So, you’re probably going to make fun of me, but I watch Glee. I like it, I like that it rings true to what I took out of my own high school experience, even though my experience was twelve years ago. No, I wasn’t slushied and I really wasn’t made fun of, in fact I had a generally good high school experience – but the kind of people and the kind of relationships/interactions are familiar to me. Most depictions of high school are not relatable to me – I suppose mine was less stereotypical than the norm. I was in marching band and choir and so of course, the overall music plot is familiar, but it’s not really that – it’s really about the relationships, interactions, the things they deal with, the “realness” of it – the willingness to talk about things.. that existed in my high school life.
Glee is going to be doing a memorial episode on Thursday for the actor Cory Monteith, who died of drug abuse this summer. I hate reading hate comments about his death, because it was drugs. I hate this sort of thing – I hate that people aren’t willing to understand anything about struggles or addictions – that even if they don’t understand addiction, that at the very least, they could care that a person’s life is involved. It’s sickening to see people write “he deserved it” – I don’t understand others’ views of justice. I don’t relate to this need to see people “get what they deserve” – not in drugs, not even in criminals. Justice isn’t born out of some kind of revengeful bitterness, true justice is born out of love and respect for people. There is mercy in justice, they’re intertwined in a way.
Oddly, out of all the celebrity deaths I’ve “been through”, even big names, his has hit me the hardest. His age, his personality, that I watch the show.. It feels more real. The homage show is going to be very hard to watch, especially knowing some of the songs that will be sung.
(You can more Cory Monteith tribute songs here.)
