openingyourselfuptojoy | Here's What You Missed On: Saturday Night Glee-ver!

Oops sorry my Blaine goggles are still on.

I have a lot of feels about:

- Kurt singing parts of "More Than A Woman" to Blaine

- Kurt and Santana wearing blue, while Blaine and Brittany wear red

- Blaine being "the girl" while dancing with Kurt, especially directly after Unique's performance.

- Blaine's weird timewarp-ness. Like, he and Brittany and Mike are the only ones who seem to love disco. (This is because Blaine and Brittany totally went back to the 70s with Brittany's time machine, no lie.)

So to quote needs_more_green, red means having power while blue means being powerless, right?

But nothing about this performance has anything to do with having power/being powerless.

So I'd like to propose a different color theory, perhaps for this performance alone, and that's the Red Oni Blue Oni trope from tvtropes.org.

copy and pasted here:

"The Red Oni is associated with passion, wildness, defiance. A red oni character is often more brawny than brainy, extroverted, enthusiastic, determined, and filled with a zest for life. He is also much more likely to break conventions and rules than his counterpart. Often an Idiot Hero or, in more mature pieces, a Boisterous Bruiser. If a red oni is indeed noticeably intelligent, he will still be much more emotional than the blue oni, and/or with less sophisticated thoughts, feelings, or goals. When a villain, the red oni is often a Blood Knight. Generally speaking, they’re more people-oriented than goal-oriented. They may or may not shrug off criticism about themselves or their aims and goals, but say or do something nasty to their closest friends, and you’ve just guaranteed yourself a world of pain. Likely candidate for The McCoy.

The Blue Oni is an opposite in most ways — more intellectual, proud, traditional, introverted, cultured (sometimes more spiritual, although that’s not guaranteed). Blue oni personalities are often respected by others, but also likely to puzzle or confound their peers because they are difficult to read and have a mysterious quality to them. Personality subtypes include The Stoic, The Spock, The Quiet One and the ever popular Aloof Big Brother. It’s worth noting that while blue typesappear tremendously calm and composed, sometimes this is just the surface, and scratching that facade may show that they are, if anything, wound far too tight beneath their calm and unemotional appearance. Villainous blue oni tend to be extremely ruthless, ready to do or sacrifice anything (and often anyone) to accomplish their goals. See Knight Templar and Well-Intentioned Extremist. Likely candidate for The Spock."

Thoughts on Santana/Kurt being the Spock while Blaine/Brittany being the McCoy?

Also on color theory--Finchel is in blue. Finchel is so completely and utterly powerless? That sounds about right.

Also also Tike is in black, pink, yellow, and cuteness.

Let's make a list, shall we?

- Sam records Mercedes's performance and puts it up on youtube without her permission. (this one I'm willing to forgive FAR more than any of the others, for the simple reason that people take videos of other people and put them online without permission all the time. That doesn't make it right, but it does make it commonplace.)

- Brittany releases a sex tape of her and Santana without Santana's permission.

- Brittany applies to college for Santana without Santana's permission.

- (a different episode but still relevant) Tina applies to dance colleges for Mike without Mike's permission.

all of these situations are treated as good things. The person who did the "betraying" (for lack of a better word) is rewarded by their significant other in the end because they acted with their lover's best in the end. The violation of privacy/respect for the person is never brought up/discussed again. Everyone is happy with the end result.

What are you trying to tell me here, Glee?

(no seriously I want other people's thinky-thoughts on this, because I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get out of this.)

I just wrote a long-ish bit on Glee and female representation in general (spoiler: they fail at it) at my journal that kind of ties into the whole Rachel giving up her dream and other things, if someone is interested (My much more positive and flaily recap is here where I'm mainly happy about Blaine. And Disco. And dancing.)

I think Glee is trying to tell us, that they didn't really think those consent issues through.

Also they are trying to tell us that aside from Mike, all the other are girls and why should they be granted agency anyhow? (sorry, bitter, cause I had a lot of fun with the episode but those things are piling up and souring my fun *pout*)

(This is because Blaine and Brittany totally went back to the 70s with Brittany's time machine, no lie.)

this is now my headcanon till the end of time XDXD

I think the Sunshine Twins just like to have a good time! And Disco is a lot about having fun.

But seriously all the Blaine feels in this episode. cause while I enjoyed BB immensly it was nice having our super happy, sunny puppy back after last weeks blangst!blage!fest

I'm waiting for future episodes to air before making "final judgements" on the characters and actors, but yeah... Brittany especially did something really bad with the sex tape uploading. Sam was also not listening to Mercedes when she asked him whether he put the video online without her permission.

