I’m alright with the fact that Glee now takes place in a universe where 60-year-old women can have babies, where teenage girls in wheelchairs can miraculously walk again, where a Spanish teacher can keep his job for decades even though he doesn’t speak a lick of Español, that a giant loft in New York (even in rough, but trendy, Bushwick) can go for a little more than $1,000 a month, and that any human on the face of the earth actually likes mash-ups. I’m okay with all of these things (except that bit about mash-ups). But there is one new plot detail on the latest season of Glee I cannot abide: Kurt’s job at Vogue.com.
Maybe it’s because I’m a media professional, but I just can’t stand the idea of this baby gay walking into the Condé Nast building blindly and ending up scribbling away for the website of the world’s most vaunted and exclusive fashion magazine. The whole thing is just ludicrous. Need we remind everyone that Kurt, who moved to New York without any job or anything to do, hasn’t even gotten into college? Not only hasn’t he gone, he hasn’t even written the essays, filled out the forms, and sent in the checks to a school other than NYADA, which he didn’t get into. He is a college reject. He has no work experience except for the two weeks that he made Marble Caramel Pumpkin Spice Half-Caf Macchiatos with No Whip and a Dash of Cinnamon at some coffee shop in Lima, Ohio. He never worked on the school paper, he was never in the “fashion club,” he has no extracurricular activities other than making out with boys and singing in the Glee Club (which is great and all, but it’s not going to impress Miss Anna Wintour). Oh, hell no!
Fox released the scene from tomorrow’s episode where Kurt goes in for his interview with his soon-to-be editor Isabelle played by the world’s first fashionista Sarah Jessica Parker. It seems like she is a failed fashion designer who is going to give Kurt his big break. Wait, doesn’t that sound just like Rachel and her relationship with her has-been dance teacher (played by fellow celebrity Kate Hudson)? This makes my hatred of Kurt’s new gig even worse.
Okay, the editor of Vogue.com, a busy website that probably updates itself multiple times a day, has time to go through the resumés of every person who is interviewing for the job, remember their hometowns, and scroll through the Facebook photos of their various and assorted fashion don’ts? I have selected interns before for smaller magazines and websites and would go through hundreds of resumés. Actually, The Assistant usually goes through the first round of resumés and finds a dozen good ones. The Assistant looks for experience and pedigree (usually based on the university the applicant has attended) and then passes the winners along to a superior. Kurt has neither experience nor pedigree. He wouldn’t have even made it past The Assistant. Now he is The Assistant.
Why? Because SJP once barfed at Breadsticks and likes that he likes her quilted miniskirts. Need I remind everyone that this is Vogue, Vogue, a place so snotty that even The Assistants won’t make copies. This isn’t Marie Claire where they’re happy to have any Holly Hobby fresh off the turnip truck or Cosmo that is just looking for teens to make quizzes. This is Vogue. Vogue!
Why do we even need his job to be at Vogue.com (PS – Adding dot com to the end of something doesn’t make it easier to get a job there, because this is no longer 1999)? No one moves to NY and gets the job of his or her dreams right off the bat. Everyone has to have a shitty job copy editing recipes (yes, I did this), working in an awful tchotchke shop in Times Square (yes, I did this), and maybe even defrauding the welfare system for some extra handouts (I will not admit to doing this in print). Why can’t Kurt get a little bit closer to reality and work for a former fashion designer who is starting her own blog or Internet Fashion Startup. He can learn a lot from her and the two can become a success together and stick it to those uptight bitches at Vogue who would probably make fun of them anyway. Their thing could even get really huge and successful and Kurt can make enough money to actually afford a real giant loft in Bushwick. That is way more likely to happen than him waltzing into Vogue.com with a brooch on his blazer and walking away with a job. Having some plots that strain reality is fine for Glee but this plot has so much magic in it, it might as well be from Lost.
Follow Brian Moylan on Twitter @BrianJMoylan
[Photo Credit: Fox]
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