Glee -- The New "O.C."

It has been six years since the “The O.C.” premiered on Fox. Since then a slew of “soap-edy” shows have tried to re-create the series’ glory days. In September 2009, one show seems to have succeeded: “Glee.” Praised for its snappy plotlines, sharp—at times ironic—dialogue, and musical numbers, “Glee” is being touted as the next big thing. Its cast is ethnically diverse and features one openly homosexual character (and mentions others) as well as one who was confined to a wheelchair at age eight. The show itself claims to be continually being light to the plight of the high school outcast. However, after reading Meyer’s Masculinities on the O.C., I realized that the categories of hegemonic, complicit, marginalized, and subordinate devised by R.W. Connell that Meyer places “The O. C.’s” male and female characters still apply to the characters of “Glee.”

The show’s predominate sexual relationships are strictly heterosexual. One of the characters, an African America girl named Mercedes, even falls for the obviously homosexual Kurt. He turns down her advances, explaining that he is gay but does not yet have the guts to come out of the closet.

With regards to hegemonic masculinity, the central male teenage characters of Puck and Finn encompass this gender identity. Both are considered to be attractive, athletic, and are show engaging in fights, some times even with each other. Though Finn seems to get in touch with sensitive side by joining glee club, he remains true to the football as well and parlays his social dominance as a tool for convincing others to join glee. However, when his girlfriend, Quinn, informs him that she is pregnant (not by him, but by Puck) he accepts the truth, and takes on the responsibility of fatherhood as his manly duty. Puck is the more violent of the two, and does anything in his power to cement his role as a dominant male.

During the episode, “Wheels,” Puck asserts his manliness by first punching Finn for not covering Quinn’s sonogram bill, and then vowing that he will take care of Quinn monetarily. He bakes batches of cupcakes with a dash of marijuana tossed in so that customers would keep coming back for more. Originally, the money is meant to buy a handicap accessible bus for the glee club’s trip to sectionals, but Puck steals the money to give it to Quinn in order to prove to her that he is a family man through and though. She turns it down, saying that the money belongs to the club. However, when Finn announces that he has gotten a job to pay for Quinn’s prenatal care, she accepts his charity.

The complicit male stereotype most accurately reflects the glee club’s teacher, Mr. Schuester. While Schuester is not violent, encourages the students to be true to themselves, and even tries to help them understand the difficulties of another—having the entire club spend a week in wheelchairs to learn how the disabled Artie feels—he never challenges his place as in the gendered world. Interestingly, Schuester is a victim to his wife Terri’s manipulation and lies. She undergoes a hysterical pregnancy, but once made aware of her condition she does not inform Schuester. Instead, she basks in the glow of his new found desire to assert his masculinity in order to be a good father while crafting her own plot to take Quinn’s baby as her own.

The wheelchair bound Artie occupies the category of the marginalized male. Yet, during “Wheels,” he blatantly states that although he has lost the use of his legs, his penis is still fully functional. He clings to the most basic depiction of masculinity to maintain his status as a man.

The subordinate category is occupied by Kurt, who comes out of the closet in the fourth episode. As in “The O.C.,” Kurt’s hegemonic male father struggles with this reality, and is unsettled when he receives an anonymous call declaring: “Your son’s a fag.” Kurt’s assurances that he is strong enough to handle the world’s prejudices put his father somewhat at ease, but the man admits that it will take time for him to develop the sort of mental defenses Kurt already has.

Lastly, the roles of the women on “Glee” test patriarchic society as the female roles on “The O.C.” did. The character of Sue Sylvester, the tyrannical cheerleading coach, is the most obvious representation of a woman being able to assert herself and stifle any demonstrations of her colleagues’ masculinity. Both Quinn and Terri are manipulating their significant other into believing that they are pregnant with Finn and Schuester’s child respectfully. They both state how dumb Finn and Schuester are and do not worry about being able to outsmart them. As for Puck, Quinn declares him a “lime-a-loser” and swears that she will keep pretending her baby’s Finn’s for entire life. The only two women who seemingly occupy the typical female gender role are Emma, the school’s guidance counselor, and Rachel, the glee club’s female lead. However, both these woman desire men whom are already spoken for, and continue to pine for them.

Below is the link for the episode "Wheels." Enjoy!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/107036/glee-wheels#s-p1-so-i0