So it reached our evening news: the very controversial Glee GQ cover/photo shoot.
Ok. One, I really don’t consider it “Glee” because I think it was only used to further hype the cover. I mean, Lea, Cory, and Dianna aren’t exactly the WHOLE of Glee, they’re just part of it.
Two. True, I was half-scandalized myself when I saw the HD photos floating around here on Tumblr. (I mean, come on Cory’s hands in the above photo!) But after a few more, everything went from scorching hot to just.. oh-okay-wow.
I understand the uproar from the parents [are there any objections from the Philippines?] but as Dianna Agron herself said, “And if your eight-year-old has a copy of our GQ cover in hand, again I am sorry. But I would have to ask, how on earth did it get there?”
Actually here at home, Mama is always in disbelief that the actors playing high school students are my age or even older. Well it’s a known fact that high school in the West stretches waaaaay longer than the ones we have here in the country.
I’ve read Sweet Valley Kids, Twins, High and University years before I was even old enough to formally understand what “making out” means. It’s been stamped in my mind that cheerleaders are bitches, jocks are the hottest, and geeks exist to be tortured.
But as I grew up I saw the great discrepancy between the West culture and the one we have. I’ve had cheerleader friends in high school. High school itself wasn’t as tough as I’ve read in those books. There were Lila Fowlers and Jessica Wakefields, but being an Elizabeth Wakefield was OK, too.
Several TV shows strengthened what I’d like to call “Cheerleader Theory”. There was Dawson’s Creek, Popular, then One Tree Hill, and also Gossip Girl: which on the surface, all that they seemed to say was “get popular, get laid”. When Popular was on, I was too young for the graphics. But the two latter shows helped me see things in a whole new light.
If memory serves me right, I think it was Siege Malvar (talking about his book) who said that even in the adult world, we all behave like high school students.
Sure, these characters are portrayed as high school students. Maybe to our Filipino [or parental] minds, they’re too young for the storyline the writers have created. But it’s because that’s the time when we were all emotional, trying to sort things out. When we were all figuring out how to deal with changes in our bodies and lives. First love, first kiss, first misunderstanding with your best friend… everything happens in high school. If any of these shows made up of 20-something characters with that storyline, it wouldn’t have as much impact.
What we need is to learn how to see the fine line between Lea Michele and Rachel Berry; Cory Monteith and Finn Hudson; Dianna Agron and Quinn Fabray and other actors/characters for that matter.
Although we can’t help but see Rachel, Quinn and Finn in this photo shoot, that’s not them. If Hilarie Burton (Peyton Sawyer from OTH) did this set, would that mean it’d change the way I saw Peyton Sawyer? No.
BUT. If Barbie Forteza, Bea Binene or the two girls from the new-generation Mara Clara did this, then that’s wrong. BECAUSE THEY’RE REAL KIDS. Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Dianna Agron ARE ADULTS. Get it?
GQ is not Glee. Glee is not GQ. It’s not even an official promo for Glee, for crying out loud! I hope people give them a break already.