Dust Cast Two: Glee, Be Better

Transcript: Welcome to Episode Two of Dust Cast. Okay, I knew that the minute I got started on my own podcast, I'd get pulled away by work. I didn't expect it to happen this fast, though. Maybe I should have started a show sooner so I could get back in the employment pool! Anyway, that's why this second show has taken so long to get done. There's lot of stuff I want to talk about but only one thing has dominated my mind lately to the point that I've lost sleep over it. And that thing is Glee. Sorry sci-fi geeks. If this bores you come back on Episode Three when I will no doubt be ranting or raving about something more sci-fi. Anyway, if you follow me anywhere on social media but especially Twitter or Tumblr, you'll know that I broke up with Glee midway through the second season. I think my breaking point was the tots episode. (I think it's called the Substitute?) After sidelining Mercedes and her fabulous voice for over a season, THIS is the only storyline RIB could give her? I was apoplectic. But this summer I got back into the show, thanks to some fic by Bana05 and tweets by @Karsh. So I'm pretty much caught up through Season 3, Episode 3, which was called "Asian F". A lot has been written about the Rachel/Mercedes diva-off so I don't need to go into that here. Just go on Twitter or Tumblr and scan the Glee, Rachel, and Mercedes tags. Here's what I want to talk about on today's podcast: Ryan Murphy needs either a race/gender consultant or a new writing staff that includes a lot of people of color. 'Cause based on what we've seen on Glee, his understanding of women and racial minorities is extremely limited AT BEST. And it does a great disservice to the few Characters of Color (or COC for short), that star on the show. Not to mention the way it feeds the young, impressionable and sadly racist trolls in the fandom. And if you've scanned the "Asian F" tag on Tumblr, you will find that they may not be legion but they sure are LOUD. Stop basing story lines on tired, ugly stereotypes. Fat Black women burying their problems in food. Asian-Americans expecting academic perfection at the expense of a well-rounded life. Fiery Latinas trading on their sex appeal. The only thing RIB seems to get right is the whole 'coming out in high school' angle and all the issues surrounding that. And that's awesome but this isn't the Kurt Hummel show, it's Glee. You've cast a lot of extremely talented people that the fans have come to love despite the weak story lines. The best moments on the show have been when something out of the ordinary has happened. When Kurt's dad gave him the sex talk ("Because you matter"), or when Mike's Mom reveals her deferred dreams of being a dancer and Mike realizes where he got his sweet moves from, when Quinn tells Mercedes that she's beautiful. That's what hooks the older viewers of Glee and that's the sort of stuff that the rest of the audience NEEDS to see. We can hear some blonde jokes like the ones forced on Brittany or nameless black football players who don't know their dads on any show any day of the week. But they're aren't a lot of shows exploring the inner lives of people of color or affirming the beauty of women of color. You've got the actors, Glee, and they've got the chops. YOU COULD BE THIS SHOW, GLEE. WE NEED YOU TO BE THIS SHOW. Rant over. If you have feedback, you can leave it on dustdaughter.posterous.com or @dustdaughter on Twitter. Thanks for listening and stay awesome. Intro/Outro music is "Dust" by Van Hunt