Glee ‘Wheels’ episode is Hulu’s 3rd most popular video
November 14th, 2009
From Examiner.com:
This week’s episode of the Fox series Glee, which chronicled a high school team’s effort to raise money for an accessible bus, ranked as the third most popular video on Hulu.com. The ‘Wheels’ episode explored questions about human diversity, and featured Kevin McHale’s character Artie Abrams, who uses a wheelchair on the show, and Lauren Potter (left) and Robin Trocki, two actresses with Down syndrome.
The full episode is available on Hulu.com here.
Writing on the New York Times Arts Beat blog, Mike Hale said he felt the show’s take on diversity delivered “a mixed message at best.” An excerpt:
Also problematic was the way Lauren Potter, a 19-year-old actress with Down syndrome, was used as a prop in the continuing humanization of [character] Sue Sylvester [played by Jane Lynch]. Forced by the principal to hold open auditions for the cheerleading squad, Sue chose Ms. Potter’s character, the cheerfully determined but not very skilled Becky Johnson… When the big reveal came, we discovered that Sue’s motives were pure: her own older sister has Down syndrome. This development is being praised throughout the Gleeverse, but the view from here is that it felt smarmy and artificial (and not artificial in a good way).
Entertainment Weekly’s Dan Snierson (on MSNBC.com) has a different view of Lynch’s tender scene with Trocki, in which Lynch’s character read “Little Red Riding Hood” to her older sister.
A little manipulative? Probably. But I didn’t care in that glorious moment.
(Photo from the Riverside [CA] Press-Enterprise).
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on Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, accessibility, inclusion, media, television.
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November 16th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I first have to acknowledge Fox and Glee for having disabled characters and stories about students with disabilities on their show. I think it is a good step forward, also the debate about who should be playing a character with a disability (I personally think that an actor with a disability should be considered first) and how the actress who played Beki was written and performed. I think there is no question that there is much work to do in the entertainment industry about representing people with disabilities and hiring actors to play those roles.
November 15th, 2009 at 7:48 am
I liked it. I can see that a real person using another for gain is wrong, but in writing every character and situation exists only to advance the story. And of course, it is the character’s characteristics that do this. So the language of ‘use’ is a bit overblown in this case, I think.
The episode wasn’t perfect, but it brings the issues of disability into the popular culture. My kids love the show, their friends love the show and the conversations have been great.
I do hope the directors will look beyond thier own experience for a more nuanced understanding of disability as they go, (especially regarding wheelchair use–and dancing!) But I think they are off to a pretty good start.