And what you’re describing is what I think I’ve been trying to get at in my genre whiplash description, namely the glee of the musical Kelly so beautifully explains and defends and the nastiness of Sue that so many viewers plain out love, and yet all of that gets juxtaposed with a quasi-realism of high school and social issues that nevertheless never get dealt with appropriately.

We don’t need after school specials, but I for one can only take one generic approach to high school at a time. Be it Breakfast Club or Election or Clueless (or Gossip Girls for crying out loud :)…but the sense that music can overcome high school student assaults? Like you remind us, I can recall my own school days too vividly; moreover, I see my own kids’ bullying issues every day….

How *do* we navigate these contradictions? And are we fooling ourselves as academics by letting our critical take allow us to watch out show by spouting our critical position at the same time? [In fact, I fear that approach in other places, i.e., as if teaching Achebe alongside Heart of Darkness somehow exculpates my assigning Conrad!]