Glee and the Problem of Excessive Happiness
The moral case for not trying to be happy at every waking moment.
Everyone wants to be happy.
It's why so many people talk about how they want you to be happy. Whether it's during a break up or your parents wanting the best for you. Usually the word people use for what they want is happiness. People talk about the idea of happily ever after and the way in which laughter makes you happy in one way or another. It even gets associated with death. We talk about the idea of wanting to die happy. More often than not surrounded by family members who will carry on your legacy and remember you for years to come. All of it is associated with happiness that people are so desperate to feel. There are endless number of songs about the concept of being happy. Ones that tend to make people happy.
Singing is something that pretty much everyone does when they're happy. They're often caught humming a happy tune without even noticing. It's very hard to feel anything other than a sense of joy and satisfaction when you sing a song. Although there are songs which are associated with sadness and anger, the end result tends to be happiness on the part of those singing it. In large part because those other emotions get worn out and they give you a reason to let them go. Which ends up in nothing but a sense of happiness. Even people who aren't necessarily singing but are just listening can feel good when a good song comes on.
The problem is that you can't be happy all the time. No matter how much you try, happiness can end up being temporary. You have to come down eventually from the high that you're on. So you have to keep pursuing more and more happiness in order to feel the same amount of happiness. Keep meeting new people who give you a sense of fun. Creating new songs to sing. This insane need never stops. You have to go harder and reach new heights. Going this far can lead you down a dark path just to have something that might be happiness, but ultimately ends up being temporary.
Glee is all about the problem of excessive happiness. Rachel Berry, as played brilliantly by Lea Michele, is in constant search of being happy. She feels as though she has found it in the idea of singing songs because of her incredible voice. Yet this need to feel happiness through song also has downsides. She needs other people to praise her for the joy she brings to others. It makes her not the nicest person to be around. Although the people around her aren't the nicest either. They are good at singing too, some even better than Rachel herself. They can bring joy to others and feel like they should get the same kind of positive reaction. But none of them actually manage to find it.
Despite how happy they can make other people, it's always temporary.
Do yourself a favour and explore the problem of excessive happiness by checking out Glee as soon as you can.
Watch Glee on Disney Plus as well as Hulu and Amazon Prime.
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