Glee has taken on a number of social issues throughout its four seasons. Some of those issues have included homosexuality, cat fishing, cyber-bullying, teen suicide, and eating disorders. On April 11, barely four months after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, a school shooting took place on an episode of Glee called "Shooting Stars." Glee is a comedy TV show, they told us.
I admit that I doubted the ability of the writers, producers, actors, and actresses of Glee. Although Glee is set at a high school, the show's atmosphere seemed incapable of creating the dynamic achieved by Degrassi several years prior to this Glee episode. In some ways, Ryan Murphy surprised me. The scene was in no ways fun to watch. Ryan Murphy deserves some praise because of the creativity and imagination required to depict a school shooting in a TV show such as Glee. What surprised me was that the shooting was depicted with a somewhat non-partisan, almost liberal way. This show airs on Fox, mind you. In fact, many social issues are shown more through the liberal perspective on Glee.
As was expected, there was much controversy following the episode. Some believed that the shooter should not have been the character with Down syndrome, while others believed it simply fit her character. Some believed that someone should actually have been shot, while other thought that it accurately depicted the terror and post traumatic stress of a school shooting, even without casualties. Opinions varied just like opinions on gun legislation vary. One of my main concerns was whether TV shows like Glee, Degrassi, One Tree Hill, or any other entertainment television show should tackle the issue of school shootings.
School shootings have always been a very sensitive issues in the media. News programs try their best to deliver the facts and then both sides of the argument after the grieving period. Still, even news programs show bias when reporting these kinds of issues. I can't see how an entertainment show, with its own plot/agenda could convey the issue any better. Should these shootings even exist at all in our entertainment? Are these portrayals a good way to reach the general public, or are they an insult to school shootings that have now been branded by entertainment?
I don't think it was necessary to include a school shooting episode in Glee. I don't think it was necessary for past TV shows to do so, and I hope that others refrain from doing it in the future. Think about it. Are we really that oblivious? We know that school shootings, or shootings in general happen. We know they exist. We just don't know what to do about it. We can't come to a consensus. That's the problem. That's the debate, and it's a debate that should be framed by journalist-oriented media, not entertainment television.
I admit that I doubted the ability of the writers, producers, actors, and actresses of Glee. Although Glee is set at a high school, the show's atmosphere seemed incapable of creating the dynamic achieved by Degrassi several years prior to this Glee episode. In some ways, Ryan Murphy surprised me. The scene was in no ways fun to watch. Ryan Murphy deserves some praise because of the creativity and imagination required to depict a school shooting in a TV show such as Glee. What surprised me was that the shooting was depicted with a somewhat non-partisan, almost liberal way. This show airs on Fox, mind you. In fact, many social issues are shown more through the liberal perspective on Glee.
As was expected, there was much controversy following the episode. Some believed that the shooter should not have been the character with Down syndrome, while others believed it simply fit her character. Some believed that someone should actually have been shot, while other thought that it accurately depicted the terror and post traumatic stress of a school shooting, even without casualties. Opinions varied just like opinions on gun legislation vary. One of my main concerns was whether TV shows like Glee, Degrassi, One Tree Hill, or any other entertainment television show should tackle the issue of school shootings.
School shootings have always been a very sensitive issues in the media. News programs try their best to deliver the facts and then both sides of the argument after the grieving period. Still, even news programs show bias when reporting these kinds of issues. I can't see how an entertainment show, with its own plot/agenda could convey the issue any better. Should these shootings even exist at all in our entertainment? Are these portrayals a good way to reach the general public, or are they an insult to school shootings that have now been branded by entertainment?
I don't think it was necessary to include a school shooting episode in Glee. I don't think it was necessary for past TV shows to do so, and I hope that others refrain from doing it in the future. Think about it. Are we really that oblivious? We know that school shootings, or shootings in general happen. We know they exist. We just don't know what to do about it. We can't come to a consensus. That's the problem. That's the debate, and it's a debate that should be framed by journalist-oriented media, not entertainment television.
I completely agree with you. I believe that the issue of all this gun violence needs to be solved, but there is no way to please everyone. I do not think it was necessary to add the school shooting scene in the episode of Glee or any other TV show for that matter because they do not help fix the problem.In a way, I feel like it could make the situation worse because these shows could actually give people the feeling of what it is like to be in an actual shooting. It could give even more people post-traumatic stress syndrome because they are watching right up close on television what a school shooting would be like
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