floor. Will Schuester: Where do the glee kids lie? Sue Sylvester: Sub-basement. he first series of Glee was broadcast on the Fox Network in the US from September 2009 to June 2010. The musical comedy series is about the members of New Directions, a show choir group at McKinley High School in Ohio. Glee wasT an instant hit with teenagers across America and, now in its second season with a third on the way, the series is watched by up to fourteen million Americans each week. Network Ten fast- tracked Glee to Australia in September 2009 after a promotional tour by its key cast members, and the series regularly attracts over one million (mostly teenage) viewers. Albums of the songs performed by the cast have sold over five million units worldwide, and over thirteen million individual songs have been downloaded through iTunes. Glee was originally conceived as a film: in 2005 Ian Brennan wrote the screenplay based on his own experiences in a high school show choir in Illinois. While the series has understandably been likened to the hugely successful High School Musical movie franchise – a peculiar number of students at McKinley High have amazing voices and a strange tendency to break into song – Glee is also related to other film traditions. The series sits squarely in the popular teen genre and features all the hallmarks of an American high school movie: there are jocks, cheerleaders, geeks, over-achievers, religious nuts and nerds, as well as a caring student counsellor, a rigid principal, a hard-nosed coach and a teacher with a heart of gold. Yet the main story centres on a group of likeable misfits whose every drama is played out in song. Glee’s success has rested on its characters’ ability to win the hearts of viewers with their classic underdog story of life on the bottom of the social ladder. Glee has been favourably reviewed by most critics in Australia and around the world (it screens in more than thirty countries). After its American debut, Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker called it ‘Hands down the year’s most novel show [and] also its least likely success.’1 However, the show has not been without controversy. In the second episode of the first series, the members of New Directions defy the orders of their teacher and ditch a disco classic 61 ISSUE to perform Salt-N-Pepa’s ‘Push It’ at their school assembly. The storyline has the entire school cheering at the overtly sexual SCREEN EDUCATION performances of the otherwise outcast New Directions members. The (im)morality of using sex to attract new students to the glee club outraged the Parents Television Council of America, who called the show ‘an edgy, sexually-charged adult series that is inappropriate for teenagers’.2 27 USING GLEE IN THE CLASSROOM Glee is a series that should already be well known to most senior students. Even if students are not avid viewers, they will be familiar with the format of the program and a number of the characters through the mass-marketing campaigns and spin-off music released to support the show. Glee can be used to study character and genre, as well as serving as a case study for unique storytelling. This study guide focuses on four main areas: • the teen genre and the stereotypes that are found in nearly all these series • narrative and the personal journeys of the Glee characters • music as storytelling – how the songs reflect their singer’s emotions and drive the story forward • morality – accepted norms and how this reflects on the values of contemporary society. A series of student activities are provided for teachers and students to explore selected episodes from this series. STUDENT ACTIVITY 1 DISCUSSING GENRE Each genre has its own set of conventions that producers will deliberately follow in order to give an audience the kind of experience they desire and expect. Think about the movies and TV shows you have seen that are set in an American high school. Choose one that you know well and watch it in the same night as you watch an episode of Glee. Make a list of the conventions, characters or production techniques that are consistent across both examples. Identify the beliefs you hold about American high school from all of the television series and movies you have seen. Make a list entitled ‘Five things that always happen in an American high school’. When you have completed your ISSUE 61 ISSUE own list, share it with the class and take note of other people’s responses. Did many of you list the same things? If so, then the teen genre has successfully given you all a SCREEN EDUCATION consistent impression of a reality you have never experi- enced. How consistent is your understanding of life in an American high school with the reality of your own high school experience in Australia? 28 previous page: Mercedes (aMber riley), rachel (lea Michele) and Finn (cory Monteith) hit a high note this page: the new directions glee club perForM together THE CHARACTERS IN GLEE The glee club at McKinley High was originally a small group of social outcasts until Spanish teacher Will Schuester (Matthew Morri- son) sought to expand the club, believing that a love of music and performance has the power to bridge the gap between the school’s social cliques. Now, New Directions is filled with students from all different walks of life. The glee club members who have featured heavily in both the first and second seasons are: THE ORIGINAL OUTSIDERS THE JOCKS THE CHEERLEADERS Rachel Berry Artie Abrams Finn Hudson Quinn Fabray the classic over-achiever, rachel artie (Kevin Mchale) is a self- Finn (cory Monteith) is the star Quinn (dianna agron) is the head (lea Michele) believes she was confessed nerd who loves the quarterback of the football team cheerleader, president of the born for the stage and won’t let glee club wholeheartedly. he and the male lead of new celibacy club and the most popular anyone stand in the way of her uses a wheelchair due to a spinal directions. he is handsome and girl in school. she originally joined quest for stardom. she has an injury he received from a car naive, and has a highly attuned new directions to help her incredible voice and is the female crash when he was young. artie conscience that always sees him cheerleading coach sue sylvester lead of new directions. has an extremely strong voice doing the right thing by others. (Jane lynch) sabotage the and is a major asset to the group. program, but it has helped her Mercedes Jones Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman learn some important life lessons Mercedes (amber riley) is the Tina Cohen-Chang puck (Mark salling) is the bad and she has managed to bond with boy of the school and is often the other members of the club. diva of the group. she has an tina (Jenna ushkowitz) is an getting into trouble both in and amazing vocal range backed up outsider with quirky tastes and Santana Lopez out of school. he is a member by a sassy attitude. underneath, a love of gothic fashion. she used of the football team and fancies santana (naya rivera) is the however, she is a moralistic girl to fake a stutter to keep people himself as a ladies’ man. puck bad girl of the school and is who is struggling with body from talking to her and is trying is best friends with Finn, whom always looking for an opportunity image and trying to find her place hard to rebel against her strict 61 ISSUE he originally teased for being in to become head cheerleader. in the school system. asian upbringing. the glee club before eventually before joining, santana would Kurt Hummel joining himself. never hang out with any of the SCREEN EDUCATION glee club members, but singing gay student Kurt (chris colfer) is has become her favourite part of regularly bullied by the football the day. team and can often be found dumped in bins and covered in red Brittany Pierce slushie. he dresses in the finest brittany (heather Morris) is the designer clothing and always puts classic dumb blonde, always 29 on a confident front, but under- coming out with nonsensical neath he is still a typical scared comments. she is also an and anxious teenager. amazing dancer. STUDENT ACTIVITY 2 CHARACTER Most of the drama in Glee comes from the personality clashes between the very different members of New Directions. If you haven’t seen the show before, watch an episode and look out for the different characters. Which member of the glee club do you relate to the most? Write down a list of positive and negative qualities about that character based on the episode you viewed. What is the one quality that you relate to the most in your chosen character? OUr heroes’ JOURNEYS TV characters need to change and develop as a series progresses, and compelling drama always features its characters facing a series of challenges and obstacles. Throughout the first two seasons of Glee, many of the members of New Directions faced emotional hurdles. These storylines help us get to know the characters better by allowing us to see how they react in difficult circumstances.