I will admit that when I decided to do Glee for my final
project, I had not seen a single episode. Since the last time I wrote about
Glee and now, I have watched about seven episodes. My perspective on the show
has changed and I wish I had more experience with the show, so that I could
write about more than the first ten episodes of season one. (I in particular
want to watch Blaine arrive and see the relationship between Kurt and Blaine,
but I do not have the time to watch the entire series before finals). Today,
for my final journal entry, I will discuss an episode in particular and how it
deals with democracy, our vision for an accessible school, and the ideals we
hope to foster within our society.
The episode, episode 9 in the first season, is called “Wheels”.
In it, Artie, the handicapped student, cannot ride the bus to Nationals with
them because he needs a handicapped bus that the school cannot afford. In order
to show the Glee club students how difficult it is to get around in a
wheelchair and what Artie goes through on a daily basis, he assigns the club to
use the chair for three hours a day. The viewers see Finn getting smacked in
the face, Rachel having problems getting her lunch (and then someone upending
her lunch in her face), and having problems getting around in general because
they are unfamiliar with the wheelchair.
While this is going on, and after Mr. Shuester has proposed
a bake sale to help funds for the bus, Kurt and Rachel must audition for the
solo in “Defying Gravity”. Kurt cheers when he hits the high F, a requirement
for the song, and then discovers that he cannot take the role. Moments before
he arrives in his father’s shop, his father receives a phone call that says,
“Your son’s a fag.” As a result of how this affects him, Kurt decides to throw
the audition so he is less visible at school and affects his father less.
The third point of the episode (among four, the last of
which I will not describe because it really is irrelevant to this discussion)
is that Sue must hire a new Cheerio after throwing Quinn off the team. They
hold auditions and she selects a girl with Downs Syndrome. Will believes that
she has ulterior motives in this and does not understand why Sue treats Becky
like all the other cheerleaders. At the end of the episode, we see that the
reason is because Sue has an older sister with Downs Syndrome who is wheelchair
bound. Sue does not treat Becky any differently because she believes that
handicapped people do not wish special treatment, but the same treatment as others.
Will chose “Defying Gravity” because he wanted Glee Club to
be more accessible to the judges. Since “Defying Gravity” is a traditional
female role, having Kurt sing it would have possibly affected how the judges
perceived them. Having a Downs girl on the cheerleading squad would have
affected how the other girls perceived her. Artie, in his wheelchair, is well
aware of how he is Othered by society, much like Becky and Kurt. While only the
trials of Kurt and Artie are depicted, it is possible to imagine that Becky is
aware that something does not quite mesh between her perceptions and those of
her peers.
Mr. Shuester wants the Glee Club students to use wheelchairs
so they can stop assuming that whatever Artie is going through does not affect
him emotionally. This places everyone within Glee Club on fair playing ground
and is something that students in real life should be able to relate to.
Students should be equal and judged, as Sue stated, “not on what they look
like, but what they can do”. Had Kurt not thrown the audition, he would have
hit the high F. Thus, he would have been judged on his abilities, not on his
appearance as a male teenager. Likewise, one would not have deduced Artie, who
had previously been a minor character, had such an amazing singing voice
because the wheelchair would have caused others to diminish him.
This really speaks to the tenets of our democracy. We are
supposed to expect equality and to have students and members of our society
provide as much as they are able, regardless of what they look like and their
personal backgrounds. Students should overcome their adversity and be able to
stand out, without fear of castigation. Although Kurt ultimately decides that
he cannot protect his father as he can protect himself against homophobia, it
shows that he understands the difficulties that his sexual orientation poses
for those around him.
The money the Glee Club raises in its bake sale, along with
money that Sue donates to the school, provides funds for three more wheelchair
ramps and a ramp in the auditorium. Thus, the school becomes more accessible
and a better place for students of all abilities and capacities. Through the
wheelchair experiment, the Glee Club learned how difficult it is to maneuver and
traverse a world different from their own. A walk a mile in my shoes exercise…of
sorts. I think this experience is valuable for everyone and something that
students should keep in mind in their future experiences.
This is my last journal entry—I hope you have enjoyed
reading them all. I leave you with a video clip of a song Artie sings during
the episode.
“Dancing With Myself”.
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