When I was invited to contribute to the Mad Men commentary, my area was race and Mad Men. Obviously, it is not an easy assignment for this episode. This is a disappointment given the glimmers of hope last season, including Pete’s interest in targeting an African American consumer, the connections between Betty and her housekeeper Carla, and even Rodger’s agonizing blackface performance which brought issues of race up to the surface in Season 3. It’s a measure of my desperation that I still wish that Don had been more than tempted by the Asian female waitress who propositioned him in Season 2 (although given her dress and make up “Oriental girl” might be a more appropriate description). As far as I can recall, her scene is the only time someone Asian has spoken in the series. In this season so far, race appears to be almost entirely absent. Carla mostly functions as a symbol of Betty’s poor mothering, and civil rights was only mentioned as a way to separate the “bad” characters (Bert and the male consumer researcher who see civil rights as a step away from socialism) and the “good” ones (Faye who mocks them both).

I think that Mad Men gets it right so often, the period detail, great dialog, strong acting, and the complex ways it explores how masculinity came under fire in the 1960’s, so I want to give the show the benefit of the doubt when it comes to race. After all, the characters, like most people during the 1960’s, were largely untouched by the turmoil of civil rights. The current season occurs right in between the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Immigration Act of 1965 which will fundamentally alter U.S. culture, but most people in the social and cultural class depicted in the show won’t feel the effects for years, if ever. And isn’t this the core of white privilege? It’s the luxury of ignoring race, of floating above the racial strife that surrounds them. What I wish, though, is that like the ennui of the characters in “Christmas Comes But Once a Year” the show could find a way to portray racial privilege without replicating its effects in its viewers.

As others have argued, the themed episodes often bury narrative and character development, but this week saw a powerful blending of Lady Gaga’s music and persona and the storyline.  Her promotion of both over-the-top performance and being a “freak” allowed the show to return to one of its favorite themes and to deepen its representation.  All the glee club members are the school’s freaks, but while the show has depicted their social ostracism before, it often leavens it with satire or humor. The social policing in the school hallways was confined to a face full of slushie or getting thrown in the dumpster which were presented as mildly humiliating or inconvenient.  In this episode, however, Kurt, Tina, and Finn are all threatened with beatings for their overt theatricality and for their deviation from high school norms. In the most moving scene of the show, Finn, dogged by rumors that he is gay, fights with Kurt and calls his room “faggy.” He is confronted by Kurt’s father Burt, and we see the emotional toll of the homophobic slurs on Kurt. The now common-place celebration of a flexible identity, a kind of free-market philosophy of identity formation is tempered by the reminder of the costs of choosing a non-normative identity. In fact, the show questions how much “choice” is involved in the face of constant coercion.

The best moments in the show happen when we are reminded that while all the identities are performances, only some are targeted and punished while others are normed. When Kurt and Tina are threatened for wearing their Lady Gaga outfits to school, Kurt tells the bullies that when they wear their football uniforms to school, they’re also using their clothes to express their identity.  The last musical number is a duet between Rachel and her newly discovered mother, Shelby. In a bizarre move, they sing an acoustic version of “Poker Face” including the lines “Cause I’m bluffin’ with my muffin’.” Yet, the strange juxtaposition works because 1) the singing is gorgeous and 2) the audience is constantly made aware of the, yes, theatricality of moment. The song begins with Rachel calling for the piano player, Brad, saying “He’s always just around” and reminding us of the way that musicals constantly defy logic. The chorus of the song itself tells us that we all wear a poker face that may or may not be the real thing but that always mediates between ourselves and others.

On a different note, I think Mary Beltrán asked me to write this blog entry because it was supposed to be about Tina’s identity crisis. Except for the one great line (“I feel like an Asian Branch Davidian”) Tina was pushed to the sidelines. It’s been said before but needs to be said again. Glee really needs to step it up with its portrayal of racial minorities on the show.