Day 11: Jumping on the Band Wagon

I’m not often one to follow the pack. I usually prefer to do my own thing, to like something because I like it, not because I want to impress someone else that does, or because everyone else likes it. But, contrary to my old teenager self, I no longer feel the need to like something or do something just because it is completely different from the masses. That’s just flat-out called rebellion.  :-)

However, from time to time, I will avoid something, just because it has been embraced by the masses. Take TV for example. Some shows I just won’t watch. Just because. Just because everyone and their mother watches it, doesn’t mean I have to (uh oh, that sounds kind of like rebellion to me, or perhaps I’m just feebly trying to justify the fact that I am a telly addict and just don’t have time to watch everything…).

Then there's Glee. Glee began just a little over a year ago. I knew how much hype was surrounding it, and was kind of turned off by that. But secretly, in the back of my mind, I thought it might be something I’d enjoy. But Steve would hate it. And I didn’t want to watch it just because everyone else was watching it. So I didn't.  However, a little more than halfway through the season, I bit the bullet and tuned in. I didn’t quite get it at first, thought it might be a bit silly, juvenile, weird. But I stuck with it. And, as I began to get more familiar with the characters and the overall tone of the show, I fell in love. Other than the fact that the music is wonderful, no other show makes me laugh and cry with the same frequency, has the level of beautifully-crafted social satire that covers high school life so completely, raises awareness of the issues, any issues, than Glee does. It covers teen relationships and angst, peer pressure, the need to be popular. It looks critically at each social group within the school experience, even down to the teachers (they’re not so different from the kids in how their social structure works!). They address bullying and have gay, Jewish, black, atheist, obsessive-compulsive, adopted (with gay dads), hearing-impaired, wheelchair-bound and chromosomally-enhanced characters, dear to our hearts. It’s a veritable rainbow, a melting-pot of the teen experience. It preaches tolerance, love, compassion, acceptance.

I caught up over the summer, watching the early episodes that I had missed, and am right back into it again this season. The masses love this show. So do I. I just hope that the masses are getting out of it the messages that it sends so loud and clear, and that those notes of tolerance, love, compassion and acceptance will help to form a new hope for Samantha’s social and educational future, both in school and out. Wow, I never thought I’d have so much riding on a mere TV show.