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Tuesday, September 21, 2010
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The Glee buzz has grown louder in the past few weeks, with the release of Season 1 on DVD and Blu-ray, and the premier for Season II tonight, Tuesday, September 21. So what are parents to do with this show?
In this week’s Youth Culture Window article Jonathan dives in headfirst giving us a glimpse of what to expect from this show. Then he shares candidly about his own process of discernment and about how we can help our kids think Biblically about media. “Parents must help their kids figure out for themselves if they should watch the show,” Jonathan urges. “The process itself is much more important than providing a simple yes or no.”
by Jonathan McKee
Prior to May 19, 2009, the word glee was obscure, nothing more than a right-click synonym for happiness or delight. But following American Idol that Tuesday night, the word glee became the buzz on campuses.
“Did you see Glee last night?”
“Yeah, hilarious!”
“The music was awesome. I downloaded two of the songs on iTunes before I went to bed.”
A year later, the show would blow everything else away, with 19 Emmy nominations, more than any other TV program. The 2010 Emmys became Glee-afied, with a memorable opening number in which Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Betty White, and other popular television stars joined the Glee cast in song and dance performing Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.”
The show is now one of the most watched, most downloaded, and most talked-about TV programs among young people. The 2010 Teen Choice Awards were hosted by Katy Perry and the Glee cast. The MTV Video Music Awards used the Glee cast to award Lady Gaga a VMA for best pop video. Glee characters Rachel, Finn, Kurt, and Quinn are household names and pop-culture icons.
Each episode is probably one of the most creative and entertaining hours of television on any given Tuesday. The storyline is hilarious yet gripping, the 15 characters are both real and memorable, and the musical numbers are well performed. (When I was growing up, we had Fame. Rachel is the new Cocoa.) There’s more talent on this cast than almost any year of American Idol’s top 10. After the show airs, the songs go on sale on iTunes and are immediately catapulted into to the top 10. I’ve seen Season 1 CDs three times this week at three different stores and the DVD’s on display everywhere in anticipation of the Season II Premier coming this Tuesday, September 21.
Looking for Answers
So, what content are young viewers absorbing from this show?
Glee deals with real issues that teenagers face today, showing consequences and hurt. The writers tell it like it is, warts and all. Name it: teen pregnancy, bullying, self image, and equal rights. But at the same time, the show sends mixed messages. It’s often coarse, laced with sexual humor, and preachy in support of the homosexual lifestyle. (One of the show’s writer/creators, Ryan Murphy, is gay, several of the cast members are gay, and the show has a huge LGBT following.)
Christian parents always ask me: Should I let my kids watch Glee?
Even though I could possibly offer some guidance toward the answer to that question, I hesitate to answer it because my response would negate the purpose behind it.
Allow me to explain: The answer to that question is, Parents must help their kids figure out for themselves if they should watch the show. The process itself is much more important than the answer. In other words, if I or some other author or radio personality were to simply say, “No, don’t let your kids watch it,” I’d hate to think that parents would default to just answering, “Sorry, Jonathan says ‘no,’ so that means the show is bad.”
Parenting isn’t that simple. And I don’t mean to make a cliché with that phrase. Truly, parenting is anything but simple. The fact is, most teaching opportunities take time, effort, and thought. And if parents are truly living out that Deuteronomy 6 passage (Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up… Deuteronomy 6:5-7, NIV), then we’ll be dialoging constantly with our kids about the influences around them, the temptations they face, and the decisions they make. These conversations will require a lot of guidance with younger kids, slowly leading to more freedom as they get older. After all, when they’re 18…it’s really up to them, isn’t it?
This means that my 15-year-old and 17-year-old might be able to discern right and wrong in a situation better than my 13-year-old. Last month Alec, my 17-year-old, and I watched a movie together. After the film he told me, “Dad, I think the filmmaker was trying to make the main character a hero, but I had a problem with a lot of what he did.” Alec went on to name several bad decisions he observed from the main character. I asked him how he knew those decisions were bad. Before we knew it, we were talking about biblical principles.
As we walked by some movie posters in the theatre, we had conversations about other films and why we would or would not watch them. That conversation demonstrated that Alec is on his way toward making some good media decisions on his own.
In contrast, my 13-year old, Ashley, heard a Lady Gaga song while we were walking through Wal-Mart and commented, “She’s bad, right Dad?” I asked her why she figured Lady Gaga is “bad.” Ashley said, “Because she’s a freak!” Funny as that was, she couldn’t give me one example of why Gaga is “bad.” From that comment and others like it, I realized that Ashley’s not ready to make a lot of media choices on her own.
We need to teach our kids to think biblically about the media they encounter. They need to know what distracts them from their relationships with God, and what helps them draw closer to God. Our kids don’t need a Gaga…bad, Lil Wayne…bad, Toby Mac…good list.
All Good, All Bad
What about Madonna—good or bad? Okay, now what about Amy Grant—good or bad? Easy, right? The kosher Christian response is that Madonna is, of course, bad, and Amy Grant is good. Duh!
Oops. Hold on a sec! (Shhh. Don’t spread this around, but Amy Grant got a…divorce! So, now is Amy Grant bad, too?)
Where do we get off making those judgments? Yesterday I gossiped about somebody. (Honestly, I did, just yesterday. There’s a woman who drives me—and a lot of people—nuts, and we found out she’s moving down the street from a friend of ours. I made jokes to that friend about how “lucky” they were to have her for a neighbor now! We had a good laugh.)
As soon as I hung up, I knew what I’d done. I gossiped, slandered…you name it. The Bible has hundreds of references to this kind of activity, always with the words, “Have nothing to do with…” placed in front of it.
Yet, I did.
I guess my daughter should ask my wife, “Mom, is Dad bad?” Lori would have to respond, “Yes. In fact, we all are. We all need Jesus!”
That’s just it. We’re all bad. You should actually stop reading this article right now because the author is bad.
Or, better yet, perhaps we should stop calling people in the media “bad” or “good” and start thinking biblically about our media-usage decisions. In other words, “Should I watch HBO’s True Blood?” Well, what does the Bible say about it?
I tried 15 minutes of True Blood once in a hotel…
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Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.