The UK tonight aired the Glee episode that featured Lady GaGa songs as well as some scenes that highlighted issues that related to homosexuality that have always played on my mind a lot.
There are the characters of Kurt Hummel and Finn Hudson. Kurt is gay and quite flamboyent, Finn is straight and the typical 'jock' character and they are both in Glee club, a group of people at school that perform various songs by various artists. In this particular episode there are moments and related themes that I related to that helped me to draw a conclusion to something that will be explained later.
Finn's family moves in with Kurt's and the two are forced to share a room together and Finn is presented to be quite uncomfortable throughout this entire episode before snapping and ranting about how he can't stay in a room with Kurt because he's, basically, uncomfortable with him being gay and assumes that Kurt is in love with him. This stood out to me because it's something that I've had to deal with, though not in the same situation. Straight people uncomfortable by being anywhere near me because they assume that purely because I like their gender that I therefore like them. The problem? Its just wrong. If the situation is viewed differently it becomes clear how silly the whole thing is. A straight man likes women, but that doesn't mean they like every single woman on the planet. Using that same logic, why should I like every single man? It's insecurities that people harbour that are quite natural, really, but that give people doing nothing wrong a bad impression. That's the part that bothers me the most, I guess, that people will be put off by something as insignificant as sexuality and miss out on getting to know the person that I am.
On a slightly separate note for a moment, I find it very strange how modern and forward thinking our society apparantly is and how we single out and isolate certain minorities like homosexuals. Homosexuality has been around for centuries in wildlife and even in ancient civilisations like Greece and yet after almost 3000 years homosexuals are only just gaining the right to get married and are still hated by some people to the point of murder. To me sexuality is something that you can control just as much as the colour of your eyes, it's who you are and you should never go against it to please someone else and yet some people are forced to refuse it to save their lives. I'm glad that Glee approached some of those issues, to be honest, because most tv shows don't get to teenagers and kids and these are the people that will in 10 or 20 years be the adults of today. To me, presenting an environment and culture that casually approaches topics like this is the way forward to a very accepting and open minded world...it's just a shame that not everyone shares that belief.
Moving back onto Glee now, in this same scene where Finn is yelling at Kurt he refers to some of the things in his room as 'faggy' which prompts a scolding from Kurt's father about the use of the word 'fag' and I just wish I could've shaken the writer's hands at this point. Over here we don't really use the word 'fag' we use the word 'gay' but we use it in the same way that 'fag' is used in the US and the point that was proven was one that I'd been saying for so very long: That using the word fag/gay as an insult or negative reference isn't right. It makes negative connotations about gay people and being gay, so people growing up view it as a bad thing and thus view gay people as a bad thing which just further fuels a society where homophobia is common when it shouldn't be. This word has become so casually embedded into everyday vocabulary though, that when you try and make people aware of this point they couldn't care less and carry on using it anyway. It is a small thing, I admit, but it has such an impact greater than people first realise. It's like the 'n' word, really, it's just that we've not culturally moved on enough to view fag/gay as a word that's not appropriate to use negatively or at all in the case of 'fag'.
Those were the two things that stood out to me in this episode, but through these I felt myself able to deeply relate to the character of Kurt. My friends at school all say I look like him and am quite like him in some ways, but I fiercely refuse these statements. It used to be because I just genuinely didn't think I was anything like him, but after watching that episode it was as if a lightbulb went on in my head.
The character of Kurt, really, is someone that I would love and most probably aspire to be like. To have the confidence that his character does would be a gift beyond measurable to me, who's someone who doesn't have the confidence to raise his hand and answer a question in class. His openness about his sexuality and his ability to be flamboyant and truly not care about what people think, those are characteristics that I believe I lack yet covet in one way or another. Overall the character of Kurt has this one, huge and important message: Be yourself, no matter what.
As much as I try to do that and have tried to do that over the past few years, my lack of confidence means that I cannot truly exist without the need to validate myself by other people's standards and that means that I can never be myself...because I'm always seeking approval from others.
On another tangent, this fits in nicely with a collection of letters by the poet Rainer Marie Rilke that I recommend you read because he states that you should never seek to validate your work by others because people always interpret things differently and have different standards. So you should do your work to your own standards and not care what others think and you should only work if you feel you must... otherwise the work will never be any good.
It was a powerful message to me and I felt it could apply to anything in life whether it's a job or your dreams and it spurred me on to really grinding down with my schoolwork and career path, I highly recommend you all read those letters:
http://www.carrothers.com/rilke1.htm
That's all for me tonight, I think, I hope you all sleep well (it's late in the UK, 0:55 at this moment in time)
- Aiden
Monday 31 May 2010
Bubble Dreams - Why a new blog and why this?
I felt I needed a new blog because lately I've been thinking a lot deeper about some things and I thought that if I posted those thoughts on my cooking blog that it wouldn't quite fit the mood of it. The last thing I wanted was for my already unpopular blog to lose what few viewers it has (at this time of writing at least, I'm hopeful still!) so I decided to make a new blog so I can write about any subjects that have particularly been plaguing my mind. There'll be no post quota like with my other blog, this'll just be written as the thoughts come... so whether that's 3 posts a day or 3 posts a month, that's how my mind works!
In regards to the name though, it'll probably take a few paragraphs to explain. It's from a Lady GaGa song (Speechless) and that's quite typical of me, but I didn't choose it because she sung it or because of something she said in reference to it but more because it's a phrase that I loved as soon as I heard it and one that's taken on a meaning, for me, that I quite like.
Dreams are rather like bubbles, when you think on it. They're very fragile and can disappear before they've gone anywhere but each and every one has the same potential, can shine in the light just as much as any other and has this power to completely captivate people.
Bubbles are something that I loved as a child and it's something that has stayed with me until now, don't ask me why! There's just something about them. They're so weightless yet they bring such presence to a place, they're clear yet always noticable in the light when they shine and they bring back childhood memories and conjur deep thoughts within me.
There's a sense of irony then, I suppose, that Lady GaGa, a famous person whom I admire so much, then dresses in bubbles and sings about them. Perhaps on a very subconscious level I was drawn to those qualities about her? I'm not complaining though, it's given me a name for my blog that I like very much and one that I hope you, the reader, will also like.
That's all from me for now. I wish you all a good day or night, depending on your location, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading.
- Aiden
In regards to the name though, it'll probably take a few paragraphs to explain. It's from a Lady GaGa song (Speechless) and that's quite typical of me, but I didn't choose it because she sung it or because of something she said in reference to it but more because it's a phrase that I loved as soon as I heard it and one that's taken on a meaning, for me, that I quite like.
Dreams are rather like bubbles, when you think on it. They're very fragile and can disappear before they've gone anywhere but each and every one has the same potential, can shine in the light just as much as any other and has this power to completely captivate people.
Bubbles are something that I loved as a child and it's something that has stayed with me until now, don't ask me why! There's just something about them. They're so weightless yet they bring such presence to a place, they're clear yet always noticable in the light when they shine and they bring back childhood memories and conjur deep thoughts within me.
There's a sense of irony then, I suppose, that Lady GaGa, a famous person whom I admire so much, then dresses in bubbles and sings about them. Perhaps on a very subconscious level I was drawn to those qualities about her? I'm not complaining though, it's given me a name for my blog that I like very much and one that I hope you, the reader, will also like.
That's all from me for now. I wish you all a good day or night, depending on your location, and I hope that you have enjoyed reading.
- Aiden
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