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| New student, Rory Flanagan gets bullied by some of the hockey team. Photo courtesy of tvline.com |
Glee
is big on diversity and has shown many aspects of bullying since the
pilot. The main characters of the show are actually bullied most,
whether it be the nerds or the popular kids. This running theme of
Glee is amazing because it really works to make viewers think twice
about how they treat people in real life. In the episode “Pot O'
Gold,” the new kid Rory Flanagan gets tortured by most of the
school which leaves him friendless until the New Directions lets him
join their ranks. Of course, this doesn't stop Rory from being mocked
within the glee club, but he is mocked less so. However, probably the
biggest episode on bullying since the Kurt Hummel debacle in season 2
would be the episode “Mash-off.” Santana Lopez's meanness runs
wild in this episode especially when speaking to Finn Hudson: “At
some point I must have liked that you look like a taco addict that's
had one too many back alley liposuctions” (21:57). The thing is
bullies rarely think of consequences, which is a main theme of this
episode since Santana's constant verbal abuse of Finn leads to Finn
outing her and in effect her being outed on a campaign video against
Sue. Sue also claims some of the blame by throwing dirt herself in
the same race.
A podcast by Josh and Jen of Gleeful: A Glee Podcast had interesting opinions on the same talk between Santana and Finn. To get to the good stuff, skip to minute fifteen.
Consequences, that is what this is about. A website on
bullying states a similar belief, “bullies
are people who have not learned the lesson of consequences, i.e. that
if they behave well there are good consequences (reward), but if they
behave badly there are bad consequences (restriction, sanction,
punishment, etc). Since childhood, bullies have learnt that they can
avoid the unpleasant consequences of bad behaviour through the
instinctive response of denial, blame, and feigning victimhood”
(bullyingonline.org).
http://www.fox.com/glee/full-episodes/3556956/
http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/bully.htm
Related Links:
More podcasts: http://gleefulpodcast.com/
Help kids deal with bullies: http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/bullies.html/
Article on TV bullies: http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/gallery/Meanies_of_lifeBullies/
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