Emily, Ana and I discovered Glee a few months ago and we subsequently blew through all two seasons on Netflix and Hulu in about six weeks. We’re now obsessively watching our favorite episodes over and over again while we wait for the season three premiere in September.
Emily is only 7 and Ana is 10, and I had some reservations about letting them watch the show at first. There are some uncomfortably sexy scenes, plus one of the main characters gets pregnant in the first season (she’s the head cheerleader) and I wasn’t sure if it was too much too soon. But the show is also extremely musical (obviously) as are my girls and I really just wanted to see the cheesy performances, of which there are a lot. I admit it – I LOVE all that singing and dancing.
The show surprised me with its depth of story and characters though – and I found myself being very grateful that it wasn’t…well…Disney and Nickelodeon where things sort of happen, and problems sort of arise but everyone is essentially happy and perfect and it all works out in the end. Sometimes in Glee, things don’t work out in the end and some of the characters are battling very real issues about acceptance of themselves (and acceptance in society as a whole).
Even the main character, who is a self-absorbed extremely talented singer named Rachel, is adorable but completely insecure because she’s not classically pretty. She has a large nose – her most defining feature. In one of the later episodes in the second season, she breaks her nose and her doctor says that is the perfect opportunity for her to have a nose job. The rest of the kids in the Glee Club try to convince Rachel that she wouldn’t be Rachel without her nose and she’s beautiful the way she is. At one point, even the former head cheerleader (the girl who was pregnant in the first season) confesses to feeling insecure and she’s clearly gorgeous.
This is really big stuff for a kid born with a cleft. I mean, it’s huge. She can hear me say that no one is completely happy with how they look, and I’ve always hated my nose, etc. etc. but to see the characters she loves struggling with the issue and staring at themselves in the mirror and talking about how they want to change something is an amazing opportunity. It lets me bring up the subject with her in a safe, unselfconscious way and also gives me different ideas on how to talk to Emily. For example, I asked her, “Do you think Rachel should change her nose, Emily?” And Emily’s response…”No, mommy! Rachel is pretty!” And so I said, “well that’s how I feel about your nose.”
Here’s the video that Rachel (the dark haired girl) and Quinn sing from this episode which is, by the way, titled “Born This Way” (and, yes, the cast does perform this song at the end!)