But there are never any consequences on this show...!

Oh, I thought of another one:

- Wade dresses as Unique during a competition number without Jesse's permission. Vocal Adrenaline wins.

I very much like these thoughts and the Red Oni/Blue Oni thing, and I think it fits. Because in a love song like this someone who's able to feel their emotions and feel them completely and shamelessly is going to have more power than someone who can't feel them totally because, intellectually, in the back of their mind they're freaking the hell out about their future (and neither Brittany or Blaine are graduating this year, apparently, so they don't need to worry just yet).

But... but the thing for me is that Brittany's not actually wearing red. She's wearing pink and purple.

Purple is for using your vulnerability or pain as a strength, and Pink is when you think you have power and are making a decision for yourself, but really that choice is out of your control.

Which I think ties into Brittany's actions in the episode i.e. posting a sex tape on the internet so Santana can get her shit together.

The pink is because, well, girls always get pink on this show, because the show accepts that being a girl is hard, and often your Powerful Decisions are actually things that society's set you up to do anyway. Posting a sex tape? It definitely feels powerful, and there's definitely a sense of having agency within that, but... in the end it's still what it is, you're still playing into what a patriarchal society is going to want from you anyway.

And then the purple. Because Brittany's using that which makes her vulnerable (her sexuality, and arguably the fact that people are fine with saying she has a "brain the size of a toddler's fist"--thank you, for that, Sue...) to get what she wants for Santana--she using things that take power away from her in a way that helps both of them, in the end.

Which I'm not condoning, because BOY was that messed up in terms of consent, I think there's a discussion down thread. But that's just what the colours are doing there, I think.

And yes, Finchel are quite powerless right now--but they're in blue together (and it's the same during Rachel's song with the lighting). So I think that's, if not a step in the right direction, a different one, because they're at least on an equal footing now?

And Tike! There is something worrying me (and many of us) about Tike at the moment--well, more Mike, because he keeps wearing yellow and blue allllll the damn time. (Yellow is having negative, angsty feelings when you're supposed to be having happy ones, or concealing your bad feelings, etc. and GOD I need to post that colour meta thing ><)

I want to know what is up with Mike. And Puck. Because they make me sad :(

Tina also forged Mike's signature in that episode, and neither he nor his father had an issue... :/

I'm not sure what they're doing with this, other than that they have shown in the past that CONSENT IS IMPORTANT. They just haven't shown that it extends to things like this, that have positive implications as well.

Personally, I think if they've written this many scenarios where that has happened, they're gonna make a point on it eventually. Because they always do.

I think... tumblr's got some interesting views on all of this, and that's become part of the problem :/

PS: I think a lot of how the deal with consent on the show has to do with how they deal with apologies (i.e. no one on the show apologises for stuff independently, unless they're Artie or they're Kurt that one time in Home--they just try to fix things and make it up to the person without ever having to say it)... I'm not sure how, but I think they're a similar thing?

Which is not to say that I think Glee doesn't believe you need consent, but I think... oh hush I don't know what I think I just wanted to leave the thought here before I forgot :P

Another important relationship to tack on: Will, and Finn. (Really, Will and everybody ever, but the one they set up here to contrast? Will, and Finn.)

And it's not Will revealing Finn without asking, it's Will following him, pulling things out of the trash, (planting pot on him to blackmail him into glee club, breaking confidentiality to talk to his parents about the military behind his back), etc, etc, etc. It sits in the same neighborhood as all of the above.

Except most of us, I think, believe that we're supposed to see those things as just as screwed up and not-okay as they are. So how does that relate to this?

Okay, I have definite thoughts about "More Than A Woman", although they're not necessarily all...100% nice? But not bad, I don't think.

So, this whole episode starts with Blaine, singing about my woman takes me higher, my woman keeps me warm. And it's weird, right? For us, anyway--but do you want to bet it's werid for Kurt, too? And then it's the very same episode that Kurt meets Unique, and we know that presses a lot of buttons for him; the lines between gay and drag queen and transgender are not very well-set in Kurt's head, because he's an eighteen-year-old boy from Ohio, and you can bet he's been called girly and sissy for so long that teasing any of those lines apart are going to be an epic task.

So we end up with Kurt, taking the (for lack of a better term), traditionally masculine role in the partnered dance, right, dipping Blaine, asserting himself, right, as not female--and singing to Blaine that he's more than a woman. As in, not female. (Better than female, even).

