Glee Gets Drunk

     

I am a complete “Gleek.” I watch every week, excited to see what songs the cast will cover, or any special guest appearances that might pop up.
I have a special place in my heart for these actors, because for most of them, this has been their big break.
The show is a feel good program for the entire family, right? I bought into the family fun, until the last two episodes aired. They both dealt with pretty touchy subjects for a predominantly family audience. Drugs and sex were explored to no end through song, dance, and dialogue. As a 22-year-old, I thought it was great. The episodes were humorous, and the songs were awesome (a bunch of top 40 hits)! But it did get me thinking…I wondered how I would feel if I were, say, a pre-teen watching this stuff. Let’s take a look at the alcohol episode cleverly titled, “Blame It On The Alcohol.”

Rachel Berry’s parents go on a cruise, leaving their darling daughter all by her lonesome. Trouble-maker/ bad boy Puck convinces Berry to throw a glee “rager.” The party is boring at first, when Rachel limits the attendees to two wine coolers. Noticing the terrible time people are having, Rachel knows she needs to spice the party up to impress her friends. Here comes the breaking and entering of her dad’s liquor cabinet. 

Soon after the booze kicked in the party was poppin’. You had angry drunks, sad drunks, giggly drunks, make-out drunks, and needy drunks. Every stereotype was met. We even saw a drunken lap dance between Brittany and Artie. The party ended with Rachel smooching gay Blaine, causing a drunken conflict between him and Kurt. 

Now- with underage drinking comes consequence. The writers needed to show the aftermath of a night of partying. All the kids came into school with sunglasses on, and more alcohol en toe to beat their “hangovers.” Because that’s what everyone does right? They wear fashionable eye-wear to cover blood-shot eyes, and drink Bloody Marys to take the edge off? False. This sent a horrible message to viewers. They were basically saying to keep drinking and everything will be okay.

So they drank out of school and in school, which was the issue presented in the episode open. Principle Figgins declared that it was Alcohol Awareness Week at McKinley High, and he wanted the Glee club to perform at an assembly. Just note- the kids have underage drank, followed by bringing drinks to school, all the while continuing to cover it up. There are still no consequences. At this point, I wondered if the show was even trying to send a message. It seemed like a big, fun joke!

I did appreciate the fact that the episode wasn’t entirely focused on JUST underage drinking. Adults were getting in on the fun as well. Mr. Shu hit up a honky-tonk bar with Coach Bieste to unwind and ended up getting wasted. He even drunk dialed! Remember what I said before about being a pre-teen watching this…What would you have thought? Unlike the kids, Shuster takes a sobriety pledge, showing that at least one character is being responsible in this episode. 

Okay- so it’s now assembly time, and who better to preach about the safety of alcohol than model United States citizen, Ke$ha. The glee club performed “Tik Tok” for the crowd, and to calm their nerves Rachel offered up a cocktail. In true rock star fashion the group took a swig, and took to the stage. The performance was awesome (probably the most fun I’ve ever seen the group have), until the entire club began to spew purplish vomit. I didn’t find this shocking, but rather hilarious that one drink made them all puke. C’mon Glee, you know you can’t puke from a sip. 

The disappointing end to all the shenanigans was the fact that the kids didn’t even get in trouble. Principle Figgins thought it was all a part of the act, and the vomit was for shock value. This is what I don’t understand. How can you have an episode where the entire cast drinks underage without any consequence? Coming from someone who may or may not have underage drank in her life (cough, cough), THAT NEVER HAPPENS. You always get in trouble in some way from doing wrong. What kind of message are you trying to send to your audience? 

I believe this episode failed to convey how important alcohol awareness is. Instead of walking away fearful, or not wanting to drink, it made me want to party! I know I am not the only one. As the credits rolled, I looked at my roommates for some reaction. They unanimously agreed that the episode was not effective and actually made drinking seem cool. Needless to say, the following weekend we listened to Ke$ha on our way over to the bar.

I could ask myself, what can Glee do next to be more shocking? But that question was already answered in the following week’s episode about S. E. X. Let’s just say the Parents Television Council is furious with the shows creators for how they dealt with this issue. The most shocking portion of the episode was when the substitute teacher, aka Gwyneth Paltrow, gave some male students lap dances. 

Their messages are so ineffective, and I think the show needs to stop preaching things with the intention of creating change. Instead, completely make fun of subject matter with no message-its way more entertaining that way. 

Glee is on spring break for a few weeks, so they have plenty of time to decide which hot button issue they should tackle next. I’m thinking illegal immigration…