Applying Stuart Halls representation theory to Glee

Glee is an American musical drama, set in high school. It follows Mr. Schue, a Spanish teacher and the school's drama/ choir group "The New Directions" and discusses all challenges teenagers go through in high school. Written and Produced by Ryan Murphy (who went on to write American Horror Story and Scream Queens), it aired for six seasons between its debut in 2009 to 2015. It won awards such as six Emmys out of 32 nominations, 4 Golden Globes out of 9 nominations and 14 teen choice awards out of 30 nominations.

Gaining recognition for its self awareness and ridiculous plots, people found comfort in the comedy of the show as it also balances real serious themes. The show is most known for its music, musical theatre-esque covers of well known songs such as Don't Stop Believing, Smooth Criminal and even Radiohead's Creep. The show owns its ridiculousness, totaling over 700 covers, some of these reaching over 100 million streams on Spotify to this day.

The show follows characters Rachel Berry (played by Lea Michelle), Finn Hudson (Corey Monteith), Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson (Darren Criss) and many many more. With the show having so many main characters, it gives writers the opportunity to represent many people and communities. The show highlights LGBT issues, there is Downs syndrome representation, and deals with racism and even abuse. However are these issues discussed with care and depth or is it attacked with quick harmful stereotypes for a dramatic plot?

Stuart Hall's theory argues that stereotyping as a form of representation reduces people to a few very simple characteristics. He also claims that stereotyping occurs when their are inequalities of power, as groups as marginalised groups are often labelled as "different" and othered throughout the construction of media. This relates to ethnocentrism (evaluating cultures on preconceived ideas). It would be interesting to research the writing and production team and how they compare to the characters they have put out. I chose to analyse Glee in relation to Stuart Halls representation theory due to the fact the show does have such variety of characters from very different backgrounds. I wanted to enquire the thoroughness and how genuine these groups have been represented.