The Casting in Glee

By: Rafeeat Bishi

          After our conversation on casting people of certain backgrounds to play characters on TV shows, I thought about an important casting choice in Glee. 

          One of the original members of the Glee Club is in a wheelchair, Artie. Artie is played an able-bodied man Kevin McHale. 

          When I first started watching Glee this always made me feel a bit weird. Mainly because of the reasons we talked about in class. No matter who Kevin McHale talks to, what he studies, or acts like, he will never know the true life of a person in a wheelchair.

          And it's not like Becky's character, where although down syndrome is plays a role, it can be sometimes put on the backburner. A lot of Artie's storylines overlap with him being in a wheelchair and the struggles he has. For example, in one episode, he was unable to board the bus to sectionals because it was not equipped for a wheelchair. They also talked about how the lack of ramps in the school make it harder for him to get around. One of the earliest ones was him bonding with a girl who had a stutter because they were both disabled (she was lying about the stutter though). 

        I think if they are going to tell those stories, it would've been better to cast someone different. Kevin did a great job, but my opinion still stands. I'd like to read more on how the wheelchair community feels about his character.


Edit: So I've read some things and people find Artie's character himself  problematic because a lot of his storylines feature him fantasizing about walking, as if all people in a wheelchair think about walking all the time. 

Also: This kinda relates to Mr. Gaines' point about people portraying certain stereotypes. Kevin McHale is gay (he came out one or two years ago), but while he was on Glee playing Artie, he played an explicitly stereotypical straight male, who would talk a lot about women, sex, and be misogynist. Thought that was sort of interesting. Darren Criss, who plays the love interest of the central character Kurt (who is also gay, the actor is gay in real life too) is straight in real life. Jonathan Groff, who was a supporting character, plays a straight man (or at least someone who we've only seen date women) and is gay in real life.