Glee the 3D Concert Movie: Gleek-Tastic

Before I came into the theater, I confess I had rather a disillusioned preconception of Glee as a vessel of commercialized popular culture and teen romance. The only other concert movie I had really paid to see in theaters was Michael Jackson’s This Is It, and none of these kids (apologies for the diminution) were going to live up to his musical prowess.

I found the first season of Glee to be a refreshing breather from the overdone conglomeration of forensic dramas and sitcoms. I will admit that Glee’s cheerful pop renditions helped alleviate some of my homesickness during my first year of college. The series originally set out to illustrate how each of the kids that represent different sectors of the high school population learn to appreciate differences and bond over their shared love for performance and dance. As the series has progressed however, most of the characters became increasingly stereotypical, shallow, and sometimes downright promiscuous. Furthermore, the songs themselves became increasingly auto-tuned, insincere, and unoriginal. When I first heard they were going to release a Glee movie, I immediately derided this as a commercial attempt to reuse the same old repertoire. And I also wondered, why 3-D? It’s not like it was going to have James Cameron’s Avatar caliber special effects.

However, Glee the 3D Concert Movie actually exceeded my expectations. This live cinematic enterprise seemed to help Glee rectify its past mistakes and truly reach their fans. The film moves away from the second season’s romantic melodrama and instead concentrates on spreading joyful music and self-affirming messages, bringing back the focus on what sets Glee apart from the rest of the pop shows: its energetic, uplifting renditions of popular music, ranging all the way from Barbra Streisand’s Don’t Rain On My Parade to the very present tunes including Katy Perry’s Firework. While it mainly caters to teeny-boppers and young adults, Glee the 3D Concert Movie essentially forms a digital anthology of memorable songs throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. After all, this series was instrumental in introducing and re-popularizing golden classics such as Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing and Rick Springfield’s Jessie’s Girl among the current generation.

Plus, the film’s three-dimensionality reinforces the illusion that an audience is actually watching the performers as opposed to sitting in a dark and otherwise quiet theater. The 3D quality serves to bridge the gap between the concert hall and the theater in order to encourage all viewers regardless of setting, availability, and maybe even socioeconomic class to absorb and enjoy the positive, vivacious aura. In line with the show’s promotion of acceptance, the 3D helps fostered a sense of inclusion and engagement.

By investing all their vocal power into their performance, the Glee cast successfully counters another frequent criticism against their show–its excessively auto-tuned soundtrack. The live setting allows the cast to provide a more organic, powerful, and heartfelt performance. While each act is pleasant and engaging, the soloists’ performances are the most moving. In her powerful and personal rendition of Don’t Rain On My Parade, Lea Michele appropriately infuses this time-honored classic with Rachel’s drama queen personality.  In his ballad rendition of I Want To Hold Your Hand, Chris Colfer breathes sincerity and meaning into each lyric, completely owning the song.

Moreover, the movie utilizes its longer medium to respectfully honor its strongest, most loyal fans. As a tribute to real-life, marginalized individuals, the concert movie also features the touching accounts of three individuals that deprived enormous courage and support from the series to overcome immense challenges. Janae, a high school cheerleader with dwarfism, provides a heartwarming account of how Glee taught her to retain faith in people’s ability to accept difference. Through her love for Glee, Josey met and befriended fellow fans of the show to largely mitigate social anxiety and isolation due to Asperger’s. Also peppering in short interviews of the extremely diverse Gleeks in between the performances, the Glee franchise gave voice to its numerous fans, who have been emotionally touched by the show’s positive, self-affirming messages. These real-life testimonies provide a detailed insight into the show’s original themes–that everyone deals with struggles of their own, and we should embrace our own individual differences while appreciating the unique qualities of others.

While Glee the 3D Concert Movie is neither new nor groundbreaking, teens and young adults may enjoy this film which features not only impressively dynamic performances but also heartwarmingly conveys the show’s positive influence on numerous sectors of the population.