You know that moment right after you’ve watched the kids on Glee bust out a fierce Adele mash-up, when you think, “God, I wish my high school had been the scene of frequent and non sequitur, choreographed pop mash-ups combined with smack-me-in-the-face messages of acceptance?” (What, just me?)
If the previous statement more or less describes your general state of regralgia (a carefully struck balance of regret and nostalgia…still working out the kinks on that one), brace yourself. The time has come for your utopian reveries to be actualized.
Behold. Colton James Boettcher’s “ceeJbee Productions” brings us the high school of our dreams in the form of an “It Get’s Better” music video set to the tune of Lady Gaga’s “Hair.”
Let’s reference our checklist, shall we?
- A poptastic message of self-acceptance (from Lady G, no less)? Check.
- Aggressively defiant choreography? Check.
- Prom scene a la Taylor Swifts “You Belong With Me” (the cute, queer version)? Check.
- Bullied teen prevails over bully (and gets a boyfriend, to boot!)? Check.
- Classmates of bullied teen figure out that acceptance beats ignorance in that roshambo of a schoolyard game, “Acceptance, Ignorance, Videos of Babies Laughing” (videos of babies laughing trumps everything, of course). Check.
Can you imagine what it’d be like if high school could be like this for kids today? Well, not necessarily all the table-dancing (that is a liability lawsuit waiting to happen), but the creation of an environment where messages of inclusion from peers is the norm, and ignorance is so out of style it doesn’t even get invited to the party. What a world that would be.
Alas, instead we have adults like Tennessee senator Stacey Campfield, sponsor of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill which would make it illegal for educators to talk about any form of sexuality other than heterosexuality with students grades K-8 (so, what if you have gay parents? Well, I guess that’s ok, as long as you don’t talk about it). I have to admit, I gave a little cheer and a fist pump when I heard about Sen. Campfield being kicked out of a Knoxville restaurant in response to his anti-gay proposition. “I hope that Stacy (sic) Campfield now knows what it feels like to be unfairly discriminated against,” said restaurant owner Martha Boggs (source: Huffington Post).
I hope so too, Martha, because if there’s one thing I know, it’s that our kids sure don’t deserve to know what that kind of ignorant prejudice feels like. They deserve Lady Gaga flash mobs in the cafeteria, wonderfully inclusive proms, and youtube videos of babies laughing (because who doesn’t need one of those once in a while?).