As I eluded to in
yesterday's Thursday Diary, I will be spending today's entry talking
about Cory Monteith and his death at the age of 31.
Many people that I have
regular contact with have expressed their shock and sadness over
Cory's death. I will admit to being shocked myself. Cory Monteith
was exactly one year less a week younger than I am. To see me
outlive someone who supposedly had everything in life anybody could
ever want is a huge shock. And while I lwjhknow that his death could
have been prevented and that he shouldn't have indulged in heroin
just months after he checked out of rehab, who knows what was going
through his mind at the time?
I guess what I am trying
to say is that I won't judge him because I don't know the guy
personally. I don't know what was going on when he made the decision
to do drugs in that Vancouver hotel room which inevitably ended up
costing him everything. So, I won't further comment on any other
speculations that may arise.
Instead, I'm going to
devote this article to the joy that he brought to fans all over the
world in the role that made him the most famous. I imagine that a
lot of fans of “Glee” are in mourning right now, and some are
probably still trying to figure out how to talk to their kids about
what happened. And, as of right now, we have absolutely no idea how
“Glee” plans on addressing the death of Cory Monteith. Right
now, it appears as though the show is planning on killing off the
character he played, but this could always change.
For now though, let's take
a look at the life and times of the character that Cory played on
“Glee”. Finn Hudson.
Now, I'll be the first one
to admit. Aside from the odd episode, as well as the humourous
parody video that the cast of “Glee” did for Madonna's “Vogue”
video, I can't exactly call myself a “gleek”. By all accounts,
“Glee” is a very popular show. It helped spawn interest in a
high school social club long made fun of by “jocks” and
“cheerleaders” through the ages. It grouped together different
people from different high school social cliques for one common
goal...to win the championships.
Unfortunately, it also
showed us that a Slurpee from 7-Eleven could be used as a lethal
weapon in the high school class wars.
And, well...it gave us the
rivalry between passionate Will Schuester and snarky Sue Sylvester.
“Glee” has also made a
huge impact on pop culture as well. There was a reality show that
premiered on Bravo that had wannabe gleeks competing against each
other to land a small role in the series. It has breathed new life
to songs that were once considered forgotten. And, Archie Comics had
a crossover with “Glee” beginning with Archie #641 earlier this
year.
Nobody knew what sort of
an impact the show would have when it debuted on FOX on May 19, 2009.
But the show has continued to dominate in the ratings and has made
household names out of Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Jayma Mays, Lea
Michele, Chris Colfer, Chord Overstreet, and Darren Criss.
And, of course, the late
Cory Monteith, who played the role of Finn Hudson.
Now, how Cory ended up
getting the role was an interesting one because he was one of the few
people to have to submit two different audition tapes. The first
audition showed Monteith using pencils as drumsticks against a
makeshift drum set comprised of old Tupperware containers. The video
caught the attention of show creator Ryan Murphy, but he wasn't
entirely satisfied because Cory wasn't singing. Given that the show
was about a glee club at an American high school, Monteith had to
prove that he could walk the walk, talk the talk...or in this case,
sing the song.
The song he chose to sing
for his second audition video was a classic R.E.O. Speedwagon song,
“Can't Fight This Feeling”. That second video was enough to
secure Monteith an audition in Los Angeles for the show itself.
While his vocal stylings at the time were not as strong as some of
the other people at the audition, producers were in awe of Monteith's
portrayal of the character that would come to be known as Finn Hudson
– a high school jock who appears to be incredibly dumb, but who is
actually just naïve and very sweet.
Of course, the casting was
considered to be a little bit controversial, as when the pilot of
“Glee” finally aired, Monteith had just turned 27...just four
years younger than Matthew Morrison who played Will Schuester,
director of William McKinley High's “New Directions”. But
luckily for many people, Cory had the looks and the personality to
play young quite convincingly.
Anyway, when the show
first began, Finn Hudson was the star quarterback of the football
team, and he is initially one who thinks very low of the “New
Directions”. But Finn also had a rather interesting secret.
Ironically enough, Finn
was singing the very song that Cory Monteith sang in his audition
video.
Anyway, one thing you need
to know is that if you're ever singing in a school locker room, the
last thing you want is to have Will Schuester present. Otherwise, he
will wrangle you into joining the “New Directions” faster than
you can blink your eyes. And needless to say that when Finn Hudson
joined the glee club, he got a lot of ribbing from his football
teammates, especially from his best friend Puck (Mark Sailing). But
the longer he stayed in the club...the more he began to like it.
Sure, the crowd that made up the “New Directions” were people
whom he would not normally associate with, but he grew to like and
respect them all...especially Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), the lead
female vocalist of the “New Directions”.
