Just finished season two if that contextualizes this reading at all. I wanna say something on the topic of Kurt Hummel.
I find it interesting that Kurt is repeatedly aligned with and aligns himself with the women of the glee club rather than the men. He is often grouped with the women, not only when talent, personality, or interest are the reason for the grouping, like how during auditions in late season two he is included in the strongest singers group with Mercedes, Rachel, and Santana. However he is also grouped with the women even when gender is at the forefront of the conversation. During the New York trip he rooms with the girls. He wins prom queen. When the club is given the boys vs girls assignment he immediately walks straight to the girls side, simply assuming that’s where he belongs.
Kurt sings girl’s songs. When other characters play/sing opposite their gender it’s noteworthy, take Mercedes as Frank’N’Furter, but Kurt does it so frequently, and there’s only a few times it’s called to attention. We’re not expected to blink an eye when he sings Glinda’s part. When he’s feminine it’s normal. When he is like a woman it is not strange. He wears women’s sweaters. He’s briefly a cheerio. He wears a kilt to prom.
And I understand the writer’s intentions with it. It’s because he’s gay. In Glee Kurt is the first visibly queer character, to his peers and the audience. That’s important. A lot of gay men feel more connected to straight women than straight men. That’s why Kurt/girl comparison. I get that. The New York trip room sharing is a throw away sexuality joke. Kurt winning prom queen is a jab at his sexuality.
But. Upon reading his queer coding in this day and age, all of it stacking up, Kurt doesn’t only read as gay.
Kurt, through this reading, wants to be one of the girls, and for all intents and purposes, is one of the girls for much of the show. When Kurt isn’t being gay, Kurt is being a girl. And I see a mirror to some people I see in life who get so stuck in their sexuality or gender label that they can’t accept the parts of themselves they pretend not to be, or not to see, to better fit with the label they cling to. The label they need to feel safe.
When there’s something you can’t accept, it can feel like this presence. You know it’s there, but you’re scared of it, what it means. Something looming over your shoulder that you can’t look in the eye. But you have to look at it. You have to look.
And maybe there’s a world for McKinley High where a young lady pulls herself out of a dumpster and mourns the mess made of her designer bag, and walks through the halls with her head held high, with a rogers and hammerstein libretto prepared for after school. Where she’ll see her friends and they’ll see her and she can feel proud and safe despite it all. Maybe there’s a world where she sees it and accepts it.
But 2010 wasn’t ready for that.
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