Fandom Buzz Or Overkill?

Yesterday popular gay media websites AfterElton and AfterEllen released their Hot 100 poll for 2011 and to say that Glee dominated the bloody lists is a surprise would be a massive lie. If anything, I would've been horribly shocked if the show hadn't made a dent on either list.

AfterElton really showed their Glee love with 11 members of the male cast (regular, recurring and guest stars) cropping up in the list with the following results ... 1: Darren Criss, 3: Chris Colfer, 7: Jonathan Groff, 12: Cheyenne Jackson, 18: Chord Overstreet, 20: Mark Salling, 23: Cory Monteith, 48: Matthew Morrison, 51: Harry Shum Jr, 64: Max Adler and 90: Kevin McHale and the reactions were pretty interesting to say the least.

AfterEllen also gave much love to the ladies of Glee as well with the following results ... 1: Naya Rivera, 2: Heather Morris, 8: Dianna Agron, 10: Lea Michele and 65: Jane Lynch but the reactions on their site seemed less hostile and that's what I want to talk about - not the results of these polls but the reactions they've generated.

In the last 24 hours, I've seen a lot of criticism flung in Darren Criss's general direction and a lot of people blaming his win on overexcited fan girls. While it's true that women do tend to vote in online polls more voraciously compared to male viewers, I have to ask - what's the big deal?

Polls like this are usually supposed to be harmless fun and while people can have hang ups about Glee til they're blue in the face, the show has become something of an inescapable pop culture phenomenon and while I would've liked to have seen certain men/women fare higher in both of those lists, at the end of the day, they're only lists and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

AfterElton List: http://www.afterelton.com/2011-hot-100-results
AfterEllen List: http://www.afterellen.com/2011-hot-100-results