B) I don’t know so much about teens, but my undergrads were over the moon about the Madonna episode. I have never, however, really heard them say anything about plot. They seem, instead, caught up in the spectacle (as many of the folks here are).

On a related note, in response to my SCMS piece on musical tropes in non-musical narrative television an individual (whose name I can’t recall) suggested that these moments (along with musical numbers in Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, etc.) speak to teens as the YouTube generation. Those moments are so pluck-out-able that viewers are encouraged to find pleasure in the repetition of those isolated moments. (Hulu seems to encourage this response with their at-times pre-posting of musical numbers as decontextualized videos.)

Except to note that this is, (ironically? cause I don’t think Murphy designed it this way), precisely what the appeal of Madonna was in the 1980s. Her songs, at the time, invoked a sense of female empowerment for certainly this 80s teen girl (I have the pictures of me dressed like her to prove it), and I still will break out in song and dance when I hear the oldies and remember “fondly” a time when all I could manage in terms of a feminist mindset was letting Madonna music speak to a burgeoning sexuality and vague pissiness about gender issues that I couldn’t quite out my finger on. (I’d love to hear from any gay 80s men what their memories are of Madge and how this episode did or did not tap into them.)

If we think of Glee as speaking to teens, then the shallowness of the episode, the missed opportunities for character development, the randomness of the songs–well, that’s just spot on, right? How many of us can think back to music from a period in our teen years and simply feel the emotive pull of the lyrics and melody–and not much else? What I’m curious about is how it played with today’s teens, who live in a very different gendered/sexually oriented world…did they read this as trite or retro or cool or what?

I’m also adding as a side note: what does it mean that I stayed home tonight from going to see Kick Ass because the idea of female empowerment meaning a 12 year old girl saying the c-word (not a prude, but not sure what’s appropriate language on the boards!) and beating the crap out of people just disturbed me too much.

So, if we’re now in a “Kick Ass” world of female empowerment for pre-teens, where does that leave the moms/aunts of those pre-teens who “just want to have fun…like a virgin?” (tee hee–couldn’t resist!)

On a completely unrelated note, I found Kurt’s performance at the basketball game particularly intriguing. His physical performance of Kurt-ness seemed totally different than it ever had to that point. He seemed to move with an overt sexuality and sense of self-assurance that I’d never seen before. It was almost as it was another person. Looking forward to see if that continues if his character finds the kind of performance outlet he seeks.

“Vogue” came under a lot of criticism when Madonna first appropriated black and latino gay subculture, and erasing/replicating that complex history of appropriation with a feel-good simplistic feminism doesn’t help much. Throughout, I felt reminded of David Kociemba’s brilliant IMR piece on Glee and disability, “Proud Mary”: Glee’s Very Special Sham Disability Pride Anthem. The attempt to address an issue and yet failing even as the problem is acknowledged and then having it be done with is happening here as well, I think.

Cue the final number. I adore “Like a Prayer” to pieces, but it’s a problematic video to begin with. Bringing in a black gospel choir may hark back to the original and may create another feel-good moment, but in the end it replicates Madonna’s original problems without being able to complicate, resolve, or even just adding an ironic spin.