Glee! and the American Dream.

So, I have a not-so-secret confession to make - I love Glee. I love the characters, the over-the-top melodrama, but most of all, the music.

Several of us, me included, all gathered in the Hoyme lounge to watch the season premiere on Tuesday. We joked about how we should all post about Glee in our commonplace blogs, and had a semi-serious discussion about how all  the characters in the show embody the "American Dream."
This got me thinking.
If you're not familiar with Glee, almost all stereotypes are portrayed in their small club - Two Asians, one Goth, one handicapped student, one homosexual, two.five cheerleaders, three football players, and one African American. For participating in Glee Club, they chose to be outcast from the rest of the crowd, being dubbed "Lima Losers" (Lima is the name of the city they are from - possibly stands for "Lost in the Middle of America").
Despite what others think, most of them feel free to express themselves the way they choose. The cheerleaders and football players, however, conform as best they can.

I spent some time thinking about how this might relate to what we were talking about to be talking about in class - the Puritans. Someone (Enich, I believe), mentioned how the Puritans and the members of the Glee Club were similar in that they abandoned the rest of society, whether it be the Anglican church or the stereotypes, in order to be free to exercise their own beliefs to religion/singing.
In this act, they isolate themselves, completely in the Puritan's case, from the rest. The Glee-clubbers are ridiculed publicly for their decision. In the beginning, this affects many of them; some of them even quit for a period of time. Eventually, they realize that together, they have a distinctly unique community where they genuinely appreciate each other. They aren't afraid to be themselves when they're with each other.

That said, I cannot wait for next Tuesdays episode :)