On Glee, Odd Behavior, and - Schizophrenia?
Today's post comes courtesy of Ben Behind His Voices reader - and fellow Mom and blogger - Kari Larson. She wrote to me about a recent episode of Glee that I had also watched....and noticed Sue Sylvester's line of dialogue that compares character Blaine's new interest (talking with puppets) to that of someone "with schizophrenia and off meds"
I had noticed it, but it didn't really hit me as insulting because...well, hey, this is Glee, where they exaggerate pretty much everything and nothing is really off limits. Everyone acts erratically on Glee, and eventually they usually redeem themselves with some lesson following the farce.
But my son Ben doesn't watch Glee, so he had no reaction to the episode. Kari, however, wrote about a different experience.
Hi Randye,
My daughter is 17 and has schizophrenia. She and I have watched Glee since the very beginning and overall it's been a show that embraces all types of people.
The most recent episodes have really upset us, and I'm wondering if some of the dialogue has come to your attention.
In one episode, the character of Marley is complaining about her ex-boyfriend's erratic behavior, that he's nice one minute and horrible the next, and says it's so "schizo."
This not only upset me because it was said in a negative way, but because it's not even correct, further perpetuating the myth that schizophrenia entails a split personality disorder. Untrue.
Another episode -- quite possibly the very next one -- has Sue Sylvester complaining that she didn't want school board members coming to the school and seeing "schizophrenia" students talking to imaginary puppets (one character had a hand puppet).
My daughter is heartbroken. I've sent Twitter comments to Ryan Murphy (Glee creator), Glee on Fox (official Glee Twitter account) and one of the executive producers. I don't expect to hear anything back, but I was wondering if any of this has come across your radar.
Thank you,
Kari Larson
In her blog(http://ninepillsaday.com/) , Kari adds: "I’m annoyed by two things. One: Schizophrenia DOES NOT MEAN split personalities. Two: Please, unless you, the writers of Glee, are headed toward a fantastic teaching moment, STOP USING THAT WORD. Stop using any form of that word. It’s insulting and, more often than not, used incorrectly."
What do you think? Glee "just joking" in the way it does for many issues, or stigma to to be protested? Does Sue Sylvester owe us an apology in a future episode?
