The World of Scott Mindeaux

I Want To Be in America… Olé!

I watched last night’s episode of Glee and I have to say that I’m a big fan of the musical West Side Story. Last night they performed a wonderful version of “America” from the Leonard Bernstein creation.

Last night’s episode was a bit shattered in story lines. The main storyline surrounded the “first time” for couples Blaine and Kurt as well s Finn and Rachel. It’s a touchy subject to bring up first time intimacies between teenagers. So let’s take a look at some issues. Let’s be clear that it is my impression that the show’s creators intended the primary audience for this show to be adults. The problem with this is that the show is about being in high school. While it is nice to reminisce about our past, it is probably safe to assume that the next core audience is high school students. Some of the subject matters that Ryan Murphy has touched on in the show are definitely “current” issues, but probably for consumption by an adult audience. I applaud Ryan Murphy in his attempt to bring the issue of not only “first time” sex on Glee but also that he is bringing up the subject with a young male gay couple as well.

I remember my first time and I wish it was in a private, special moment like Blaine and Kurt. Now with that said, I’m not saying that my first time was not private and that it was loud – it just wasn’t “special”. I wanted my first time to be special.

I do want to touch base on one of the side stories and that was one of Karofsky making a return to the school. Blaine and Kurt sneak off to the nearest gay bar in Lima, with bad boy Sebastian from the Warblers. There Kurt is watching Blaine having a good time on the dance floor when a baseball capped dude walks up to the bar and says “you better keep an eye on him…”. It was school bully Karofsky, now in a different high school and dealing with the fact that he is gay himself. A lot of the anger that Karofsky had while at McKinley was frustration over coming out and trying to figure out who and what he was. I recall to moments in my teenage years where I lashed out about things that were way off base and I honestly have to think that it was about not being able to express who I was to anyone. That kind of built up frustration can be very difficult to deal with. Karofsky said he liked coming into the bar cuz he had be comfortable with who he is and that he was accepted there. It was very cute that he made a nod to the bear community in saying that he was a “cub”. Karofsky still has feelings for Kurt. I think he always had and that was driving him crazy. Sitting int he bar, they both exchange words and you can see the look in his eyes that he is happy to see Kurt. Let’s see if something develops between the two later in the season.

So let’s keep with the theme of the bar. Blaine gets wasted (another subject that is facing high school students) and tries to initiate something intimate with Kurt in the back seat of the car. Kurt says no and holds his ground. Blaine gets pissed off and walks home. Probably for his good as it gave him time to re-evaluate what he was doing. We find out later in the episode that he indeed understand what he was doing and that he was truly sorry for what he tried to do. I do find it very weak that in apologizing to Kurt that Kurt decides that is the “moment” he has been waiting for and go back to Blaine’s house. For me personally, I would have waited for something to come along, not an apology from my boyfriend and a kiss. But that is just me.

So I’m going on a complete tangent here and going to touch on the subject of Puerto Rico and “America”. I had to do some research and this is what I found out. Puerto Rico was ceded to the United States in 1898 in the Treaty of Paris where control of the island was turned over to the United States. It was then in 1947 that Puerto Rick gained more autonomy by being able to elect their own Governor. However to this date, the citizens cannot for for the Presidency – while being US citizens. The timeline in the musical for West Side Story takes place in the mid 50s. We have two groups living in a burrough of New York where we have the Puerto Ricans and the “whites” of the neighborhood. This is our modern day Romeo and Juliet. Maria falls in love with Tony both on opposite sides and being in rival gangs. We have the rooftop scene with maria’s sister, Anita leading a discussion about living in America. I have always loved this song from a musical perspective and every time I hear it, my inner dancer takes over and dances.

My last note is about Coach Bieste and her newfound love interest. You go Coach, let him make you feel like a lady and let him pamper you!