Ask a crazy Brittanalyst, get a crazy answer: Part XV

So I guess I have a lot of opinions feelings today. What else is new, though?

1. Hey, Anon!

The wonderful thing about Santana Lopez is that she is a dynamic character, which means that she changes, and, thankfully, progresses. I don’t like seeing Santana act unduly cruel, either—though I do like her as a snarky “majestic mean girl,” same as the next fan—so I take comfort in the fact that even though Santana may have screwed up this week, there is a possibility that she will eventually see the error in her ways.

Case in point? See Season One. Santana herself admits during 1x22 that, at the beginning of the year, she “hated everyone in [glee] club,” but she eventually learns to love New Directions, to the point where glee becomes the “best part of [her] day, okay?”

This proves that Santana can change, given the proper motivation.

And Santana has made some progress towards becoming nicer, albeit mostly towards people she views as non-threats to her and in situations she feels invite niceness, as we see in 2x21, where she solicits compliments to Kurt, Rachel, and Mercedes for their audition performances, but only after Mr. Schue “makes it okay” for her to do so by cancelling the solo competition altogether.

Unfortunately, Santana still has a tendency to lash out at anyone whom she believes has taken or would take something which rightfully belongs to her, as we see when she attacks Mercedes for “stealing Puck” from her in 1x18, Quinn for “stealing the Cheerios captaincy” from her in 2x01, and Lauren for “stealing Puck” from her in 2x12. This is also the same reason why she goes after Rory in 3x04: because he’s trying to steal her girlfriend away from her, never mind that he does so largely unwittingly.

Suffice it to say, then, that while Santana has made some gains towards “embracing all the awesomeness” that she is, she still has a ways to go before she shows everyone that she is indeed a good person, just like Brittany purports that she is.

Since Santana exists in a television universe and the season is only so long, it may well take a major event or catastrophe in Santana’s life, such as her becoming the victim of bullying after she gets outed, to motivate her to change. Nevertheless, since Brittany believes that Santana can do it and Brittany knows Santana better than anyone, I tend to believe that she can do so, too.

As for the Facebook hate, Roch makes an excellent point about how, in the eyes of the casual viewer, Santana is “just a bitch,” just like Brittany is “just a dumb blonde.” As Roch says, “We as Brittana shippers have looked deeply enough to know that there’s more to our girls than meets the eye,” but, really, we’re in the minority on this one. Accordingly, it only makes sense that Santana takes heat on casual fan sites—like Facebook—whenever she does something especially mean.

Until casual viewers change their overall readings on Santana, you will probably continue to see her “take heat” on fan sites and groups outside of Tumblr, and those casual viewers won’t change their readings on Santana until Santana proves she is “penitent” and makes a consistent change in her behavior. In order for that to happen on the show, RIB need to fully commit to making Santana a protagonist, as opposed to just an occasional antiheroine and meanwhile villain.

Of course, Santana will never become a “nice girl” or lose her edge entirely; part of what makes Santana Santana is her snark and bitchiness, and RIB are well aware of the fact that Naya’s best comedy moments involve her spouting off outrageous litanies of insults, just as HeMo’s best comedy involves deadpan one-liners. Accordingly, RIB will have to find some way to balance “majestic mean girl” Santana with the Santana who has a heart of gold so that casual viewers can continue to enjoy her comedy while at the same time feeling sympathy for her as a character fallen from grace.

Anyway, I’m blathering now.

Take comfort in the fact that Santana can change, Anon. Also, take comfort in the fact that, if the spoilers for 3x06 and 3x07 hold true, Santana is due to experience just the sort of life-altering events which might cause her to question her nastiness towards others and make some changes in how she approaches her life.

“Everyone thinks she’s a bad person, but she’s not.”

Thanks for writing in!

2. Hey, Anon!

 So Brittany is a mean girl, just like Santana is a mean girl. They’ve both made their careers on it. They wouldn’t be Sue’s top Cheerios bitches if they weren’t.

While fanon loves to imagine that Brittany doesn’t have a mean bone in her body and would never intentionally hurt anyone, this isn’t the case, and especially not when it comes to one Ms. Rachel Berry. For whatever reason, Brittany has something against Rachel; simply put, she can’t stand her. If you look for it, instances of Pieberry aggression exist from the very beginning of the show (see here)—and not just from Brittany’s side of things, but from Rachel’s, as well.

