Posted by Jay Livingston
Wednesday night I had just finished The Art of Fielding. I closed the book, thought about it for a few moments, and then for some reason I decided to watch “Glee.” I’ve seen the show only a few times; when I do watch, it’s to see and hear which songs are being covered.
In one of the first posts in this blog, I watched “Friday Night Lights” and wondered why so many American fictions culminate in some kind of contest or competition that magically resolves or dissolves all problems. Internal personal troubles, moral dilemmas, social problems, interpersonal conflicts, romantic uncertainties – it all comes down to the big game. And once that’s over, win or lose, everything falls into place.
Fielding and “Glee” both draw on this theme, though Fielding, a 500-page novel, has much more going on than does a 44-minute TV episode. They also trot out the same cliche of the underdog. McKinley is always going up against a much more affluent, successful, and perhaps talented glee club that looks down their noses at our heroes. In the championship game in Fielding, the struggling college baseball team meet the well-heeled Amherst, who arrive complete with mean-girl cheerleaders.
“Glee” and Fielding reprise another theme common in American fictions. It combines “It’s Your Decision” with “Taking One for the Team.” A character’s conflict with another member of the team, or perhaps his struggle with his own internal demons, is jeopardizing the team’s chances for success against some powerful and nasty opponent. Others drop hints, but nobody tells our hero what to do – this is America, after all, and individualism means that each person decides for himself. But in the end, he or she sacrifices self-based motives and helps the team win (or if they lose, to do so admirably and with nobility).
The more powerful opponent can be a sports team, a glee club, a gang, a political organization, or even, as in Casablanca, Hitler and the Axis powers. In the end, Bogart (Rick) sacrifices his love for Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa) in favor of the war effort. He takes one for the team. As he explains to Ilsa at the end on the tarmac,
It doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.*
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* As Michael Wood has pointed out, Bogart here is repeating precisely the idea that Bergman has been trying to convince him of since she arrived in Casablanca
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