Gleeful for Glee

On May 19, 2009 the world changed. In reality, the pilot of a tv show aired for the first time. But, the laughter, crying, smiles and ecstatic people around the world were changed forever. They were experiencing glee. (Which also happened to be the name of the show.) Glee hit FOX out of nowhere and it couldn't have been more different from its fellow FOX shows. Since when has there been a show about singing, high school, theatre nerds (which might be the biggest kind of nerd, don't worry I'm a college theatre major so I'm a high school theatre nerd alum) that actually turned out sensational music and cast some of the hottest young stars around?


But I digress. The most exciting thing about Glee is not the revolution of the high school theatre nerd (unfortunately, High School Musical has been there, done that...no comment.) or the catchy musical remakes and hysterical routines, its the evolution of the high school individual. I say "individual" very specifically because Glee has been so fantastically un-specific. Glee hasn't just innovated the nerd, theatre nerd, or high school oddball. It has resurrected them along with thousands of other "lamely titled people." How about teen mom? Got one. Wheel chair kid? Yep. Misunderstood teacher? Definitely. Jewish girl? Wow, even that. I could go on for years! African American, football player, OCD case, gay kid, struggling parent, cheerleader, Asian kid, down syndrome kid, hs band member, Latino, alcoholic, the excessively masculine woman...etc.


But, they are cool.  


These lame titles ("labels" might be a better term,) are no longer  ways to identify people when you are being less than PC or rude. They have turned into objects of pride. Now a days, who doesn't want to belt like only Mercedes can and pull off fantastic fashion faux pas' like Kurt? Who honestly denies that they love Sue Sylvester's assortment of workout suits or Rachel's gay dads? (Though we have yet to meet them, why?!) These labels are what have brought these kids together (and gotten them a slushie or two in the face) but what has also kept them together. It is why we love them and why we relate to them. Glee shows us that these kids have come together because they  are all labeled, not because they are labeled the same thing. Their labels are what bring them together as one solid whole and what makes them extraordinary individuals within that whole.


The world will always have labels. But why not embrace them and make them the stepping stones to our very unification? After all, everyone has one, so we already have it in common! But most importantly, its what we have in Glee. Its what Glee shows we have in those around us. Its what after grasping about those around us, we can learn to appreciate in them, and in ourselves.