Sunday, July 14, 2013

LIVING IN A LONELY WORLD: Cory Monteith was—it just seems wrong to say was about a 31-year-old, doesn't it?—perfectly cast as Finn Hudson on Glee, conveying enthusiasm, decent singing talent, naïveté, and not necessarily a whole lot of brightness in a package that couldn't help but remind you of his fellow Canadian, Keanu Reeves.

His sudden death reminds us of two things: that there's little way to tell whether you're psychologically equipped for massive fame before you're thrust into it; and that while your parents can provide a clue, you might never know before it's too late that you don't have an off switch when it comes to consuming certain substances which seem awesome in the moment. Put the two together, and this is a sad story which will keep repeating.

8 comments:

  1. Marsha5:20 PM

    I knew nothing about his substance abuse issues, so I was shocked to hear this today. How terribly sad.

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  2. Christy in Philly4:18 PM

    I sometimes think I'm the lone Glee fan standing among ThingThrowers. Just wanted to chime in that I'm heartbroken.

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  3. lisased4:43 PM

    I still watch it for the occasional moments of brilliance. I thought they did a very good job of depicting that strange period of time after high school when you struggle with the pull of the familiar back home and the attraction of starting over with people who don't know you well.

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  4. And I think there's an interesting story that could be told about Finn in that context that could incorporate the character's death. Unfortunately, I have little or no faith that Murphy will want to tell that story.

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  5. bellawilfer5:47 PM

    I think Murphy will FOR SURE kill Finn on the show. I agree, probably won't bring the drug use aspect into it, but he'll definitely kill him off.

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  6. I have very little doubt Finn will be killed, but more likely in a heroic or "random tragedy" manner (e.g., car accident). To me the interesting story is of Finn thinking he was going to escape (be it through the Army, through NYADA, or whatever) and then realizing he was stuck, falling into a depression, and taking his own life.

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  7. I have to say, I don't agree with this. I think it would be very tricky to pull off in the best of situations, and this is not the best of situations, between the real-life-tragedy context, the lack of any real ability to set that up, and the notable problems the production has had with some previous "big" issues. But then there's the other thing: wouldn't that be, well, kind of cruel, at a minimum to the cast, and maybe to fans as well?

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  8. Genevieve11:14 AM

    I still watch, but usually like only part of it and end up hating part of it (almost always because of what Murphy does to what could have been a good story). Sad to hear about Monteith, and very surprised as I didn't know about his substance abuse (particularly sad as he went to rehab this year, so he was trying to get help and work on his problems).

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