Here’s the thing: Glee‘s Chris Colfer and I grew up in the same town. And yet, Chris Colfer and I grew up in very different worlds.
For one thing, we went to different high schools. For another, I’m a good 14 years older than him. And for yet another, he had to deal with being severely bullied at school for his sexuality and I had to deal with maybe one or two negative comments about being in colorguard (that’s “flag team” to you a**holes who never bothered to learn the word “colorguard”).
Colfer has made no secret, mostly on the late night talk show circuit, about his disdain for the conservative, “cow tipping” town of Clovis, CA, where he grew up. That experience no doubt led him to write the movie Struck By Lightning, a film about a high school student who feels he isn’t being heard by his classmates. teachers, and parents.
Last night, I saw Struck By Lightning at the Reel Pride Gay and Lesbian Film Festival at the Tower Theatre in Fresno, CA. Despite Colfer’s jokingly dire predictions, the theater was packed, and not just by Glee fans (or his family), though that certainly didn’t hurt the numbers. Many of the attendees were there for another reason. Whenever Colfer’s character, Carson Phillips, gave a speech to his fellow high school inmates about sticking up for themselves, and not giving in to who “they” expect you to be, the audience clapped and cheered loudly.
Colfer wasn’t at last night’s screening, but if he had been, he would have seen nearly 700 Fresnans and cow-tippin’ Clovis-ites sharing in and understanding an experience that maybe Colfer thinks was his alone — the experience of feeling utterly isolated, different, unheard. The people in that audience heard Colfer, and they got it.
Chris Colfer sent a letter to Reel Pride organizers attributing last night’s absence to Glee obligations. I don’t doubt that Colfer is very busy. However, it’s a shame he wasn’t able to be there to see the many in his hometown who empathize with his experience, not just because he’s a celebrity, but because he has the courage to put out there the things we don’t often talk about — the feeling of being abandoned and isolated by your peers, the very people who are supposed to have your back. As far as I know, Colfer doesn’t make many public appearances in Fresno or Clovis, but a truce with his hometown and his past might do him, and us, some good.
Chris explained on his twitter that he was making fun of many relatives he had attending, no making fun of Fresno..
Also, he’ve said nice thing about his hometown as well, for example here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKEwnwMFb9k (around 3.30).
Thanks for the link, Mariletta.
Clearly you didn’t “get” his film yourself if you could say that one of the concepts he presented in Struck By Lightning was “an experience that maybe Colfer thinks was his alone.” Perhaps that wasn’t a comment on the film but rather a personal perception you developed while watching a celebrity you don’t know personally, in which case it didn’t really belong in this article. It’s nice that you reported that the audience “heard Colfer and they got it.” They got it because he is a brilliant writer. That was not proof that he should have been there to see all these like-minded viewers from his hometown area in order to realize the error in his thinking because he somehow has a warped memory of the attitudes he grew up with that in fact did isolate him. In his writing it is clear that he does not think that he is the only person afflicted with some kind of singular and unique situation. His writing is universally insightful and accessible. You reframe and misinterpret his talk show stories (which are always true, honest and nonjudgmental and tempered with comments about the good aspects of his hometown) and vilify them as “disdain” for his hometown. That seems to be purposeful misconstruction or at least over-sensitivity on your part. Then you call for a truce. As far as the actual facts and any of his public comments go, it seems that Chris has no resentment nor disdain nor quarrel with Fresno and Clovis, and therefore some kind of public town-celebrity-truce is not necessary and to suggest that a truce is necessary is misleading and baiting on your part. You implied that he may have chosen not to make a public appearance for reasons other than his stated work schedule conflict. That is trickster journalism and it certainly won’t make him more likely to make any future public appearances without fear of irresponsible, misleading, stilted coverage. You may not have thought you were misconstruing facts to pass your personal judgment on a celebrity from your hometown, but that was in fact the effect of your words.