For as much as Brittany apparently dislikes Rachel, Rachel seemingly dislikes Brittany equally, or at least looks down on her as much.

As preface to my further remarks, I will therefore say this: being mean to someone else is never cool, no matter who you are or why you do it. It’s as wrong for Brittany to act mean as it is for Rachel to act mean as it is for Santana to act mean, or for anyone else to do so, for that matter.

So.

That being said, I take exception to the idea that Brittany’s behavior towards Rachel in 2x13 somehow equates to Santana’s behavior towards Rory in 3x04, as I find the two situations entirely different. 

Honestly? The thing that makes Santana’s behavior so out of line in 3x04, as I see it, is the language that Santana uses to confront Rory, specifically, as it devalues Rory as a human being.

Frankly, I don’t fault Santana for telling the boy who spent the whole episode trying to bamboozle his way into her girlfriend’s pants to back off. Rather, what I dislike is her choice of phrasing—i.e., “Would you do this whole school a favor and just disappear?”—as that language in particular takes the problem out of the realm of Santana coming into conflict with Rory on a personal level and into Santana devaluing Rory in a larger social context.

Characters are allowed to come into conflict with other characters—not everyone gets along all the time, after all, and especially in cases involving conflicting interests—but what characters are not allowed to do, or at least oughtn’t do on an ethical level, is devalue other characters through their language, physical behavior, or interactions with others.

Accordingly, when Santana tells Rory that not only she, but the whole school, wishes that he would disappear, she crosses a line. 

That being said, I categorize Brittany’s behavior towards Rachel in “Comeback” as fundamentally different from what Santana says to Rory in “Pot O’ Gold,” simply because, in Brittany’s case, her aggression towards Rachel constitutes conflict as opposed to devaluation, albeit on a passive or submerged level.

Ultimately, Brittany’s sneaky!Brittany behavior in 2x13 counts as retaliation for Rachel repeatedly belittling both Brittany and Santana over a period of time, including during the incidence in question. Said behavior annoys and frustrates Rachel, yes, and does deprive her of some spending money, but it doesn’t call her worth as a human being into question, and particularly as the “conflict” stays entirely between Rachel and Brittany in this case; it doesn’t involve the whole school or even a part of it.

While what Brittany says to Rachel at the end of the episode is harsh, it isn’t on the same level as telling Rachel that she should just “disappear” because everyone hates her.

Harshness is always not the same thing as cruelty. 

Of course, Rachel’s meanness to Brittany doesn’t justify Brittany’s meanness to Rachel, but it does put Brittany’s behavior out of the realm of “cruelty,” as I see it. Really, all Brittany does in 2x13 is capitalize on the fact that Rachel thinks she’s stupid, weaseling Rachel out of a few dollars; she doesn’t disparage Rachel’s value as a human being.

Ultimately, the way that Brittany treats Rachel on a whole isn’t nice, and, in the best of all possible worlds, Brittany would apologize for her behavior towards Rachel just as Rachel would apologize for her behavior towards Brittany, but what Brittany does to Rachel doesn’t cross lines of human decency. 

Like I said, I disapprove of cruelty and do not condone Brittany exacting vengeance on persons whom she feels have wronged her, but I want to clarify that I don’t think that her behavior towards Rachel equates to Santana’s behavior towards Rory.

Anyway, jabbering now.

“I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school. I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy,” right?

Thanks for writing in!

3. Hey, Anon!

At this point, we know Brittana won’t kiss in 3x05.

Hell, from the sounds of it, they don’t even really talk to each other on camera.

However, I think we have every reason to hope for a kiss if not in 3x06, then in 3x07, as, simply put, RIB cannot justify having an episode entitled “I Kissed a Girl” which revolves around two girls who are in love whom the audience have never actually seen kiss.

Ideally, I would like to see Brittana kiss in 3x06 before all the drama unfolds, as it would be nice for them to have at least one happy moment as a couple before everything goes to hell around them, in terms of Santana’s rumored public outing. I would then like to see a second kiss in 3x07, in order to justify the episode’s title, and perhaps to show their continued commitment to each other, even in the face of their opposition.

