Glee - 1x20 - Theatricality
Because no one on the internet can agree on anything ever.
Addressing the Kurt/Finn explosion because, honestly, what else is there?
There seem to be two main camps in this debate:
Kurt is at fault
Argument: He is pushy, conniving, manipulative, and creepy in his pursuit of Finn. He didn't let up even when he knew Finn was under stress. The explosion was inevitable and he "had it coming." He doesn't consider the feelings of others and is always playing (and is accepted as) the victim.
Finn is at fault
Argument: He let the crush fester when he clearly knew about it. He came at the confrontation when he was angry and stressed (which, never a good idea.) He took said anger and stress out on Kurt, who was a convenient target.
I really wish both of these camps would mix and match their arguments. Personally, I'm siding with Kurt on this one, but not for lack of acknowledging his part in what happened.
We've seen Kurt do the creepy flirt thing and, to me, most of last night's episode wasn't the same. For example: when he was trying to help Finn remove the make-up. Are you honestly going to tell me you've never once seen a friend trying to do something and just gone "My god. Here, let me do it." Because I have. Kurt is not subtle with his advances. This was Kurt being Kurt. I honestly want to see this scene without Finn blowing up, because all I can picture is Kurt taking off the make-up and telling him what kinds of moisturizer Finn needs to use to cleanse his pores or something because that's what Kurt does.
This episode was a lot of Finn addressing things that needed to be addressed, I'm not even trying to deny that at the wrong time and doing it in the worst possible way.
The room, I can see people being upset over. It clearly wasn't something Finn was going to be into, I get that - but it is just a room that can be changed. Someone brought up to me the issue of being uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as someone with a sexual interest in you and I'm not even going to deny the possibility that, yes, Kurt has checked out Finn in the locker rooms - but it wasn't like Kurt hadn't clearly put some thought into it. Privacy screens? They work, Finn. You don't get many people with a fear of changing in front of other people in theatre, but we do have privacy partitions for people who do and I can pretty much guarantee whatever Kurt picked up (I'm not even going to bring up the relatively good possibility that he had a better one on order and that was all he could find locally on short notice) is going to do a better job than the years-old Wal-Mart shit we have. And bringing up the issue of not wanting to dress in front of Kurt? Hence the privacy partition, Finn.
I get the explosion had to happen and, yes, go Finn for finally addressing the crush because Kurt made me uncomfortable and I've had creepy crushes on people before. What made me side with Kurt was Finn's "handling" of the situation and the timing of it. Kurt's been making eyes at Finn for years and then they have Glee together, then football, then their parents are dating, and not once did anyone think "Hey, Kurt's flirting with me/Finn again, maybe we should sit him down and have a little talk", apparently, and the times Kurt is being more friendly and "well, that's Kurt" is when Finn blows up and starts name-calling? Not on.
I saw one argument that was trying to say that if the situation had been Rachel instead of Kurt, we'd be siding with Finn for standing up to creepy!Rachel. I don't speak for the entire fandom, but, um, no. Especially if he started calling her names during his tirade.
I probably should have started off with this, but I'm horrible with yelling, guys. If someone in my general vicinity is angry, I'm pretty much in a corner waiting for it to go away and trying not to cry. I get angry and I yell and throw things, too, but somehow when it's someone else, my mind equates those same traits to bullying. Maybe it's because I'm small and sensitive and not exceptionally strong, so it's always been easy for people to overpower me, and yelling is a strong indicator that lashing out physically is a firm possibility and I just couldn't handle that. So, yeah, Finn starts yelling and that part of me is triggered and Kurt is not the victim so much as Finn is the guy who couldn't handle being the bigger man and becomes this intimidating guy that would make me cry and never trust him again.
Sorry for the mini rant, and if someone pokes holes in my view on the situation, I welcome different opinions on the same scenes. In my opinion, however, this is not about who is guilty and that is what has everyone up in arms. They're both guilty, I'm just angrier at Finn right now for the way he handled it.
ETA: Going back to the room and Finn bringing up being uncomfortable changing even near the same room as Kurt: Maybe it's the English/Theatre hybrid that I am, always reading too much into things to find the best drama and story, but perhaps I was too hasty thinking that bringing it up was random.
Finn chose this moment to confront a problem he's known about for a while. Why? Other than the fact that these are probably all his very real feelings about the situation, they come out now because he's under stress and has been being harassed about his sexuality. Suddenly, his life is affected negatively because of how people see Kurt. Kurt won't change and try to "blend in better" (the conversation before the make-up slap), so Finn blames Kurt for making him go through the harassment.
Finn ends up bringing up everything about Kurt: the crush, his style, his inability to fit in, the fact that Finn is uncomfortable around him, indirectly calls him a fag, etc., and he brings it all up at the same time.
My theory? Despite what Finn tries to argue when Burt comes down and is awesome, he is trying to make Kurt ashamed of himself and his sexuality because it's affecting him. Suddenly, everything that went unspoken before matters to Finn because we're always more concerned with things that affect us directly, aren't we?
Not that I'm excusing anything any of them are doing or have done, I just didn't understand why Finn brought up the bit about getting dressed in front of Kurt.