I appreciate your comment, Jen. You are clearly a big Chris Colfer fan and he is lucky to have such a fiercely loyal friend in you.
May I ask, have you seen the movie yet? Or met Chris Colfer? Having seen the movie, I stand by my opinions of it — and they really are just my opinions. It’s perfectly okay that you do not agree.
I haven’t met Chris Colfer, and I probably never will, so any opinion I hold about his motivations are, again, simply my opinions. This is not an article written by a journalist, but a post written by a woman who saw a movie and decided to write about it. Thank you for reading.
Thanks! I’m glad you read my little complaint letter. I’m glad she’s not a journalist. I’m also glad to be a nut job and stand by my reaction. I don’t know him and don’t presume to guess at his thoughts and figured she shouldn’t have done so in a published piece. I saw the movie twice at Tribeca and my opinions on the writing of it were based on that. It’s great that the viewers in Fresno enjoyed it!
To be quite honest, I did not watch the film and I never will. Just putting that out there. I will say though, Chris Colfer has been interviewed on many talk shows and whenever he is asked about his hometown, he speaks horribly. For example, on Chelsea Lately, he went on for 3 minutes about how horrible this cow tipping town is and how there is nothing to do in Fresno and blah blah blah. He should really remember where he came from and be happy to know that he has many supporters from his hometown. Even after he was such a douche bag in high school. He can sit there and say “Oh i was bullied and they were so mean” and blah blah blah,when in reality, he was the jackass. Maybe he should remember the golden rule and treat others as you would like to be treated.
I am a Glee fan, I love the show and have never miss an episode, its just sad that this guy can bash his own hometown.
Chris Colfer is an ass if you ask me and I’m glad he doesnt live in such a great town as fresno. I really hope he doesnt come visit either.
I think I did read somewhere that Chris said that people bullied him for his high pitched voice and also because of his personality… So I can imagine that an overachiever like Chris can rub people the wrong way…
I don’t know how he was bullied…I think it may be mostly verbal but words can cut your heart like a knife and leave scars behind and it shows during his interviews when he says unpleasant things about his hometown…
Remember when he was with Russel Brand on the talkshow with Jay Leno ? Russell Brand said to Chris to put all his unpleasant experience about bullying behind him and look into the future…
I am not sure whether Chris is ready to do this yet… It takes time to heal those wounds… But I hope one day he will and be more positive about his hometown.
Hahahaha. Thanks for the laugh. (Also your ramblings about how he only speaks horribly of his hometown are disproved in two places just at this very link. And he’s not from Fresno, FYI.)
Chris returns home to Clovis to visit his family often, and he had multiple people from the community in his film as extras or even with speaking parts, so this idea that hates everything to do with it is bizarre. He is talking about the experience he had there, and it wasn’t pleasant, so why should he act otherwise, just because of some misplaced community pride?
But, anyway, I just wanted to comment to say that someone who was called the “f-word” daily in the halls, who had tampons stuck to his back, and who had to be home schooled for a year and a half because of bullying is not the one who was a jackass. People from Clovis have even called into radio shows about “I knew such-and-such celebrity before they were famous” to express regret about how Chris was treated at school. Yes, it’s a head scratcher why someone wouldn’t be so positive when they talk about a hometown like that. By speaking out, Chris Colfer has helped thousands of kids who grew up in similar ways, so I say: keep doing it, because for someone to act like he is the one with the problem…well, it seems to me they’re pretty defensive and I question the reason for it.
I like this note a lot. Tho there’s a little mistake at the beginning. Chris was not bullied because of his sexuality, he wasn’t out at the time, he was bullied because he was different. He was very foccused on what he liked and worked hard and there’s not a worse time to be that than in HS. He do has mentioned to be called the “f” word but he has explained everyone was called that and if by any chance he got it worse than most I bet it was because of his voice. HS kids are specially mean towards what they deem different characteristics.
