In The Girl from Plainville, the popular mid-2010s teen drama Glee is a massive part of Michelle Carter's character. The juxtaposition of an upbeat family musical television series compared to the foreboding faith in Michelle's future might seem like an odd pairing, but it is actually very significant. Michelle's obsession with Glee becomes more evident throughout the miniseries, and the reasoning behind it is troubling.
Michelle's fixation with Glee is first shown at the end of The Girl From Plainville episode 1, "Star-Crossed Lovers and Things Like That." Specifically, The Girl from Plainville references Glee season 5, episode 3, "The Quarterback," which revolves around Lea Michele's character, Rachel Berry, paying tribute to Finn — played by Cory Monteith, who was both Michele's real-life and on-screen boyfriend. After Monteith's untimely death in 2013, Michele got an outpouring of love. The connection between Lea Michele and Michelle Carter is more profound than one might think and is very disturbing.
Michelle's obsession with Glee is shown in small instances in The Girl from Plainville, including snippets of her singing songs from the show in the car, and episodes of the show playing in the background. The documentary I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth V. Michelle Carter delves deeper into Michelle's obsession with Glee. The journalist Jesse Barron discusses how Michelle Carter's idolization of Lea Michele went from a love of fiction to something much deeper. When going through the several text exchanges between Carter and boyfriend Conrad Roy regarding his eventual suicide, Barron saw a constant use of quotes from young adult shows and books, specifically Glee and The Fault in Our Stars, highlighting Carter's obsession with fiction and her apparent disconnection from reality.
The documentary's director, Erin Lee Carter, believes that when Michelle Carter saw the utmost love and care that went out to Lea Michele after Cory Monteith's death, she wanted to make it an authentic experience and receive the same amount of attention. The director claims (via. USA Today), "When Lea Michele's boyfriend died, she was able to grieve, and everybody looked up to her and said, 'You're doing such a good job.' Potentially, I'm not certain, but what if Michelle Carter was like, 'Maybe that could be me.'" If true, this would demonstrate the potential way that fiction can warp a troubled teenager's mind, which is very concerning.
The Girl from Plainville goes into Michelle's life before Conrad's death and her subsequent arrest in connection with the suicide, and in these scenes she is depicted as being shy, reserved, and a bit of a pushover. What changed in the real Michelle Carter will never make sense, but it's intriguing to try to see what went wrong. No one but Michelle herself will ever truly know what drove a 17-year-old seemingly innocent girl to convince her boyfriend to take his own life, but her obsession with a fictional series should be looked into more.
The Girl from Plainville releases new episodes Tuesdays on Hulu.