Addressing the Kurt/Finn explosion because, honestly, what else is there?
There seem to be two main camps in this debate:
Kurt is at fault
Argument: He is pushy, conniving, manipulative, and creepy in his pursuit of Finn. He didn't let up even when he knew Finn was under stress. The explosion was inevitable and he "had it coming." He doesn't consider the feelings of others and is always playing (and is accepted as) the victim.
Finn is at fault
Argument: He let the crush fester when he clearly knew about it. He came at the confrontation when he was angry and stressed (which, never a good idea.) He took said anger and stress out on Kurt, who was a convenient target.
I really wish both of these camps would mix and match their arguments. Personally, I'm siding with Kurt on this one, but not for lack of acknowledging his part in what happened.
We've seen Kurt do the creepy flirt thing and, to me, most of last night's episode wasn't the same. For example: when he was trying to help Finn remove the make-up. Are you honestly going to tell me you've never once seen a friend trying to do something and just gone "My god. Here, let me do it." Because I have. Kurt is not subtle with his advances. This was Kurt being Kurt. I honestly want to see this scene without Finn blowing up, because all I can picture is Kurt taking off the make-up and telling him what kinds of moisturizer Finn needs to use to cleanse his pores or something because that's what Kurt does.
This episode was a lot of Finn addressing things that needed to be addressed, I'm not even trying to deny that at the wrong time and doing it in the worst possible way.
The room, I can see people being upset over. It clearly wasn't something Finn was going to be into, I get that - but it is just a room that can be changed. Someone brought up to me the issue of being uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as someone with a sexual interest in you and I'm not even going to deny the possibility that, yes, Kurt has checked out Finn in the locker rooms - but it wasn't like Kurt hadn't clearly put some thought into it. Privacy screens? They work, Finn. You don't get many people with a fear of changing in front of other people in theatre, but we do have privacy partitions for people who do and I can pretty much guarantee whatever Kurt picked up (I'm not even going to bring up the relatively good possibility that he had a better one on order and that was all he could find locally on short notice) is going to do a better job than the years-old Wal-Mart shit we have. And bringing up the issue of not wanting to dress in front of Kurt? Hence the privacy partition, Finn.
I get the explosion had to happen and, yes, go Finn for finally addressing the crush because Kurt made me uncomfortable and I've had creepy crushes on people before. What made me side with Kurt was Finn's "handling" of the situation and the timing of it. Kurt's been making eyes at Finn for years and then they have Glee together, then football, then their parents are dating, and not once did anyone think "Hey, Kurt's flirting with me/Finn again, maybe we should sit him down and have a little talk", apparently, and the times Kurt is being more friendly and "well, that's Kurt" is when Finn blows up and starts name-calling? Not on.
I saw one argument that was trying to say that if the situation had been Rachel instead of Kurt, we'd be siding with Finn for standing up to creepy!Rachel. I don't speak for the entire fandom, but, um, no. Especially if he started calling her names during his tirade.
I probably should have started off with this, but I'm horrible with yelling, guys. If someone in my general vicinity is angry, I'm pretty much in a corner waiting for it to go away and trying not to cry. I get angry and I yell and throw things, too, but somehow when it's someone else, my mind equates those same traits to bullying. Maybe it's because I'm small and sensitive and not exceptionally strong, so it's always been easy for people to overpower me, and yelling is a strong indicator that lashing out physically is a firm possibility and I just couldn't handle that. So, yeah, Finn starts yelling and that part of me is triggered and Kurt is not the victim so much as Finn is the guy who couldn't handle being the bigger man and becomes this intimidating guy that would make me cry and never trust him again.
Sorry for the mini rant, and if someone pokes holes in my view on the situation, I welcome different opinions on the same scenes. In my opinion, however, this is not about who is guilty and that is what has everyone up in arms. They're both guilty, I'm just angrier at Finn right now for the way he handled it.
ETA: Going back to the room and Finn bringing up being uncomfortable changing even near the same room as Kurt: Maybe it's the English/Theatre hybrid that I am, always reading too much into things to find the best drama and story, but perhaps I was too hasty thinking that bringing it up was random.
Finn chose this moment to confront a problem he's known about for a while. Why? Other than the fact that these are probably all his very real feelings about the situation, they come out now because he's under stress and has been being harassed about his sexuality. Suddenly, his life is affected negatively because of how people see Kurt. Kurt won't change and try to "blend in better" (the conversation before the make-up slap), so Finn blames Kurt for making him go through the harassment.
Finn ends up bringing up everything about Kurt: the crush, his style, his inability to fit in, the fact that Finn is uncomfortable around him, indirectly calls him a fag, etc., and he brings it all up at the same time.
My theory? Despite what Finn tries to argue when Burt comes down and is awesome, he is trying to make Kurt ashamed of himself and his sexuality because it's affecting him. Suddenly, everything that went unspoken before matters to Finn because we're always more concerned with things that affect us directly, aren't we?
Not that I'm excusing anything any of them are doing or have done, I just didn't understand why Finn brought up the bit about getting dressed in front of Kurt.