TV Bullies: How Glee and anti-bullying programs miss the mark
Gerald Walton
Walton uses the theme of bullying and homophobic violence in the television show Glee as an example of the "larger cultural focus on [bullying]" (p. 218). Walton argues that this cultural focus on bullying, which includes "educational policy and programming, news stories, lawsuits, public discussions, and entire careers" (218), has resulted in the (mis)identification of sexual harassment behaviors as bullying. This misrepresentation can have legal consequences pertaining to victims' rights.
By framing a variety of acts as bullying, the acts are stripped of social critique (p. 218). Anti-bullying products and psychological instruments, newspapers, news websites, and magazines, and fictional depictions on television are some of the benefactors of bullying as a commodity (p. 218-220).
Current approaches to ameliorate bullying are composed primarily of punishment ("zero tolerance") and regulatory (codes of conduct) strategies. Approaches that regulate behavior do not address the underlying social prejudices such as homophobia that lead to bullying and other forms of harassment (p. 220).
Glee frames homophobia as a personal problem, and not one that should be addressed by the school administration. The openly homosexual character Kurt is given the dismaying advice by his love interest to have "courage," and is also told "only you can make yourself a victim" (p. 221).
Anti-bullying approaches that regulate behavior are easier to implement than education programs, which should include the entire school community. Walton states "one of the most effective and widespread strategies for LGBT rights and anti-homophobia organizing in U.S. schools is gay/straight alliances (GSAs)" (p. 222). Walton concludes by importuning the writers of Glee and real-life school administrators to "take the issue of bullying one step further by placing the problem of homophobic harassment at the door of school administrators and compelling them to act to support LGBT children and those perceived as such" (p. 222).
Problematic statements in the text. Do you agree?
"When Rachel gets a slushy thrown in her face for being an overachieving social misfit, it suggests that the homophobic violence Finn and Kurt endure is simply another form of high school bullying experienced by those who choose to be different" (p. 218).
Doesn't Rachel experience the same violence?
Does Rachel choose to be "an overachieving social misfit" more than Kurt chooses to be gay or Finn chooses to be his step-brother? What if all of those decisions were a choice? Is it the level of choice of the victim that determines the degree of the bullying?
How does the intention of the tormenter relate? Once the tormenter uses a slur against a protected class (whether the victim actually belongs to that class or not), doesn't it officially become a bias crime?
In the sidebar titled What Can Be Done?, the statement: "Students, who constitute the majority of the school population, should be consulted when drafting and implementing policy" (p. 219).
How does Newark Mayor Cory Booker's statement on allowing the public to vote on marriage equality relate to this idea? To what extent should the students be "consulted"?
Dear God, we should not be putting civil rights issues to a popular vote to be subject to the sentiments, passions of the day. No minority should have their rights subject to the passions and sentiments of the majority. This is a fundamental bedrock of what our nation stands for.
I wish my school would enforce zero tolerance. Bullying is so prevalent at the junior high level, too often cases are dismissed as, minor, boys will be boys or girl drama. It unfortunatley will take a tragedy for administration to take it seriously, case by case.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that your school doesn't enforce it. You are right, it will take something tragic. Now you have Cyber Bullying which is an entirely new dangerous phenomena.
ReplyDeleteI was terrified when my oldest was in middle school that she would be that tragedy. I even pulled her out for a week. We had a horrible middle school administration that would not listen to my pleas to help her or respect the research that I offered. To shut me up, they put me on a committee that was basically "pick a program to buy." We researched the programs, but there was never a clear answer about who would be responsible for implementing what we ultimately chose, and the committee faded away. (So I can personally attest to this industry.) Her experiences at the middle school were the primary reason she chose the Aggie high school -- she just wanted to get away from the bullies the school system refused to protect her from.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with Glee is that all forms of violence are treated as individual problems. This season when Puck gets into a fight and pulls a KNIFE on his assailant, Coach Beast admonishes him, then consoles him, and that's that. I have never seen an episode where teachers, who regularly witness students pushing and sometimes hitting one another, take any real action. Rachel is suspended for fixing the student council election in Kurt's favor but Puck is let off without so much as a detention?
ReplyDeleteI told my fifteen-year-old what I was writing about, and she said, "the teachers never do anything in Glee. Somebody gets a slushy thrown in their face and the teachers just shrug it off like it's a normal part of the day." I asked her if Glee was an accurate representation of high school, since she just finished ninth grade. She said, "We don't have time to do anything. We have ten minutes in the morning and then we're constantly running to class. How do they have time to hang out in the chorus room?"
ReplyDeleteOh, just to add to that -- I do think there is a trend in childrens' fiction to give most of the agency to children and not adults. It's unrealistic, but how can there be any interesting conflict resolved by the students if they have to run to adults to get anything done? I think in a more realistic show for young people (are there any? I don't watch so much TV), it would be interesting to see students working with teachers and administrators to form a GSA.
ReplyDeleteYour post helped me imagine an unctuous defense attorney positing that yes, their client unfortunately could and should be accused of bullying, but certainly not of SEXUAL HARASSMENT. And then pointing the finger at the school administration for not having more explicit language in their student handbook defining the limits of each. Looking forward to your presentation tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI was on one of those anti-bullying groups. The program was bought by someone outside of the school and we were given the assignment of making it fit our kids. It was a good idea to try, but with too many people involved with the changes and no money to train teachers, nothing came of it. This year they tried again, Shannon and I both signed up to be on the committee to get something going, but the person in charge never pushed it and only had a few meetings with a handfull of students. I do not know if anything was ever created but I do know nothing new was ever implimented.
ReplyDelete