Of course, I know that there’s no way we’ll get two kisses in before 3x07, so I’m betting that the kiss will come in 3x07, at the peak of the drama.

After all, RIB have certainly teased this kiss long enough that they have to either go big or go home with it.

And if RIB wait too much longer beyond 3x07, they get into “unfulfillable hype” territory. 

I’m hopeful our girls will get their kiss SOON (see here). In the meantime, keep calm and ship on; also, rewatch the Dublin kiss like your life depends on it!

Thanks for writing in!

4. Hey, Anon!

Short answer? Yes, I find it extremely problematic.

Long answer?

As Roch keeps saying, “There’s representation and then there’s how you handle representation” (see here).

While RIB have ostensibly committed to depicting a female homosexual relationship on their show and to promoting lesbian and female bisexual visibility through Santana and Brittany’s individual storylines, they still haven’t given themselves over to fully representing female queer sexuality on the show, insofar as they have not, to date, allowed Brittana to function as the couple that they are onscreen.

Though RIB permit Brittana to make frequent references to their sex life—more so than any other teenage couple on the show, really—they still won’t afford Brittana the little things that “qualify” the other couples on the show, including both the heterosexual and gay male pairings, as couples in the eyes of casual viewers, such as showing these couples kissing, holding hands in public, giving each other flowers, sharing cute “out of school” moments together, etc.

And until RIB do that—i.e., until they show Brittana actually being together instead of just alluding to their off-camera activities—they’re essentially treating Brittana as separate or different from every other romantic pairing on the show.

And we all know that “separate but equal” is bullshit.

So.

At this point, it makes sense to have Brittana “under the napkin” within the universe of the show; Santana still isn’t ready to come out of her own volition, so until everything goes to hell for her in 3x06, it makes sense that she would not participate in any overt acts of sensuality or romance with Brittany in public.

However, the beautiful thing about the medium of the television show is that it can make things which are private within the universe of the show public, which is to say that even though Santana won’t yet freely kiss Brittany in the hallways of McKinley or at BreadStiX, we, as the viewing audience, could still potentially see her kissing Brittany at home or in the privacy of a locked car or under the bleachers or in any number of secluded places IF the writers were only willing to make those activities known to us.

Like I say above, I expect we’ll see a kiss by 3x07. But, if not? We need to start making noise about this. Hell, we’re already making noise about this, as well we should.

Brittana are the single most committed and loving couple on the show. They’re canon now. They’re emotionally married.

They need a kiss.

And, what’s more?

They need “moments.” I want to see them kissing each other on the cheeks during musical numbers. I want to see them getting coffee together. I want to see them sitting in cars together, talking about the future. I want them to go to prom as a couple. I want to see them cuddling.

They don’t have to be like Tike, Finchel, Klaine, etc., but they do have to be exactly like Brittana. I already believe that these two girls love each other more than anything else in the whole world—now I want to see them loving each other on my screen.

Any other couple who have been together for two plus years, enjoy a healthy sex life, and who have been through as much as Brittana have been through together would have kissed onscreen by now.

They love their sweet lady kisses, so let’s see it, RIB.

Make good on your promise to give credit to this journey. Bring on a Brittana kiss; bring on more Brittana moments.

/steps down from soapbox.

Thanks for writing in, Anon!

5. Hey!

So I totally think we see Brittana adopting each other’s mannerisms, at least to some extent.

Like you mention, Brittany’s body language before she pwns Finn calls to mind Santana’s body language from “Silly Love Songs.” Likewise, one could view Brittany’s “thug” act from 3x03 as complimentary to Santana’s usual Lima Heights Adjacent front (“‘Cause I intend on, you know, dancin’ my way into the voters’ hearts”). Others have already pointed out that they hold the straps on their backpacks the same way.

And then there are the little gestures they only use with each other: the pinky-linking, the elbow-knocking, those sweet little smiles meant for no one else but them. Santana’s voice even sounds different when she talks to Brittany, with none of her usual edge or bite.

Anyway, suffice it to say, our girls are adorable, and one day, many years from now, they’re going to be that old married couple who finish each other’s sentences and are so wrapped up in each other that you can’t really tell where the one of them ends and the other begins.

Feelings.

Ahem.

Thanks for writing in, everyone! I appreciate the questions.