Funerals, shifting loyalties, and growing up - as told by Glee

[wowbright]

A post by crown_of_weeds was getting me all thinky about the wasting away of Kurtcedes, so I went back to Grilled Cheesus (S2Ep3) to see if that's where it all began. I was scrolling through to get to the Kurtcedes scenes, when up popped a still image of two hands, poking out from black trench-coats and clasped together. For a moment, I forgot where I was and thought it was Kurt and Blaine at Pavarotti's burial in Original Song (S2Ep16). Then I remembered where I was, hit play, and realized duh, it was Burt and little Kurt at Mom's funeral. The camera focuses on their hands, Burt's hand over and Kurt's hand under, and then Burt leads Kurt away.

In Original Song, the camera focuses on two hands, poking out from black trench-coats and clasped together, but this time they are Blaine and Kurt's, Blaine's hand over and Kurt's hand under, and they walk off the screen together, neither in the lead.

What immediately popped into my mind was (and please excuse the heterosexism of the quote and of the entire context of the quote; I didn't write the Bible): "a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." (Genesis 2:24 and Matthew 19:5).

I tend to feel sorry for all those poor Bible writers who didn't understand the complexities of human sexuality, so I do them the favor of rephrasing what they wrote so they don't come off as too backward. As a result, how I've long heard this phrase is, "A person shall leave zir parents and hold fast to zir spouse, and they shall become one flesh." *

Contemplating the funeral scenes from Grilled Cheesus and Original Song, all I can think is, "Kurt is leaving his father to hold fast to Blaine." And then I wonder if that's what RIB and the cinematographers and editors were thinking and, holy shit, was that a promise - or at least an implication -  that Kurt and Blaine are endgame?

I'm not saying that the Glee creators were thinking of the biblical quote per se - I'm sure this interpretation of the scenes as a leaving-the-nest story could also work without it.  But I'm pretty sure they must have been thinking something when they paralleled these scenes this way. (And I become more convinced that leaving the nest is exactly what they had in mind when I think of all the bird references in the episode.)

What do you think? (Besides that I need to remove the bible-lenses from my brain?)

* For gay-positive takes on this verse, without gender-neutralization of the contents, see Ruth Loved Naomi as Adam Loved Eve or Letha Scanzoni and Virginia Mollenkott's Is the Homosexual My Neighbor?, pages 81-82. The latter may have saved my life or at least my sanity in high school, so I've got a soft spot for it, even if I'm not a Christian anymore.

Comments

[likeasouffle.livejournal.com]

Just went back and watched these scenes. I think they were DEFINITELY thinking of the 2x03 scene when they did 2x16, especially since Blaine even says "Reminds you of your mom's funeral doesn't it?" He may well have been asking the audience. "GUYS remember Kurt's mom's funeral? Does this remind you of that?" ;)

Interestingly I didn't get the impression that Burt took Kurt's hand and led him away. To me it looked like Burt was leading Kurt, then they clasped hands, and then they walked side by side. (There was very little walking after that point.) There is no walking at Pavarotti's funeral before the handholding, but Blaine is still taking on a kind of caretaker/provider role, as he's the one doing the shovelling. And he's obviously also the one doing the comforting. So the scenes appear to be completely parallel: Kurt is with someone who is caring for him, then they hold hands, then they're side by side walking together.

The first place my mind goes is "Are they saying Kurt is replacing Burt with Blaine, and/or that Blaine is a lot like Burt?" And the answer is pretty much no. In 2x03, Kurt says about the funeral that he wanted his dad to say something to comfort him. Burt didn't say anything, he just took his hand, and that made him feel better. Blaine does a lot of talking at Pavarotti's funeral, and even makes Kurt smile, THEN takes his hand (which I'm sure was still very comforting). So it's like Blaine is even better than Burt because he provides both words and handholding. Or maybe I'm crazy. Either way, Blaine wins at funerals. (Not saying Pavarotti's death was anywhere near as tragic as Kurt's mom's, obviously.)

As far as Kurt and Blaine being endgame, I would not be at all shocked.

Also also, I wonder if they chose to have Blaine fall for Kurt while Kurt is crying over a death just because so many fans fell in love with Kurt during I Wanna Hold Your Hand. They were like "Holy shit Colfer you're pretty when you cry, DO THAT AGAIN." LOL.

[crown-of-weeds.livejournal.com]

1: I really, really like meeting other people with too much Bible in their brains.

2: http://crown-of-weeds.livejournal.com/32580.html

3: The handfasting interpretation is, I think, exactly right.

4: It's curious that they give it so much thought and planning. It's one of my main arguments for "the writers know what they're doing."