This morning as I was preparing to go to the office to finish a project,I surfed the net and stumbled upon this episode of Glee on BuddyTV which I found chock full of good lessons. There were two with which I particularly resonated. The Diva Off contest where two of the choirs members competed for a chance to sing the solo of the song “Defying Gravity”. If I were the judge it would have been a draw up to the point where one of them blew their notes in an act of self-sacrifice.
In a nutshell, the losing student blew the note and sacrificed his big win because he loved his father more than he loved fame. He and his father and high school peers were going through some changes regarding his sexuality. The controversy of this theme was triggered by the sub-plot,the question of whether the song should be sang by a female or a male who is gay with a female sounding voice. Turns out the gay student gives away his chance,so his father could have a break from some anonymous gay bashing by way of harassing phone calls. The end result was harmonious bonding between a gay son and his macho dad, who fought for his son to be included as a viable singing candidate, in the first place. Something you don’t see much of on television. It was well written and came off respectably.
The other issue of interest which I thought was handled well as a “teaching moment” was the disability matter. One of the Glee members is wheelchair bound as a result of a car accident occurring when he was 8 years old. His fellow members were insensitive to this. The teachers way of addressing that indifference was to have all members experience the hardships first-hand of being confined to a wheel chair. Their daily tour of duty in the chair of wheels–three(3) hours a day.
To get a full flavor of why I resonated with this episode, which has other things going for it, take the time and watch it. If you have any high school age family,friends or neighbors near by, have them join the party for some constructive television. Incidentally,the singing is good also. This episode was a Creativessel Inspiration for sure.
Okay…gotta go to work…then, I’ll probably do some remodeling…navigation bar style.