It kind of feels like Kurt's way of dealing with the events of the episode from his POV, by just...declaring that he and Blaine are men, and they may be gay but Kurt is still a man and so is Blaine. Thoughts?

I saw a tumblr post comparing Santana's "This is my education and it's not a joke to me," line from The Spanish Teacher with her actions in this episode regarding not wanting to go to college and just wanting fame. What do we think? Do we have an actual continuity fail?

because this subthread is missing? Or did we all get all the refs made this episode?

I'll start us off- When Unique lists her grandparents, they're Beyonce and Andre Leon Talley. I had to look him up, and he's a former editor-at-large for Vogue. So, you know, fitting.

~~obligatory Dorothy's shoes were here ref~~

Any other refs we missed?

Well, that line was in regards to her high school education, which says nothing about her plans to pursue college. And anyways we had an in episode reason why this stance re: education changed: Blaine's brother. He wins her over last episode, then this episode she's saying "He said it best, skip college lol". I'd call that tight continuity imo.

I looked up the song lyrics to see if I could figure out exactly what is meant by the phrase "More Than a Woman" in context, but there aren't really any hints. But given that another song in the same movie says "My woman takes me higher" etc, I'm guessing they're related. Because saying "my woman" over and over makes her sound like a possession, and it talks all about the ways she makes him feel good. More Than a Woman also says things like "You've got me working day and night just trying to keep a hold on you." I've never seen Saturday Night Fever, but maybe it's meant to indicate that his perception of her is changing from "You're my woman and you make me feel good" to "There is so much more to you than just being my woman, with your own dreams and goals, and I want to make you feel as good as you make me feel."

I'm now hearing the song as meaning "I love and respect you as a person, separate from and regardless of your gender." (Of course I'm open to being corrected.) So with that view in mind, it sounds like Kurt is singing to Blaine that he's a complete person, more than just a gender, and he loves him regardless of his gender. (Which may be an important thing to say, given that Kurt had limited dating options when they met.) And then at the end of the song Blaine sings it back, as if confirming that he didn't really mean to call Kurt his woman earlier in the episode.

In my headcanon, Kurt spent the episode rethinking gender, contemplating whether Wade was right that Kurt identifies as a man, and then concluding that yes, even with the girly clothes and voice and love of fashion, and with people calling him girl-related insults, he's still definitely a man. And then he takes the lead when he and Blaine are dancing, and Blaine doesn't mind and is just having fun, spinning and being dipped, so Kurt sings to him that just because you're taking the girl role right now, I don't see you as a woman, I see you as more than that.

(In conclusion, I agree with lots of your thoughts on this.)

I was thinking a lot about Kurt and his reaction to Wade, and I've also been a little puzzled by people who think Kurt should have reacted differently to Unique. I get why people would be upset. Kurt is sort of 'your friend on t.v.' and even I really want him to be super cool about all things, but Kurt's 17/18 and from small town Ohio where he spent a majority of his life dodging literal slings and arrows for being an out gay man. So, out of curiosity I broke down all of the places Kurt might have learned about other sections of the GLBTQ community while living in complete isolation from that community for most of his life.

Peers/Parents: No. Lima can barely handle Kurt. I bet just about everything he heard was all lumped together and negative. Even Burt, father of the year, would not be someone Kurt would hear about GLBTQ people from. We all seem to forget that Kurt was been in the closet to his dad until about three years ago. Did it get brought up at all before that? Was closeted Kurt on constant bat ear mode when it came to Burt saying anything even remotely near this subject?

School Library:This would differ from school to school, but how much do you want to bet that if there was any GLBTQ themed books they're either flying under the radar or have been defaced/removed/banned/never bought in the first place?

Public Library: How big is the library? Would it carry anything useful? As in anything published in the more recent decade? Would Kurt be willing to go check books out when god knows who could see him or who knows who is behind the check out desk? Even if he just read in the library we come back to “How well funded is this place and does it do him any good?”. Also, would Kurt read about anything besides what he identifies as just yet?

Internet: Yes, Amazon exists. Yes, Kurt probably has a credit card. A few things though.
1. As said before. Up until three years ago I bet Kurt was insanely careful about giving his dad any solid evidence that he was gay. This means being very careful about net history.
2. Kurt, like I bet a lot of teenagers, probably has limited funds. Would fashion crazy Kurt spend his money on those amazing new Doc Martins or a book about the LGBTQ people?
3. Kurt has been on the net, and like all of us found porn. Porn that seemed to freak him out. I'm guessing his searching didn't get that in-depth until much later.