Of course, the growing
friendship between Finn and Rachel caused Finn's girlfriend Quinn
(Dianna Agron) to grow extremely jealous. She became so jealous that
she herself joined the glee club in order to spy on both Finn and
Rachel. But what Finn didn't know was that Quinn had cheated on him
with Puck, and gotten pregnant with Puck's child. Panicked, she told
Finn the baby was his (which confused the naïve Finn as he didn't
even remember making love to Quinn at all). Eventually, Rachel
discovers the truth which leads to fallout between Finn, Quinn, and
Puck, and Finn almost quits the glee club as a result of it.
Luckily, when Finn discovers that Sue Sylvester has planned to
sabotage the glee club's first performance, he comes in at the last
moment and saves the performance.
Other season one
highlights involve Finn finally entering into a relationship with
Rachel, as well as dealing with the fact that his mother has fallen
in love with the father of another “New Directions” member, Kurt
Hummer (Chris Colfer). And while this ultimately leads to tension
between Finn and Kurt (which escalates into Kurt being bullied), by
the end of the season, Finn has apologized to Kurt, and their bond
begins to grow.
But by the beginning of
season two, the love story between Finn and Rachel derailed off the
tracks when Rachel discovered that Finn had slept with Santana Lopez
(Naya Rivera), and to get revenge, Rachel starts to chase after Puck.
This leads to the first break-up between Glee's “supercouple”.
(In real life, Cory
Monteith and Lea Michele also shared a romantic relationship, which
up to Cory's death was still going on.)
Of course, Finn was
involved in a lot of other storylines outside of his relationship
with Rachel. He convinced members of the Cheerios to leave the group
to join the football players and “New Directions” to perform in a
halftime show at a football game, and he briefly reunites with Quinn
– with terrible results.
By the end of the second
season, Finn decides that he wants to be with Rachel ultimately, and
he tells her that he wants her back. But with Rachel set on leaving
Ohio forever to study music in New York City, Rachel is torn over
what to do. It isn't until the “New Directions” go on stage for
Nationals that Finn declares his love for Rachel during a duet that
Finn wrote himself.
Although “Pretending”
wasn't enough for the team to win Nationals, for Finn and Rachel, it
was enough to reaffirm their commitment towards each other.
Throughout the next two
seasons, Finn and Rachel's relationship grows, and Finn actually
proposes marriage to Rachel. The couple decide to get married after
the Regionals competition, but after Quinn gets involved in a car
accident, the wedding is postponed indefinitely. The couple decide
to get married at graduation instead, but another snag takes place
when Finn (who has applied to a New York acting school) discovers his
application has been rejected. Rachel, on the other hand, is
accepted into her school, and she is willing to put her dream on hold
just so she can be with Finn. But Finn (who was one to look out for
himself and only himself at the beginning of the series) proved that
he had grown up a lot over the last two years, and told Rachel that
she should follow her dream, and not wait for him. So, Rachel headed
off to New York to become Broadway's newest superstar, while Finn
stayed behind and enlisted in the army.
That commitment to the
armed forces doesn't last long as Finn is discharged after injuring
himself, and he heads off to New York to surprise Rachel. But after
a while, Finn discovers that New York is not the place for him, and
he heads back to Ohio without informing Rachel, which leads to their
second break-up in the series.
But what is interesting
about Finn's return to Ohio is that he was almost instantly given a
position at William McKinley High...albeit a temporary one. And what
is really interesting is that the position ended up being within the
same club that Finn himself was a huge part of during his high school
years.
You see, Mr. Schuester was
going to be out of town for a few weeks, and Finn was brought in to
become the interim club director in Will's absence. And, granted,
Finn's leadership wasn't exactly well-received at first. But the
more comfortable he got, the more respect the glee club members
showed him. And, by the end of the fourth season, Finn was
contemplating going back to school to become a teacher and his
relationship with Rachel was beginning to blossom once more after he
saved her from engaging in a relationship with a guy in New York who
was nothing but bad news.
So, as of the last season,
it appeared as though everything was starting to fall into place for
Finn, and that nothing would stop him.
However, the sudden death
of Cory Monteith this past Saturday has thrown a little bit of a
monkey wrench into the plans for season five.
It seems really unlikely
now that Finn will go through to become a teacher. We'll never
really know if Finn and Rachel would have found a way to finally be
together forever. It's a very sad thing to think about when you
consider that “Glee” will likely have no choice but to kill Cory
Monteith's character off. And, it really shouldn't have ended this
way at all.
Finn went from being a
jock who really didn't care about anything other than playing sports,
and who had very little regard for most people to being one of the
stars of the “New Directions”, forging bonds of friendship with
Mr. Schuester and Kurt, and finding the love of his life in Rachel
Berry. He went from drifting aimlessly through life to finding a
purpose. It seems almost like a cruel joke that his story has to end
now.
Just as it seems almost
like a cruel joke that Cory Monteith lost his life at a time when
things were going so well for him.
To end this blog entry,
rather than mourn his passing, and curse the effects of overdosing on
drugs...I thought I would end this blog off by remembering him for
what he did best.
No comments:
Post a Comment