Terry Richardson's scandalous GQ photo spread featuring Cory Monteith, Dianna Agron and an especially scantily-clad Lea Michele cavorting in the classroom, has created no shortage of headlines this week. But why exactly was this photo shoot -- produced at a time when oversexualized twenty-something actors is the norm -- especially appalling? Movieline's TV experts Louis Virtel and Julie Miller investigate.
Julie: First off, let it be noted that Terry Richardson and Lea Michele were not exactly pioneering anything with their scandalous photo shoot -- Glee already jokes about how Rachel Berry dresses like a Japanese man's fantasy.
Louis: Except there's a difference between "Japanese man's fantasy" and "gawking stripper in towering heels making BJ faces for eight pages straight." Or there should be.
Julie: Excellent point. The most disturbing part of this photo shoot for me was seeing how disproportionately oversexed Lea Michele was compared to Dianna Agron and Cory Monteith.
Louis: And that was clearly part of the deal -- she dominates this. I hate to say it, but what did we expect from GQ? Entirely clothed females sitting next to a gyrating naked dude? I don't even think I've seen a photo shoot like that before, which is telling. No, the blame here goes to the actors themselves for taking part.
Julie: Right, and with that understanding, I appreciate that Dianna Agron at least admitted that she had reservations about being portrayed all sexy-like. I am not shocked by the set-up of the photos, I'm just more surprised that Michele, an Emmy-nominated actress who stars on a show about self-empowerment, would dress up like Miss JV February in some jock's pin-up calendar. I would love Ryan Murphy to get meta with this story -- like he did with some of season one's criticisms -- and incorporate this storyline into an episode. The PTA wants Finn to pose semi-nude to raise money for Artie's new wheelchair ramp and Schue has to intervene by crooning the Staples Singers' "Respect Yourself" while covering Finn with a bathrobe! Or something. Ryan Murphy can pick the song, I'll just ask for creative credit for that episode.
Louis: That's all entirely possible, so careful. I'm baffled by Lea Michele here too, but the biggest crime of the photo shoot is what you just said: This completely undermines the point of Glee. Glee's ostensibly about camaraderie and embracing who you are, even if you're not "normal" by everyone's definition, right? I mean, Lea Michele looks like a Real Girl here. Cory will play the part of Lars.
Julie: I agree.
Louis: She looks like some closed-minded freak's vision of who she should be.
Julie: On another note, I find it ironic that in the re-run Fox aired this week, "Hairography," Rachel Berry vamps herself out Sandy Olsson-style to get Finn's attention...and in the end, he tells her that she just looks "like a sad clown hooker." Has Lea Michele learned nothing from her character's plot lines?
Louis: Ouch. "Sad clown hooker:" A term regularly saved for dicier Christina Aguilera reinventions is now an apt description of Rachel Berry.
Julie: But you're right, the photo shoot completely undermines Glee's message. It's sad to think of a some chubby, pimply-faced 12-year-old who lives for Glee discovering her father's GQ and seeing that her beloved Rachel Berry/Lea Michele thinks it's OK to mime fellatio on a Blow Pop.
Louis: If it makes that 12-year-old feel any better, this doesn't even cleverly reference Glee. These three look like any horrible ad for mall panties. So maybe that 12-year-old won't even recognize them.
Julie: It's just disheartening to see someone as genuinely talented as Lea Michele straddle a locker room bench for a men's magazine. I mean, I understand the objective of this photo shoot. I understand that hypersexualized photos are Terry Richardson's specialty. And we can all agree that Lea Michele looks awesome, Julie says, as she pulls on copycat knee high socks and unwraps a cherry Blow Pop.
Louis: Terry Richardson also seems to specialize in my epic discomfort. Like, is he proving that...if you arrange people in such a way and with less clothes than usual, you can make it seem like the girl will do anything to please an aloof, dismissive male? I don't even think she looks that good here -- they've taken mostly frames where she's making an inhuman, Commedia dell Arte "Zany" face.
Julie: I don't think that's a message. The only way that you really can lure that high school jock you've been crushing on hard away from his drum kit is by ripping off your shirt and jumping on his shoulders. This is common knowledge.
Louis: The outlandishness of it all sends a message. Like, if your lovable glee club friends just let go and really embraced themselves, they'd be reveling in these objectified gender roles.
Julie: It's just sad. Do you think Ryan Murphy or Lea Michele will comment on this photo shoot?
Louis: Yeah, where is Ryan Murphy's comment? I admit I was LOL when I read Agron's blog post -- that bit about how GQ wanted them to do a "Hit Me Baby One More Time" version of their characters. First of all, congratulations on existing in 1999 for 11 years running, GQ. And secondly, that should've been the cue to run, Dianna.
Julie: Didn't someone from Fox have to sign off on this "vision" though?
Louis: Maybe to Fox it seemed like a natural extension of Chris Colfer's leather-bar pictures in Rolling Stone, even though those were cheeky while these were, you know, jarringly gross.
Julie: Fair assumption. Well, to wrap up here, I think one good thing came from this GQ photoshoot: we now have our Halloween costumes for Movieline's office party next week.
Louis: I'm Smug-'n-Frisky Finn!
Julie: And I'm Busty Bimbo Berry! Trick or treat!
Louis: (Ass smack!)
ยท Glee Gone Wild [GQ]