As I woke up this morning, and looked out at the snow on the ground in Madison, I was filled with a sense of cheer. It's finally Christmas time! Hooray! And after prancing around my apartment with a cup of cocoa, I decided to go onto my Glee Forum to see how the Gleeks are feeling about next week's Christmas episode of Glee. The Glee Christmas Album, released a couple of weeks ago, has been playing throughout my apartment, and I am extremely excited about next week's Christmas themed episode. Sue Sylvester as The Grinch? Kurt and Blaine singing a duet of "Baby, It's Cold Outside"? Sounds amazing. But, when I decided to take a gander at my specific practicum assignment, I mini panic attack surged through me as I horribly overlooked a big part of this assignment.
Throughout the semester that I've been on the Glee Forum, I've been making sure to have it pulled up during each week's episode, reading the comments and threads of people's reactions after each premiere episode. What I didn't realize, as I looked at my assignment, was that I should have been participating as well... Writing posts, commenting on others posts, etc. This was an epic mistake on my part, and I realize as I spiral into a pit of self-loathing for totally messing this up, that an explanation should be granted on my part, to explain just WHAT I've been doing on this website for the past three months, as my personal profile on the page looks as if I have done zip-nada-zero.
First of all, I need to start by saying that I watch Glee every week without fail. On the days leading up to Tuesday's episodes, I'll get on the Glee forum and check out the "Glee Spoilers" tab at the bottom of the home page. As a Radio DJ as WSUM on Tuesdays, I actually often use spoilers or conversations from the GleeForum threads as a little hint at the nights episode every week. Anyways- from the countdown at the top of the page, to the amazing number of theories and conversations going on about what might be coming up on the next Glee, I really enjoy wrapping myself up in the excitement of what's to come. This week? I'm particularly interested in what the fans have to say about the possibility of Blaine joining New Directions, however I always find something that sparks my interest, and begin reading away. Blaine is a new (and extremely well-loved) character on the show, and a potential love interest for my favorite character, Kurt. I like reading about why the fans think Blaine might join McKinley High's Glee Club, because...the more 0f Blaine, the better. It's amazing how much time I can spend reading people's posts, because often, they come with MORE supplemental links that I can't help but investigate. For instance, in terms of next week's episodes, GleeForum member Drewski11 (real name Sara) says:
New set photos just released show Kurt still in the Dalton uniform. It might be another couple of episodes before he comes back. That said, I really think Blaine will somehow end up transferring to McKinley; possibly to faces his demons, possibly to get closer to Kurt, possibly because ND is going to nationals. It probably is a combination of all these reasons, I'm still internally debating when this transfer will happen
Sara then attached links to other blogs that have spoiler alerts/photos/etc...which the other fans can observe, as they integrate other sites and fan forums.
After each episode airs, I check out the site for people's opinions and interactions with each other. The episode with Gwyneth Paltrow as substitute teacher Holly Holiday, in particular, sparked much debate, as many members thought she should be a series regular. The Gwyneth episode had me scoping the web for other sites that had more to say about the episode- something the forum participants were extremely excited about.
Other than these weekly appointments I have with the site, I spend most of my time reading user threads, looking at fan art (one of my more favorite pasttimes...shh...), and even just enjoying the site as a Glee fan myself. I guess the biggest mistake I made in not participating in the forum was treating the site like a Glee Fan myself, and not as a participant in a school assignment. I think I was so excited about doing Media Fandom for my project, I approached it as a fan myself, doing the activities and things that I find myself doing on sites like this. When Lost was still on the air (RIP...I'll never forget you), I was CONSTANTLY on LostPedia and other sites that might crack the lost code-- However, I never found myself theorizing or actively writing on the sites. I spoke with my friends about it, and constantly flooded their Facebook inboxes and emails with theories and conversation threads I found on the site. But never did I actively participate in the conversation.
Although I'm not shy in person, I find myself shy in these forums- afraid my ideas will get shut down, or that someone will disagree with me or call me "unknowledgeable" about the show. I mean, look at Drewski11....she found actual photos to back up her speculations. I'm not THAT good! I guess I've always let the conversation run among the people who are fully committed to keeping it going, letting myself be an observational bystander. It is really unfortunate that I haven't been participating in the forum, but I've been an actively silent (does that contradict itself?) member on the site- simply watching, reading, and experiencing everything that goes into Media Fandom. I hope this explains a little more what I've been doing on the site, and in my last few blog posts to come, I'll explain what I've learned about the site in relation to what we've been learning this semester. Until next time!
Natalie
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