Introductions!

[narceus]

So you've found your way over to openingyourselfuptojoy , I see.  That's great!  We're thrilled to have you.  Welcome to our communal madness!

Of course, that's the thing about communities: they only work because of their members.  So go ahead, guys, and introduce yourselves here.  Meet some of the people you'll be tossing squee and ideas around with.  Let us know who you are.

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[yutaya]

Hello!

I'm yutaya; nice to meet you. Disclaimer: I'm something a huge lurker (it's an "if you have nothing important to say don't say anything at all" issue that I am working to overcome) but I made a dreamwidth account just for this, so, there's that.

So, glee intro story!

I was one of the many people who saw all the publicity for glee back when it was first gearing up to air the pilot and got super excited: a show about teenage misfits finding a place to belong with lots of song and dance? Count me in! I waited with baited breath for the Pilot which met all my expectations and then some (especially when On My Own happened; I have a history with Les Mis) and then all the "I want to be here because I love it" and meeting in spite of the teachers and the school and the town and unlikely groups being bonded by something, and that something being show choir, was this show tailor made for me to love it? and then Don't Stop Believing and the vastness of my feelings rendered me immobile in my seat for several minutes afterwards and there was No Turning Back.

I could stop here, but instead you get the rest of my story.

Unlike a sadly large amount of those aforementioned many people who loved the pilot, I obviously did not become "disillusioned" or think "this show just keeps getting worse" or whatever it is they say. I did, however, undergo my share of fandom struggles to get to where I am today (a person who would love to be in a comm like this.)

My issue was, oddly enough, that glee was so popular - I met actual people who liked glee, who I could gush about it with and get excited about upcoming episodes with and such. Glee ended up playing a strong role in my social life - something very unusual for me, because I've always been that kid who gets the "you're doing it again, talking as if these things are real, books and the like are fictional stories don't you think you're too old for this how are you ever going to get friends or a boyfriend if you are talking about childish things all the time" speech.

I got used to watching Glee with other people. And then I got used to their comments.

Unlike me, those people stayed on the other side of that line I am perpetually over: they treated glee like...well, like a tv show. One they all enjoyed, but a tv show none the less. (I know glee is a tv show; it's a great tv show that I love, I don't... I think I'm not wording this very well.)

The people around me started saying things that started out sitting uneasy with me, but brush-offable ("I think Wheels was my favorite episode so far, probably because Finn and Rachel weren't in it") and got more and more disheartening ("Did you hear? Darren Criss is going to be on Glee; I can't decide if he's not good enough for it vocally or it's not good enough for him in everything else", "Are you serious right now [insert 'insultingly unrealistic detail' here] ugh I can't even believe this show anymore", "I wish they would do good songs they're the only reason I even watch this thing and btw have you noticed how sexist and racist and homophobic/only about the male gays this show is and all the character assassination I mean oh my god this show used to be good.")

By the latter half of season 2, I was drowning.

I had never really agreed with anything my friends (my oldest friend in particular, the one I could always watch tv and disney-esque movies with when all the rest of our group from back then would roll their eyes at us) said about Glee. Every time they said something derisive about it something discordant would jar inside me. I began to be grateful for having class when it aired, because then I could watch at least the first time on my own, even over the school's awful internet connection. I got really silent and withdrawn whenever someone would start in on it. Sometimes I put up feeble defense attempts ("it's always been this way, though; don't you remember in season 1 when they start singing and then pan over to reveal a random band in the library? I loved that.") but eventually it became easier to just hush up and wait for it to be over. I never joined in on the hating, and I kept a firm stance of "fine if you feel that way, but I still like it," but that got chalked up to my "liking things thing". "I just like liking things. It's been a 'problem' all my life."

Summer hit, and I was relieved for the opportunity to curl up away from my peers and spend my weeks at the internet-less beach rewatching all of the first two seasons and my weeks at home with the wi-fi submerging myself in fanfiction, which had never let me down.

Except. A lot of the fanfics were saying the same things that I kept hearing in the "real world". They weren't supposed to do that! That's why I only read fanfiction and avoided any other discussion or reaction sites where I knew the haters would run rampant - I could usually weed through and content myself with the gems of the fic world pretty easily, and I did that here too, but... so many of even some of the most thought-provoking, character-insight fics would have little things in their author notes, or a background line character-bashing, or something else that would make me frown when I read it.

I'm pretty sure some small part of me started wondering if maybe everyone else was right after all, if I was the one being wrong again, letting my weird story-obsession thing blind me to the "faults" that so very many other people seemed to see. I tried to ignore that doubt, to just bask in my own feelings and forget everyone else. Told myself there's nothing wrong with a difference of opinion and me enjoying my pre-season 3 marathon wasn't doing any harm to anyone. Away from the "real" people and with plenty of experience rolling my eyes at the internet, I mostly succeeded.

Near the end of the summer, something amazing happened. I stumbled upon naderegen's tumblr. (And yes, this is the point where I start name-dropping people who will actually see this post; hope it's not too weird.) I hadn't even really been aware of tumblr as a website, but. There was fanart (which, fanart. *_*) and more than just that, you could really see how much love for the characters went into each piece. It was beautiful. I scrolled down though every single post and kept the tab open to refresh it everyday. And shortly after, she started posting meta. Meta. Analysis with "textual support" and overwhelming positivity for the characters and the plot lines and all the subtle things and there were also so many things I hadn't ever thought of and it was so interesting and supportive and just, the hugest relief in the world, because here was an actual, existing, someone else who thought that Glee was amazing.

With my heart so much lighter, I went back to school and within the first two weeks, ended up following a link from naderegen's tumblr to crown_of_weeds' livejournal, where I read all of her meta, and it was beautiful and gorgeous and touching and I actually ended up sitting on the dorm couch full-on sobbing because Glee just became so, so much more amazing than I even thought it was before.

I passed the fall semester like that, with both pages open to refresh every day and carrying the revived confidence to love Glee proudly with me like an armor. I started arguing the people around me in favor of Glee again. I paid more attention to all the little things in the show, newly assured that it wasn't actually too odd. I loved Glee even more than I had originally, which I hadn't realized was a possibility until these feelings swooped down and carried me away.

(I got a tumblr of my own to like and thus save naderegen's posts with a week or two before Christmas, and now I am happily spamming every one of my followers (4/7 of which are IRL friends, hah!) with "glee is awesome" posts all day, every day.)

And that's my glee story until now.

(Wow I'm sorry that become so long; maybe I should have stopped after the pilot fangirling after all. Hahaha)

[likeasouffle]

I just wanted to let you know I really enjoyed your introduction post. :)

Every time they said something derisive about it something discordant would jar inside me. I began to be grateful for having class when it aired, because then I could watch at least the first time on my own, even over the school's awful internet connection.

Yes this! I stopped watching it with the person I used to watch with because they would point out all the offensive/unrealistic/confusing parts with such disdain and it really bothered me. The person I watch with now still has trouble with some aspects of the show, but also is happy to squee with me over hot people and singing and dancing and adorableness and OMG what will happen next?! So it's all good. :)

"I just like liking things. It's been a 'problem' all my life."

LOL!