Since its debut in 2009, the FOX television musical dramedy Glee has tackled a wide range of current social issues, including homosexuality, body image, feminism, religion, teen pregnancy, and sex education. While some critics have panned the show for producing “Very Special Episodes” on these issues, others have praised it as being socially aware and adept at understanding what teenagers and their families are dealing with.
In this paper, I side with the critics praising the show for bringing about social awareness and go a step further by arguing that Glee lays the groundwork for transformative learning experiences in fandom. In their 2009 literature review on popular culture and adult education, Wright and Sandlin found few studies analyzing popular culture as public pedagogy learning occurring outside the classroom. They called on adult educators and researchers to explore the significance of this type of public and personal informal learning. Inspired by Wright and Sandlin’s article, I explore how Glee can be used as a form of public pedagogy for potential transformative learning by sharing personal learning experiences from myself and several fellow fandom members, with LGBT awareness and the storylines of the gay characters in particular.
This paper is part of the panel “ ‘The Show Must Go All Over the Place’: Glee and Off-Screen Cultural Transformations” with Dr. Emily Hamilton-Honey, Sheryl Lyn Bundy, and Elizabeth Downey.
About the presenterConnie K Shih
Connie Shih is doctoral student in Adult Learning at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is also an adjunct faculty in the Graduate and Professional Studies Program at the Knoxville campus of Tusculum College where she currently teaches educational technology courses for pre-service teachers. In addition to her research interests in pop culture and transformative learning, she is also interested in self-directed learning, educational gerontology, and mentoring. Connie is a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), has an Ed.S. in Instructional Technology, and is self-proclaimed, unabashed Gleek.