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Queer in the Choir Room: Essays on Gender and Sexuality in Glee
These new essays examine the many ways that issues of gender and sexuality intersect with other identities and practices--including race, religion, disability, music and education--on the Fox hit program Glee . With gender and sexuality concerns at the crux, the authors tackle such specific aspects of the show as the coming out narrative, Glee fandom and fan fiction, representation of sex education, and the intersection of Broadway music and queerness. The aim of these essays is to open up a dialogue about Glee --which is often dismissed by critics and fans alike--and to reveal how scholars are critically engaging with the show around issues of gender and sexuality.
- GenresNonfiction
296 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 16, 2016
When I was taking a queer theory course in grad school, I initially wanted to do a project on queer issues in Glee. The project itself didn't work out, but I did find this book among my prospective research materials, and kept bookmarking it. The book recently went on sale for Kindle for $3.99 (a steal for an academic collection) and did not disappoint. Perhaps it's a sign that I've been out of school for too long that I flew through an academic essay collection like this--it's been a while since I've done that. (Which also serves as a warning: if you want a collection of fan essays that boil down to "and that's why I love Glee!", this is not going to be the book for you. Not that it ever bills itself as that, but you never know.)
Most of the essays in this collection do what I love to do myself, which is pointing out all of the terrifically problematic/awful aspects of Glee and its mixed messages. Some highlight what the show does well, but many essays take the "huh, this is weird" tack--always pleasurable. There were a lot of interesting readings of the show throughout the book; perhaps one of my favourites dealt with Emma Pillsbury and her canonical (yet never articulated formally by the show) asexuality. (Other essays detail her as "sex-phobic" and failed to see her queer potential, which is weird, if only because the more I think about it, the more sense it makes for Emma to be referred to as asexual.)
I did have a couple qualms with the collection. One is that there were several copyediting errors (misspellings, commas in the wrong places, things of that ilk) that, while not as distracting as they could've been were still rather irritating, especially in an academic collection such as this. Another was a few essays that were perhaps poorly organized or a bit too obvious in their arguments; the ones about "ghosting" and musical theatre as well as female sexual agency come to mind. Finally, I wished there had been a little more variety in some of the subject matter. I know that many of the essays dealt with queerness and sexuality (as are wont to do), but when five or six essays deal specifically with "The Power of Madonna" episode (from fairly similar angles), it does get a little old-hat. I also really, really wanted more of an exploration of the relationship between Rachel and Quinn and its queer potential, which somehow went completely overlooked in the essay collection, including the discussion of fanfiction towards the end. (Granted, one essay examines the Faberry relationship in terms of high-achieving foils, but neglects to note the weird subtextual/textual potential for a romantic relationship; I find it hard to ignore the "You were singing to Finn and only Finn, right?" line. The fanfiction essay also dealt with Klaine fiction specifically and young female writers exploring gay male sexuality, but I felt that Faberry would've been an interesting, femmeslash counterpoint to the Klaine relationship--an equally popular pairing that does have to do the work of making the subtext the text, something which Klaine fic never had to do.)
All in all, this was a fun, cathartic read. It was also pretty great because every so often, I'd see a theorist's name, and think, "Wait, I think I've read them before," so it was kind of nice to see work done within familiar frameworks. I'd highly recommend this if you're into media/queer studies or if you like all of the potential Glee had and occasionally failed to capitalize on.
Most of the essays in this collection do what I love to do myself, which is pointing out all of the terrifically problematic/awful aspects of Glee and its mixed messages. Some highlight what the show does well, but many essays take the "huh, this is weird" tack--always pleasurable. There were a lot of interesting readings of the show throughout the book; perhaps one of my favourites dealt with Emma Pillsbury and her canonical (yet never articulated formally by the show) asexuality. (Other essays detail her as "sex-phobic" and failed to see her queer potential, which is weird, if only because the more I think about it, the more sense it makes for Emma to be referred to as asexual.)
I did have a couple qualms with the collection. One is that there were several copyediting errors (misspellings, commas in the wrong places, things of that ilk) that, while not as distracting as they could've been were still rather irritating, especially in an academic collection such as this. Another was a few essays that were perhaps poorly organized or a bit too obvious in their arguments; the ones about "ghosting" and musical theatre as well as female sexual agency come to mind. Finally, I wished there had been a little more variety in some of the subject matter. I know that many of the essays dealt with queerness and sexuality (as are wont to do), but when five or six essays deal specifically with "The Power of Madonna" episode (from fairly similar angles), it does get a little old-hat. I also really, really wanted more of an exploration of the relationship between Rachel and Quinn and its queer potential, which somehow went completely overlooked in the essay collection, including the discussion of fanfiction towards the end. (Granted, one essay examines the Faberry relationship in terms of high-achieving foils, but neglects to note the weird subtextual/textual potential for a romantic relationship; I find it hard to ignore the "You were singing to Finn and only Finn, right?" line. The fanfiction essay also dealt with Klaine fiction specifically and young female writers exploring gay male sexuality, but I felt that Faberry would've been an interesting, femmeslash counterpoint to the Klaine relationship--an equally popular pairing that does have to do the work of making the subtext the text, something which Klaine fic never had to do.)
All in all, this was a fun, cathartic read. It was also pretty great because every so often, I'd see a theorist's name, and think, "Wait, I think I've read them before," so it was kind of nice to see work done within familiar frameworks. I'd highly recommend this if you're into media/queer studies or if you like all of the potential Glee had and occasionally failed to capitalize on.
March 17, 2015
It might seem silly to throw this much high-level academic theory at "Glee", but the show is a microcosm of current pop-culture progressive attitudes about sex and relationships, which definitely deserve critical scrutiny. This essay collection both celebrates what "Glee" does well (affirming gay and trans identities) and points out failures of intersectionality (stereotypical treatments of race and disability). More than once, it validated my discomfort about the show's objectification of women's bodies. Too bad it only covers the first three seasons -- though "Glee" became too ridiculous to analyze after that, anyway!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews