The girls of Glee

Glee is the new "it" show for teens. It returns to much anticipation and speculation in a few weeks, and many people at Andover await with bated breath the revelations of new Glee couples and scandals. I haven't really enjoyed the episodes of Glee I've watched. They're repetitious and seem to consist of stereotyped, hackneyed characters that have appeared in every teenage based television show since the postmodern teenager appeared on television. The girls of Glee have caught my interest as they fulfill so many stereotypes of beauty, intelligence, and behavior. There's the blonde cheerleader, the exotic looking yet manipulative song bird, the soulful, earnest black girl, and the Asian hipster who does her own thing. I feel weird using this language to describe all these characters, but as crass at it is, it seems necessary. Many ethnic and female stereotypes are fulfilled in this show, yet I wonder what has made characters such as these so popular and so widespread in television. When did stereotypes such as these start in television? I decided to look back at teenage-oriented shows of the past ten or so years, picking out characters that fulfill similar roles.

Above are the girls of Glee. The two I'm focusing on specifically are the ones second from the left and to the far right. The first (Rachel) is the exotic songstress who doesn't really fit in with the rest of the group for her neurotic behavior and inability to get along well with others. The second is the blonde cheerleader (Quinn) who suffers from an overbearing religious family and has dealt with teen pregnancy and cheating boyfriends regularly. Below is the cast of One Tree Hill. Brooke on the left represents the personal-life-challenged teen. She lacks the blonde hair, but makes up for it in manipulative behavior and man-eater tendencies. She, like Quinn, has tried to settle down with a boyfriend but is constantly plagued by cheating scandals, pregnancy scares and the like.

Hayley, on the left, plays the neurotic songstress who, always mindful of her perfect GPA and value system, gets married sophomore year of high school so she can have sex without breaking any of her religious beliefs. She, like Rachel, stumbles into the path of the stereotypical athletic, popular basketball player boy slash male model. Peyton in the middle fulfills a stereotype not completely represented in Glee. She plays the scorned ex-it girl, who, after losing her mother to a car crash, pulls away from cheerleading and life as the popular girl in pursuit of a career as an artist involved in multiple passionate but troubled relationships. Peyton's character is very similar to that of Marissa in the O.C., a show very popular in the early 21st century.

Marissa, front and center, is rejected from her popular friend group after she shoots her boyfriends psychotic brother during a fight in which her boyfriend's life is threatened. Summer (on the left) plays the character of manipulative cheerleader, yet represents a spin on the character, getting her act together, settling down with a nerdy but nice boy, rocking a perfect SAT score, and getting into Brown despite having not done homework for four years of high school. While she does experience a role reversal of sorts in the O.C., her character embodies the carefree shopping, tanning, dating crazy cheerleader type.

Now that I've identified stereotypical characters that have occupied popular television shows for the past decade, I'd like to try to identify the reasons these stereotypes are fulfilled character after character. What makes the blonde pregnant teenager an attractive character to watch? Why do we want to follow the exploits of the self-belittling singer who doesn't ever feel at home in high school? Often times the same girl has a rough family life with an absent father or an eternally critical and unsatisfied mother. Many times we sympathize with these characters, but is it empathy that really drives us to connect with them? Can we feel for and understand what these characters are going through? Many popular girls out there probably feel a crippling self-consciousness as do Quinn, Brooke, and Summer, all manifesting in an extreme tendencies towards manipulation, deceit, and a cavalier attitude towards relationships and sex.

Can we really empathize with these characters or do we, in some ways, want to be like them? Despite their troubles, the messed-up cheerleaders and self-depreciating singers all tend to be stunningly beautiful and successful. Some gain success in the college process or they settle down with a strikingly handsome boy and produce adorable little children. Their troubles are glamorized in these shows. They're coated with pearls and designer clothes, sprinkled with amazing parties and social events, and rolled up into an expensive, bright colored package covered with bows. These girls' lives look wonderful from the outside. They talk about all their problems while sitting on the beach, as in the case of the o.c. or in a stunning school. The characters in One Tree Hill aren't wealthy, but they're all beautiful. Everyone is pretty. The town of tree hill where they all live is pretty. Their houses are pretty. It seems quaint, and epitomizes high school in a small town. These people seem to be living high school the way it's supposed to be lived. They party every Saturday night. They sleep around. They never do homework, yet get into great colleges and receive full rides. It's fairytale land, and it seems that while we can't really empathize with these characters, we wish we could be like them. We have similar problems, but are lives don't seem anything like theirs.

When did female characters such as these become so widespread, and almost essential parts of popular television shows for teens? In the 1950's the girls were portrayed as wholesome, sweet individuals and references to sex were taboo. Now, popular teenage-oriented shows require constant references to sex. Vampire shows, especially popular now, are incredibly focused on sex, and can be found on many networks. I wonder when references to sex and these very sexualized and very messed up teenage girls became staples of television shows. Did television change as our population's attitude towards characters such as these and sex changed or did television start the wave of attention towards these things? What came first? Where are we heading next? What types of female characters will proliferate on television in the future? Is the self-defacing yet beautiful female character timeless? Are all these "different" characters really the same girl inside, unique only in looks? As the world becomes more and more connected will stereotype fulfillment on television dwindle or become more strongly emphasized?