Other than that I hope in the future there comes a truce between them too. I’m not sorry to say I’m totally on Chris’ side on this because even if he is now famous that doesn’t mean he has to forget and forgive like they’ve made us believe on Glee because remembering is a reminder that such conducts affect people and are not to be taken as “normal” and taken lightly. I do believe he has the right to still be a little burned because it was years of that kind of treatment and everyone has a process of coming to terms with it but it’s heartwarming to read that, like you say, there are more people like him in that area that appreciate what he is doing and that are kindred to his experience in a way or another.
I have seen the film, I have met Chris (I don’t know him well or anything) and I have seen many interviews. Has he ripped on Fresno/Clovis – yes, but he has also spoken positively about growing up there (as evidenced in the video above). I was there at the Apple panel talk, but wasn’t the one that filmed it. The film is extremely well-written and is not just Carson’s story, but a story of many students that feel on the outside.
As for Chris not attending because he was filming, that is absolutely true and to somehow cast doubt about it is rude. He’s filming again tonight. In the past year, there have been a few occasions in which he was filming until 1 or 2am on location. Cast members have missed many events due to filming.
Damn, I’m headed to Reel Pride tomorrow but if I had seen this was playing I would have skipped my class to go see it. Thanks for the insightful info. Hopefully I’ll get another chance to see it later.
PS Great to see your voice on here in something besides Daily D
Hi, Chris Colfer fans. A few things:
I think Chris Colfer is great. I liked “Struck By Lightning,” I love “Glee,” and I am incredibly impressed at Chris’s accomplishments; even more impressed considering his age and that he came from the same small town I did: Clovis, CA.
This article is one person’s opinion based on what I’ve seen of Colfer. I clearly don’t study him as closely as some of you do, so my impressions are those of the casual observer’s. You are absolutely free to disagree with me, and free to point out things I may not have seen.
You are not free to abuse other commenters. You are not free to call others names. I realize that a comment in this post refers to Chris Colfer as an “ass.” That probably should not have been published, and I assure you that any comment from here on out calling anyone a name, or insulting them in any way because they do not agree with you, will not be published, so don’t waste your time.
Thanks for stopping by The Full Moxie. If you want to continue to love on Chris Colfer, please feel free.
PS. The person named Jenn O. who commented is a real person, not the made-up alias of someone named Kerrie. She has written for our site before, and is someone we know who lives in our area. She has not made death threats against Chris Colfer, so please simmer down.
The fact that you’re keeping up a comment made by someone who makes death threats against Colfer is seriously wrong.
I don’t expect you to publish this comment. I’m only making it for you to read.
The woman calling herself “JeanO” is actually a woman named Kerrie Manley from Ireland. She’s on a watch list for Colfer’s management people for sending death threats. When you publish her comments you encourage her behavior.
Please remove her comment.
Dear anon: Please read my above comment regarding commenter Jenn O.
While I’m not sure I want to get involved here, I feel compelled to say that whatever reasoning behind why Chris was bullied does not matter. No reason can justify being treated as horribly as he appears to have been. I had a very good male friend in high school who was constantly harassed, called names and threatened because he had some feminine qualities, including a higher voice and smaller body. He was not out at the time, but this did not stop him from being bullied “for being gay”, called the f-word, etc. I don’t blame Chris one bit for talking about his awful experiences in his hometown.
I did not at all get the impression that Heather was skeptical about Chris having a Glee conflict making it not possible for him to appear personally, nor did I think she was snide about his film, relationship to his hometown, etc. I took away from this that she thought if he had been there to see the positive reaction of those in the audience, it might have made him feel better now to have some new, good memories in his hometown.
I wish I had been there to see it, and see how the audience reacted to it. Anyone who doesn’t know Chris personally (and I do not) and is calling him names, saying mean things about him, etc. seems to me to be speaking only from a point of personal opinion/bias and not on facts.
Shauna, I’m so glad you decided to post your comment. Those were all great points and good to hear. Thanks!
Hey whoa! I didn’t make any death threats!