From 2009-2015, the hit television series Glee rocked screens across the world, delighting viewers with its high school drama story lines and its somewhat over-the-top (but still amazing) covers of hit songs. Fans of the hit show were called "Gleeks," and fans (such as myself) dedicated six years to the popular, Emmy-award winning show, relishing in every plot twist, and trying-but-failing to not peek at spoilers for next week's episodes. We were Gleeks and we were proud.
But it wasn't all song and dance, literally. The Glee fandom, like any other, was very...passionate. Gleeks defended their favorite characters and couples like they were battling in a war, and they cursed the writers of the show when said characters and couples didn't get the proper treatment or screen time they deserved.
Glee was there for me when I needed it most, and I look back on the time I spent in the Glee fandom fondly, as I made very dear friends as a result of Glee and still are friends with them to this day. However, I wasn't perfect. I was just as bad as the Gleeks who fought to the death to defend their favorites. In fact, I was probably worse, but we won't get into that. But as a Glee fan, former or not, there are certain things that you just know. Common subjects that the Glee fandom agreed upon, like how terrible Ryan Murphy was or how the show definitely should have ended after season three. And yet at the same time, there were unpopular opinions that were exchanged and agreed upon in an almost underground, black market fashion, in case the masses caught wind of them.
As a former Gleek, I am here today to discuss some of my own unpopular opinions, ones that I shared with only my closest friends. Please try not to judge me.
1. The Glee Project was far better than Glee.
The idea for this article came about when I took a trip down memory lane the other week and decided to dive back into an old playlist of mine that included songs from the reality show that sought to find the next star of Glee. Taking place between seasons 2-3 and 3-4 of Glee, The Glee Project was a unique platform for real young adults to try out for television's most popular musical television show. Each week contestants followed a theme where they completed a group performance homework assignment, participated in a music video, and the bottom three would sing in front of Ryan Murphy, casting director Robert Ulrich, and executive music business veteran Nikki Anders for a chance to survive to the next week.
Personally, I felt as if The Glee Project carried a lot of things that Glee lacked. For one, TGP had real people trying to achieve their dream, rather than just fictional characters in a fictional setting. For another, particularly with season two, I felt a real sense of connection to the contestants, who live-tweeted and interacted with fans every week. I found facets of myself in certain contestants that I couldn't find in Glee characters, mostly because they were all Hollywood actors whereas the TGP contestants were real people. Not only that, but due to the nature of their fame, it was almost impossible to achieve reply or an RT from a Glee cast member. The Glee Project also tended to promote diversity and individuality more than Glee did because while Glee's characters went through real situations that today's teens go through, TGP contestants were today's teens and young adults. They were the ones that Glee writers were pushing stories about. That's what made the two seasons of the reality show so interesting.
2. I actually liked season 4.
Like I said before, most Gleeks are of the opinion that Glee should have ended after season three, when the majority of the original cast (excluding three or four characters) graduated. I, however, am not among those who thought so. I do agree that after season three the show definitely dropped in excitement, producing lackluster content with its new characters and all-important "New York storylines" (which I didn't really like anyway, and eventually stopped watching the show because of them), but I actually enjoyed what season 4 eventually grew to be: a passing of the torch between old and new Glee club members, from Schuester to Finn, from Rachel to Marley. And besides, without a season 4 of Glee, a season 2 of TGP would not have existed, and I wouldn't have gotten to connect with those contestants, and most importantly the world would be without Blake Jenner, and believe me no one wants that.
Glee had to find its groove after they could no longer focus on the high school story lines with Rachel, Finn, and the rest of the gang that fans had followed for three seasons. So they pulled in new characters, with new backgrounds, that would hopefully be interesting. And it was. Each new character had their own thing that made them who they are. Their annual Broadway musical episode - Grease, in season four - was more vivid and organized than any of the others previously.
Season 4 was also the last season with Cory Monteith. And while Finn Hudson wasn't exactly perfect, he was really coming into his own this season, and deciding what he wanted to do with his life. It is unfortunate that it was cut all too short by his untimely death, yet Finn Hudson's character was finally on a good path, which is all we can really hope for.
3. Everyone was better than the New Directions.
By everyone, I mean the other competing Glee clubs that our central club competed against. This includes Vocal Adrenaline, The Dalton Academy Warblers, and even The Unitards (fronted by Glee Project season 1 runner up, vocal powerhouse Lindsay Pearce) who were only featured in one episode. While you were supposed to root for the New Directions, with their multiple numbers and exemplary singing, more often than not I preferred the other groups that they competed against because they were different. Vocal Adrenaline always came forth with powerful rock numbers, including an incredible rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, performed by Johnathan Groff. The Warblers were an entirely a capella group, and while leadership changed hands two or three times throughout the series before Dalton closed down somewhere in between season five and six, one thing that never changed was the phenomenal work that the Warblers put into their performances, no matter if they were singing a One Direction song or a P!nk song. The New Directions eventually got boring, and I got tired of seeing the same four people sing the same six kinds of songs, with the same steps-to-stage choreography.
4. I didn't like Kurt Hummel.
Oops? #sorrynotsorry I'm not discounting Chris Colfer as an actor, because I really do like Chris Colfer. He is a phenomenal actor/writer/person/advocate/anything, but Kurt Hummel just...bothered me. I liked the idea of him and Blaine together until it was shoved so impossibly far down my throat I feel like it would come out of my feet. I promise, this has nothing to do with any sort of homophobia, I just have a dislike for characters/ships that get shoved down my throat by not only the fans, but the writers as well (I feel the same way about Olicity on Arrow, but that's a story for another time). My favorite characters don't need to be cast aside in favor of one particular person, which is how I assume most people feel about Rachel Berry and her one thousand solos, compared to Tina Cohen-Chang's maybe ten or so.
That being said, my dislike for Kurt was not right away. I did enjoy him, and his friendship with Rachel, and the Wicked inspired duets they would sing. But his character had become reduced to the gay best friend, and there was so much more to Kurt than that. And again, I don't need to explain my feelings on Klaine. Not only that, but Kurt Hummel fans were vicious, especially if they shipped Klaine. I'm talking 'death threats to poor Grant Gustin just because his character was going to try to wedge between Kurt and Blaine' vicious. People like that turn me off to the character, because there is no chance of me ever liking anything he does, as someone is going to scrutinize and over-scrutinize it (again, I'm guilty of this with the Glee Project, but that's another story for another time) and completely ruin the moment for me. That's what turns me off of tv show characters and ships in the first place.
So, what have I learned from my time as a Glee fan? Well, I was the worst person ever. Seriously. I'm surprised I even made friends during that time, and I'm even more surprised that I managed to keep those friends...Well, I kept most of them. But that's not the point. The point is that we all have some deep, secret opinions about our favorite tv shows (or former favorite) that we wish to keep to ourselves. My trip down memory lane has not only cemented my opinions of Glee, but it also made me look fondly back at the time where I was obsessively looking for spoilers, or trying to download the songs prior to an episode's airing, or geeking out with my friends over our ship finally becoming canon. I regret a lot of the things I did as a Glee fan, but I will never regret being a Glee fan.
