Glee+(TV+show)

Abby Wallace Glee **History of //Glee//**  //Gle**e**// was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan. The first season aired on FOX in September 2009. The series just finished its second season in March 2011.//Glee// is a musical co medy-drama that follows a high school glee club,New Directions. The members and faculty deal with social issues, sexuality, and relationships. The main cast contains faculty members played by Matthew Morrison, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Jessalyn Gilsig, and the glee club members played by Diana Agron, Chris Colfer, Kevin, McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Mark Sailing, and Jenna Ushkowitz, Mike O’Malley, Heather Morris, Naya Rivera. Some guests appearing on //Glee// include Gwyneth Paltrow, Carol Burnett, John Stamos, Britney Spears, Olivia-Newton John, Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Shannon, Idina Menzel, Johnathon Groff, and Kristen Chenoweth (FOX Broadcasting Company, 2011) As of April 2011, //Glee// has been nominated for over 100 awards, of which it has won over 50. It has been nominated for a variety of different awards including twenty Emmy Awards (four wins), eleven Satellite Awards (five wins), nine Golden Globe Awards (four wins), sixteen Teen Choice Awards (three wins), three Writers Guild of America Awards, and three Directors Guild of America Awards. Amongst the wins for the series are a Satellite Award for "Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy", a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series", and a People's Choice Award for "Favorite New TV Comedy". (FOX Broadcasting Company, 2011).   **Media Critical of Sexualized Teens**    //Glee// was well received by audiences and was ranked eighth in best television show of the year. However, after the “Showmance” episode, the Parents Television Council, or PTC, called //Glee//, “an edgy, sexually-charged adults series that is inappropriate for teenagers.” (Parents Television Council, 2011).    Some hot topics that have the media and audiences in commotion are child pornography, sexual experiences, talking about sex with your children, teen pregnancy, and homosexuality.    **Child Pornography**    //Glee// is a    bout a group of high school teens in glee club. The actors that play these teens are 19 and older, but are made to look and act like teens. The media has stormed the show with negative commentary about its pornographication of teenagers. Atwood(200   6) mentions that there is societal acceptance of this domesticated type of porn. This allows audiences that would normally be ex   c    luded from viewing to now see this pornographication in a sophisticated form of presentation. The sexual nor ms in today’s s   ociety have changed to be more explicit. Generation Now, is the sexual generation that we are in today, which describes why our society has become more sexualized (Atwood, 2006). Some characteristics of Generation Now aresex can be communicated through many mediums, sex sells, shift in sex experts, level gender playing field, and balancing out sex for reproduction and/or fun (Atwood, 2006). Because we are in this sexual generation, //Glee// has been allowed to cover sexual content without a second look for some time. It was when a GQ magazine photo shoot came out with sexualized photos of the //Glee// characters. Former NBC executive, Tim Winter, now leads the PTC and commented on the GQ photos, “I was asked by TMZ or one of the Hollywood sites; they saw the pictures and asked. I said yes, they're adult actresses portraying children. It bordered on pedophilia. Absolutely, I'd say it again."(Nagesh, 2011).   **Teen Pregnancy**    Another sex topic that was prominent in //Glee// for the entire first season was teenage pregnancy. Quinn Fabray, the captain of the cheerleading squad and member of the celibacy club, got pregnant after a one-night-stand with her boyfriends best friend. This teenage pregnancy portrayal was different from those seen on //Teen Mom// and //16 and Pregnant//. There were negatives lightly touched on, but for the most part, Quinn’s pregnancy was sugarcoated. The hardships involved were glossed over quickly and even talking about condom use was non-existent. This portrayal of teen pregnancy could have damaging affects on the young teens watching //Glee//. From Collins(2004) study, the social cognitive theory is highlighted in parallel with television. Social cognitive theory is the idea of modeling behavior of other people. The “Juno Effect” touches on the principles of the social cognitive theory. When adolescents see teen pregnancy on television and the hardships are ignored, they have a greater chance of initiating sexual behavior (Collins, 2004). Teen pregnancy in America is the highest in the industrialized world (Bond, 2011). **Parent-Child Sexual Communication** //Glee// obviously deals with teenage love and lust. There has been multiple times that the parent-child “talk” has been shown. The most prominent example was when Kurt, an openly gay teen, was confronted about sex by his father. He presented Kurt with pamphlets about homosexual sexual health opened up the idea for future communication, and gave an opportunity for Kurt to ask questions. Those are all effective ways to discuss sex. Sneed(2008) states that it is important for direct messages of expectations are talked about between the parent and child. Kurt’s dad told him that he was okay with exploring the ideas of sex, but he wanted him to be aware of risks and how to safely engage in sexual activity. This was straightforward. Another effective way to discuss sex is to be proactive and approach the child with “the talk” before you think they are sexually active (Sneed, 2008). Kurt’s dad also did this properly and wanted to tell Kurt about sex before he came across situations. From Wight(2006), results showed that adolescents talk to mothers more for both male and female teens. In the case of Kurt, his mother passed away and his dad was all he had. This slightly differs from the findings, but also follows the idea that fathers and sons are a common pairing when talking about sexual health (Wight, 2006). Another example of sexual health/education taking place on the show was when substitute, Holly Holiday, talked to the Glee club about safe sex. She actually steps in when glee club member, Brittany, thinks she is pregnant because she saw a stork around her house. Holly followed some tips for effective communication when talking to the students. She utilized popular media by singing about it, something that the glee club kids can relate to. This allows for Holly and the students to be on the same page. Teens prefer to discuss sex with their peers, which Holly allows for this dialogue to go on during the sexual health education.  **References** Attwood, F. (2006). Sexed up: Theorizing the sexualization of culture. //Sexualities, 9//, 77- 94. Wight, D., Williamson, L., Henderson, M. (2006). Parental influences on young peoples’ sexual behaviour: A longitudinal analysis. //Journal of Adolescence, 29//, 473-494. Sneed, C. D. (2008). Parent-adolescent communication about sex: The impact of content and comfort on adolescent sexual behavior. //Journal of HIV/AIDS Prevention in Children & Youth, 9//, 70-81. Collins, R. L., Elliott, M.N., Berry, S.H. Kanouse, D. E., Kunkel, D., Hunter, S. B. et al. (2004). Watching sex on television predicts initiation of sexual behavior. //Pediatrics, 114//, e280-e289. Bond, B. (2011). Lecture on Sex in the Media. March 14, 2011. FOX Broadcasting Company. (2011). About the Show. Retrieved on April 6, 2011 from []. Parents Television Council. (2011). Worst TV Show of the Week. Retrieved on April 6, 2011 from []. Nagesh, G. (2011). Former NBC exec leads parents group's profanity crusade. Retrieved on April 6, 2011 from [|http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/interviews- profiles/150837-former-nbc-exec-leads-parents-groups-crusade-against-profanity].