I mean, for god sake the first openly gay kid he met was Blaine. He flipped out about bisexuality. Why is it this thing to believe that Kurt is our guide around the mountain of all things GLBTQ? He's allowed to have no idea about things and to make mistakes.

Any other ideas on this?

I absolutely understood why Kurt reacted how he did. And I didn't mind either way- it's a sticking point for Kurt in the past, of course he's not going to know 100% how to field himself in this episode. But I think the stance he DID take was about how passing keeps you safe in Lima (God, I use "in Lima" as a catchall for everywhere- I really mean "in Gleeverse")- which is totally true, and I don't know whether I'd say his advice was "Bad" or "Wrong" so much as not the advice Wade was hoping for, I guess.

Be that as it may, him being unknowledgeable was refreshing to me, and I liked how that particular story played out. My only concern for the story would be that it was going to be like BIOTA- where WE all know he's wrong, and WE have all the information to figure out why he says it, but that it's never "called out" in narrative (I'm of the opinion it sort of was, but people have pointed out that in the end he's right which, idk, vindicates his stance I guess? So it's definitely not clear cut to most people), which would have people crying foul at Glee for representation.

Luckily, we had a clear "Wade/Unique was right" moment, and Kurt even comments on how he and Mercedes were wrong in the hallway later, so it all worked out great.

I agree with your ideas re: Where he'd learn about GLBTQ (I was always a fan of QUILTBAG, because I like acronyms that spell words and one of my best friends is Asexual so I was in the habit of including it anyways, but the general umbrella is understood either way. Potato Patato)- It's silly for us to expect him to be our Gay Yoda, and I'm glad the narrative DOESN'T. It's very real.

But yes, it's been awhile since we had a "Kurt is wrong" storyline, so I for one was happy to see one- especially one that changes his perceptions and lets him grow.

In short- I agree! (Wow I can be longwinded :P)

Oh, so reasons people were missing:

Diana was in Paris during most of the filming- she's in group shots, but that's it.
Vanessa Lengies (Sugar) does not have tribute episodes in her contract. So she's not in this one, nor will she be in the Whitney one. Allegedly.
Damien? F if I know. Was he even in the dance-a-thon at the start?

I don't know if this is why, but I seem to remember the prize for the winners of the Glee Project was an 8 episode arc, so maybe Damien wasn't in this episode just because he's only been written into 8 episodes this series and he wasn't necessary for this one? So, similar to Vanessa- the episode wasn't in his contract. (Especially if they were nervous at this point of the Glee Project winners, considering this was Sam's first full episode as part of New Directions and Alex had the first of his two episodes as well.)

For in world reasons, I'll take secretagentlaura's explanation that Quinn was in physical therapy this week so missed Glee rehearsals but I'm not sure about the other two. Maybe Sugar and Rory were on a week long date?!

That is actually fascinating that tribute episodes are contracted differently than non-tribute episodes. Hasn't Damien appeared in more than eight episodes? IMDB has him listed at fourteen, which includes two upcoming ones. He's one lucky Glee Project alumni, for sure.

So, Jesse St. James is starting to parallel Mr. Shue, right? His aspirations to make it big onstage outside of Ohio didn't pan put, and now he's coaching a show choir, back in Ohio. And just like Will, it's his former show choir (that he did make it to Nationals with, just like Will).

I didn't really see this coming until this episode!

Yeah, apparently the contracting for the Glee Project kids is at least X amount of episodes- apparently Damien was good enough to warrant keeping him on.

I wonder if Samuel Larson is kind of regretting that he didn't start on the show first instead :)

Here's a thing I've been contemplating ever since the episode aired.

I absolutely understand why Kurt would be ignorant about this, why he reacted the way he did, etc. I don't think he's evil/a bad person because of it. But I keep wondering: why do we justify Kurt because he's a teenager in a small town when we never cut Finn the same slack? And I say this as someone who usually dislikes Finn quite a bit. Why is it that "ignorance is never an excuse" is only ever applied to characters we don't like?

"But I keep wondering: why do we justify Kurt because he's a teenager in a small town when we never cut Finn the same slack?"

I think this is a really going point to bring up. I think part of it is a mix Finn starting out with more privileged than Kurt in this small town, and also just a large dose of Kurt having a huge fan base. Sort of favorite child syndrome, which doesn't excuse him, but does tend to make people gentler with him I suppose.

Like, I read a review that said that they didn't like seeing Kurt failing to understand Unique, but that in all reality he probably would. Had this been Finn the language would have been so much harsher.

So...after all that. I agree.

Here's What You Missed On: Saturday Night Glee-ver!

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