#also my glee opinions are only good not bc I'm not the same kind of stan i was when it was airing lol

[varietysky]

have you seen the trailer for the discovery documentary on glee? bc it looks. really terrible but i'd love to hear your thoughts (and sorry i keep asking you about glee lol you're just like. the only other person i know who's watched it and also your opinions on it are very good)

Waitttt is it the documentary about "the dark side of glee" or whatever? Where they were basically comparing Cory's and Naya's deaths to Mark's? Cuz if you mean that trailer, then I've only seen the first parts of it on the bird app.

It feels... not great. It doesn't feel like it was made out of any real love for Cory, Naya, and the people who loved him (their families and the cast). Like idk I guess I understand what it's trying to do, but the framing of it feels like they just want to turn a profit while Glee is back in the zeitgeist. I don't know if any of the cast were even involved.

Like when they said we'd be getting a glee documentary I was expecting more of a retrospective, behind the scenes sort of thing. Not... this

[angelhummel]

It seems the Gleeks/klainers like you who have been there from the beginning love season 5b and the newer crowd in last five years hate it. And I think it’s what they did to Blaine’s character in that arc.

He’d been such a high achiever, leader of glee club really, getting into Nyada and engaged and they made him into this dependent wreck who lied and smothered Kurt. I don’t like what they did to his character at all.

weeell of course you know that i'm gonna disagree with that whole last part bc that's not what they did at all

they clearly showed us blaine struggling with body image issues that were exacerbated by his mental health issues. he was never a perfect person who had it all together, even when he was leading show choirs and getting good grades and getting into elite performing schools. we see these issues as early as season two. being oblivious to kurt's obvious feelings, overstepping with people like burt when he asked him to talk to kurt about sex, being unsure of himself - with his sexuality, not understanding people's intentions with him, not sure if he could even be a good boyfriend himself. He was kind of always a "wreck" and it's funny that that used to be what people hated about him and now people seem to see it as a reason to love him all the more

And like. Idk I think he had a dark point in s5 where he was handling things wrong and not communicating or coping like he should've been. I don't think he was 100% leaning on Kurt for support or smothering him. We actually get to see them doing their own things in those few episodes, like Blaine with June and Kurt with Peter Pan. They still support each other when they're off doing their own thing, but say that a success for one of them is a success for both of them bc they're partners who root for each other and know how to cheer the other one on

But even before that I mean, Blaine just went through a huge life change in graduating high school and moving from Lima to New York. That's no small feat. Everything's different, school is stressful, Kurt gets put in the damn hospital. Things are chaotic, and different, and scary. And we see all the NY characters coping with their new circumstances at different points in time. Sam, Santana, Mercedes, Rachel, Kurt - they all have different points of doubt, of feeling like they don't belong or not knowing what direction to go in. Blaine was far from the only one floundering, and it's unrealistic to expect any of them to be 100% sure of themselves and their lives at any point in time, but especially in s4-5

And I appreciate your ask and how you phrased it, with the dichotomy between original fans and newer fans. Because to me that also reads as the divide between older fans and younger fans. As in like, people who were teenagers or older who watched the show when it aired, and the teens or young adults who have just gotten into the show in the last few years*. Because those viewing experiences are bound to be different

I've had around a decade to watch and rewatch Glee, to process everything in it, and for my thoughts and opinions to morph and mature. Not to mention a decade of brain development and personal growth and life experience that would shape how I view a teen show like this. I didn't start watching Degrassi or PLL until relatively recently, and I know my thoughts on those shows now aren't the same as they would've been if I was watching them when they originally aired, either as a kid, teen, or even young adult

Obviously I'm not saying age = wisdom but when it comes to something like media analysis I do think that more life experience gives you more perspective and helps you understand things like this a little differently. I mean my blog is just shy of being 5 years old and I know there are things I said in 2018 that I don't agree with anymore. You just process things differently and you're gonna have changing opinions the older you get, that's just how it is

all this to say i think you mischaracterized blaine and did his s5b self an injustice lol. but that's just my opinion. i'd like to hear from some older/younger/newer/older fans and see if this is a common pattern

*im sure there are plenty of people who watched the show when it aired and were way too young for it, and grown adults who are still getting into it today. this statement was just a generalization and not meant to speak for everyone in the fandom