ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the Murphy juggernaut Glee, which aired in prime time in the United States on the Fox network from 2009 to 2015. While Glee was not Murphy’s first network show and may not be his longest-lasting serial narrative, it has served as both a benchmark and a catalyst for many of Murphy’s other projects. Indeed, in both the time of its airing and in its continual repeated international offering through Netflix, Glee offers a ready touchstone for a version of the Murphy-verse that is optimistic, hopeful, and full of good cheer. Glee made history for its diverse cast and queer themes, including its willingness to depict not just gay characters but love and sex and conflict with those characters in long narrative arcs central, rather than marginal, to the story. Its combination of show tunes, rock ballads, and quirky themed episodes jettisoned Glee from television program to celebrity/fan phenomenon, all focalized and vocalized through the “losers” that come together to participate in a high school show choir. As Weber and Weeks demonstrate in this article, Glee is both a celebratory text and a disturbing rehashing of the myth of meritocracy, long denied to those who are queer. As such, Weber and Weeks ride the Glee train to interrogate how fully the American Dream might be queered.
