nora9999 replied to your post “TDB Rewatch: Shooting Star”
A lot of people criticize Becky's role here but I always really liked it, and honestly think it was exciting to see an actor with a disability getting a meaty storyline-- they were going to give it to a secondary character, of course-- it could have gone to someone like Azimio, Dotty, or Stoner Brett. Becky was the most interesting choice.
Yes - sure! I won’t discredit that. I think Lauren Potter did an excellent job with the material given to her!
I was thinking about this introvert and extrovert question and I just really wonder how much of either Kurt is in Lima as compared to New York. Obviously people have an essence within themselves but navigating the social landscape of McKinley is so different from what he's experienced thus far at vogue, and I feel like I'm seeing more extroversion than before. I'm also not sure that introversion is always synonymous with independence and self-sufficiency.
Oh, this is great too, nora. Environment impacts us so much, too--makes us more comfortable (or not). Part of it is compatibility, too. Speaking from my own experience as an INTJ (and MANY of you, apparently, will relate), I have to modify the way I act and the way I talk about things around other types. Otherwise I come off as cold and aloof, critical and a bit too obsessive/passionate about ideas. That would be true for anyone, but it's something I definitely notice about myself.
And I agree about your final comment. Sometimes we just lump so many things under the "introversion" umbrella, when it's mostly about where we find our energy in our relation to the world and its people/objects, and kind of, where we live our life (externally/internally).
I've been thinking more about that whole noble savage thing & it makes me wish there was data comparing reactions to the Klaine breakup from fans who identify as straight vs. fans who identify as LGBTQ. All this talk about these two boys being "icons" makes me wonder if there are different shows being watched. (I mean, there always is with any work of art, but you know what I mean.) While calling something an icon sounds like a compliment to some, icons only exist in two dimensions.
I was going to answer this privately, but then my answer became super long and with links. So I'm publishing behind the cut.
I would love if there were a sociologist or anthropologist doing work on this. All I know is that there was little agreement in the queers-only space on Deconstructing Glee about the Glee Equality Project, but everyone is self-selected there, so it's hard to draw conclusions from that.
I think when I was younger, I was more concerned about what prejudiced straight people might think, and so I would have been more troubled by the Klaine break-up - not because it wasn't a good story, or a realistic story; but because it was one that straight people might not be able to handle. I definitely bought into the notion that they needed to see the "good gays," and put their needs for a story above mine. I would now call that internalized homophobia.
So this is what a lot of the "break-up is bad for the LGBT cause" reminds me of. It doesn't sound to me like it's catering to the actual needs of LGBT people, but by fear. Fear of what homophobes might think if they find out that gay people are human. So gay people need to be "better" and have something that is out of reach of ordinary, straight humans.
In that sense, the noble savage parallel is quite appropriate. White people who elevate Native Americans/American Indians as having an innate spiritual superiority (and then start overidentifying with a culture they're not a part of, appropriating its traditions out of context and speaking on behalf of Native Americans without input or consent) may have good intentions and usually don't think they're being racist, but they are.
Something I've run into now and again, from both straight and LGBT people, is the idea that because same-sex relationships are same-sex, they are innately more egalitarian than heterosexual relationships, which are saddled by the baggage of misogyny and sexism. (In my experience, all relationships are saddled by bad cultural lessons about gender; my same-sex relationships have not been more egalitarian than my heterosexual ones. YMMV.)
I have had straight people tell me that they are jealous of this perceived superiority, and look up to gay couples as role models that heterosexual couples should emulate. So I don't think it's a stretch to say that one of the things that many straight people get out of watching Klaine is hope and escapism: The fantasy of a non-gendered, egalitarian - and therefore perfect - relationship.
When Klaine are shown to be as imperfect as a heterosexual couple, they no longer offer that hope or that escapism. They are no longer an ideal to strive for. That causes a crisis. If Klaine aren't perfect - if their role isn't to tell me how to live my life and model my romantic relationships - what is their role?
I have my own answers to that final question, but I won't answer them here. I think people who are struggling with this question need to try to answer it for themselves.
I agree with a lot of what you said in response to the GEP statement on TBU. Honestly I think the cheating is actually helpful in a sense that it takes Blaine out of being perfect which I just feel has been exiting in this "noble savage" place for some corners of fandom for awhile. Somehow Kurt and Blaine are more acceptable as a gay couple when they are adorable, or when they are relative innocents hurt by outside forces, but not when they are human.
I probably shouldn't be as excited as I am about your use of the term "noble savage," but I am nonethless excited. I haven't used it in my daily parlance since studying comparative African and colonization lit in college. (Now I've gone on an internet expedition on the topic and found, among other gems, this definition of "noble savage" from TV Tropes. It's not the one I learned in college, but it fits this discussion well.)
Thanks for putting your finger on something that's disturbed me about some of the fandom conversations surrounding Glee, but that I hadn't been able to find the words for myself.
nora9999 replied to your post: I think I'm going to have to refund my LeakyCon registration.
It’s in Chicago right? Check out the HI Chicago Hostel. I stayed there twice this summer. The rates are CRAZY cheap and you can take public transportation where you want to go— even if you were to cab it back and forth there you’d be way ahead.
I just don't know if I'd be comfortable doing that alone. And I've never been to a convention before, so I don't know if the experience is better when you're staying at the venue, or if there's things I'd miss out on because I don't want to go outside alone at night and I'd have to leave early.
