GLEE Celebrates Date Rape

I’m not going to explain this first statement, just leave it be….  This afternoon I was catching up on my Glee songs on Youtube.  I saw the clip for “Baby Its Cold Outside,” and gave it a listen.  I’m a big Dean Martin fan, and I have his version on my iphone.  For whatever reason, I guess I paid more attention to the lyrics this time around on the Glee version. Make no mistake, this song is about creepy date rape.  The traditional female role (seated Glee boy) is saying I have to go, no, I have to go, no, I have to go.  The traditional male role (standing Glee boy) is continually playing psychological games and is not taking no for an answer.  The real devious shit, however, comes in at the end of the first verse and the beginning of the second.

So really I’d better scurry - Beautiful, please don’t hurry Well maybe just a half a drink more - Put some music on while I pour

The neighbors might think - Baby, it’s bad out there Say, what’s in this drink - No cabs to be had out there I wish I knew how - Your eyes are like starlight To break the spell - I’ll take your hat, your hair looks swell I ought to say no, no, no, sir - Mind if I move closer

So in the midst of her saying no.  He distracts her by having her put on music.  He drops a roofie in her drink.  She tastes something funny in her cocktail and then is under some sort of spell that is making her not be able to think straight.  Meanwhile the predator continues to advance.  The song is supposed to come off romantic, but it think about the circumstances referenced in the lyrics.  This girl clearly lives at home (father is pacing, mother is worrying, sister is suspicious, brother is waiting at the door).  My guess is that the girl snuck out of the house to see her older boyfriend.  She confided in her brother who is now worried.  She did not confide in her sister, but the sister is getting suspicious by the fact that their brother is waiting at the door anxiously.  I’d put the girl at 16 and the guy in his mid-twenties.  I’m thinking this is a prelude to not just rape, but statutory rape.  Probably Christmas Eve statutory rape.  Baby It’s Cold Outside shouldn’t be a Christmas standard; it gives me the willies.

Speaking of date rape, the aforementioned Dean Martin is the king of creepy cinematic date rape.  It really shouldn’t surprise me that he had a hit with this song back in the 60s.  In most of his films that I’ve seen, he just grinds women down with unwanted sexual advances until they cave to his manliness.  Check out HOLLYWOOD OR BUST below.  From 57 seconds to 2:13, he’s all hands, and Pat Crowley wants nothing to do with him.   From 2:14 to 7:14 Jerry Lewis puts a frying pan on his head and gratingly apes for the camera (skip that bit).    Then as if  by magic, Pat Crowley hears the violin strains and melts in Dean Martins arms.

Anyway, gotta get back to my work catching up on Glee.  I can’t help it.  I love that show.