With all of that said, I think next week is going to be the best episode yet, at least based on the previews! They looked hysterical, with Jane Lynch's Sue Sylvester joining Will as 'Co-Captain' of the Glee club!
I've become a fan of the entire cast since the show started, but among the younger cast I think Chris Colfer is the one who stands out the most for me. He seemed likable enough in the first few episodes, but starting with the episode where Kurt came out to Mercedes and then the following week where he told his father he was gay, Colfer really gave some beautiful performances that made a fan out of me.
I'm far from the only person who feels this way, of course. From what I understand, fans of Colfer and his character have already dubbed themselves Kurtsies!
Advocate.com has a new interview up with Colfer which you should definitely check out if you're a fan of the show. Among other things, Chris talked about his own high school experience:
Your character, Kurt, is the show’s fashionista and a key member of New Beginnings. How similar was your high school experience in Clovis, Calif.?
It was similar in the sense that I was definitely teased a lot in high school and I was definitely at the bottom of the food chain: total underdog, complete "Gleek." I was never like Kurt at all; I wish I was now that I watch the show, but I was never fashionable. I wish I was like Kurt in high school! [Laughs]
Were you in your high school drama club?
I was in drama, speech and debate, president of the writers' club, I was editor of our school's literary magazine ... I pretty much did everything.
You wrote, directed, and starred in a musical spoof of Sweeney Todd called Shirley Todd. What can you tell me about that?
[Laughs] The end of my senior year, my school did this thing for the seniors called the Senior Show where one senior was designated to do whatever he wanted for however much time on the stage -- they get their own show in a sense. All the other kids previous to me had done SNL-type skits and gags and that type of stuff. But I was dead serious that I wanted to do a show that would be funny and adult, so I wrote this spoof called Shirley Todd, which is Sweeney Todd except all the roles were gender-reversed, so I was Mr. Lovett rather than Mrs. Lovett, and it took place in modern-day punk-rock London. It was a lot of fun.
Were you out in high school?
Oh, no. People are killed in my hometown for that.
Well, they got the name of the Glee club wrong (it's actually New Directions, not New Beginnings), but it's still a good interview. I think Chris sounds like someone I'd love to hang out with.
From what I've seen online, a number of people in the gay community have been complaining that Kurt is too stereotypical as a gay character, that he just confirms preconceived notions instead of confronting them. While I do want to see more diversity in onscreen representations of LGBT characters, that shouldn't preclude ever depicting characters like Kurt. People who get offended by such a character seem to only want gay characters on TV who are stereotypically masculine (or 'straight acting' to use a term I loathe) rather than a balance that reflects real life.
Just off the top of my head, there are currently gay male characters on Greek, Brothers and Sisters, One Life to Live, and As the World Turns who aren't 'stereotypical' (which to these complainers seems to be a term interchangeable with effeminate), so what's wrong with having a character like Kurt who is into fashion and singing?
Some people seem to think that creating such a character is a setback to gay rights or possibly even homophobic in and of itself, and I think that's just as bigoted a viewpoint as those who think all gay men should be depicted as flamboyantly as possible. They're just flipping the message around and saying that being less than 'straight acting' is somehow shameful.
Personally, I love the character of Kurt, if you couldn't tell. I love everything about Glee, except for the fact that it only airs once a week!
It was similar in the sense that I was definitely teased a lot in high school and I was definitely at the bottom of the food chain: total underdog, complete "Gleek." I was never like Kurt at all; I wish I was now that I watch the show, but I was never fashionable. I wish I was like Kurt in high school! [Laughs]
Were you in your high school drama club?
I was in drama, speech and debate, president of the writers' club, I was editor of our school's literary magazine ... I pretty much did everything.
You wrote, directed, and starred in a musical spoof of Sweeney Todd called Shirley Todd. What can you tell me about that?
[Laughs] The end of my senior year, my school did this thing for the seniors called the Senior Show where one senior was designated to do whatever he wanted for however much time on the stage -- they get their own show in a sense. All the other kids previous to me had done SNL-type skits and gags and that type of stuff. But I was dead serious that I wanted to do a show that would be funny and adult, so I wrote this spoof called Shirley Todd, which is Sweeney Todd except all the roles were gender-reversed, so I was Mr. Lovett rather than Mrs. Lovett, and it took place in modern-day punk-rock London. It was a lot of fun.
Were you out in high school?
Oh, no. People are killed in my hometown for that.
Well, they got the name of the Glee club wrong (it's actually New Directions, not New Beginnings), but it's still a good interview. I think Chris sounds like someone I'd love to hang out with.
From what I've seen online, a number of people in the gay community have been complaining that Kurt is too stereotypical as a gay character, that he just confirms preconceived notions instead of confronting them. While I do want to see more diversity in onscreen representations of LGBT characters, that shouldn't preclude ever depicting characters like Kurt. People who get offended by such a character seem to only want gay characters on TV who are stereotypically masculine (or 'straight acting' to use a term I loathe) rather than a balance that reflects real life.
Just off the top of my head, there are currently gay male characters on Greek, Brothers and Sisters, One Life to Live, and As the World Turns who aren't 'stereotypical' (which to these complainers seems to be a term interchangeable with effeminate), so what's wrong with having a character like Kurt who is into fashion and singing?
Some people seem to think that creating such a character is a setback to gay rights or possibly even homophobic in and of itself, and I think that's just as bigoted a viewpoint as those who think all gay men should be depicted as flamboyantly as possible. They're just flipping the message around and saying that being less than 'straight acting' is somehow shameful.
Personally, I love the character of Kurt, if you couldn't tell. I love everything about Glee, except for the fact that it only airs once a week!
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