Ask a Crazy Brittanalyst, get a crazy answer: Part XXVII

I got some awesome Anon questions—and I got totally carried away in answering them, as usual.

1. Hey, Anon!

I’m glad you like both the tags and the fic. I have an irrational amount of feelings concerning my OTP, both as gangstas and circus folk, apparently.

Thanks for writing in!

2. Hey, Anon!

First of all, thank you for your kind words! I’m glad you like my blog.

Secondly, in response to your question: Brittany’s always had a fun, quirky fashion sense. She likes having festive headgear and cool accessories.

Honestly, I don’t know exactly why the costume department dressed Brittany as they did for the Sugar Shack scene, but I do think it probably has something to do wanting Brittany’s light-colored, eclectic outfit to compliment Santana’s dark-colored, classic outfit, as well as with showing off Brittany’s funky wardrobe, which we don’t get to see very often with her back on the Cheerios this season.

Additionally, many of the outfits the glee kids wear at the Sugar Shack feature “throwback” fashions (e.g., Blaine, Santana, Kurt, Sam, Brittany, Quinn, Rory, etc., all wear retro looks). In keeping with the governing theme for the evening, Brittany’s headscarf is a throwback to 1950s fashion, as is the cut of Santana’s dress. 

Fun 3x13 Brittana Wardrobe Fact: Both Santana and Brittany wear Betsey Johnson dresses to the Sugar Shack (see here and here). Awesome girlfriends go shopping together FTW?

EDIT: My darling Tess informs me that fans have noted that Brittany’s outfit is also a direct reference to feminist icon Rosie the Riveter’s style (see here)—fitting, considering Brittana’s pro woman stance throughout the episode.

Thanks for writing in!

3. Hey, Anon!

Honestly, I don’t think we’ll see that happen.

Again, the basic rule for relationships on Glee is this: main characters do not leave other main character love interests to date recurring guest or minor characters.

Rachel only ever went from being single to dating Jesse. She never left Finn to be with Jesse.

The writers won’t have Brittany or Santana leave one another to date a minor character—it just won’t happen.

Fans always imagine complicated scenarios that will never play out on the show. The writers will always go for simpler solutions than fans will, narratively speaking, because whereas fans can afford to “specialize in” and obsess over the details of a certain pairing, the writers have to cater to the lowest common denominator—namely, the casual viewer.

Having a main character stray from an established romantic relationship with another main character—in whom the casual audience feels invested—in order to pursue a new romantic relationship with a minor character—in whom the casual audience doesn’t feel invested—destroys the credibility of the original relationship and renders it not viable.

Simply put, if Brittany or Santana ever were to leave each other to pursue a minor character or recurring guest character, it would destroy Brittana because casual viewers would see such a development as proof that Brittany and Santana don’t really love each other and that their bond is weak. It would essentially mean that Brittana could not be endgame.

Of course, main characters will sometimes leave other main characters to pursue romantic relationships with yet another main character—i.e., Finn will leave Quinn to be with Rachel—but, as I’ve discussed elsewhere, this won’t happen with Brittana. The fact is that Brittana is endgame if for no other reason than that Brittany is the only other main character whose sexual orientation is compatible with Santana’s, as currently established in canon.

There is literally no one else for them.

Even with RIB and Co. introducing new characters throughout this season, none of these new characters qualify as “main characters” yet and they won’t for the duration of the year.

Brittany and Santana won’t leave each other to pursue a “Jesse”—it just won’t happen.

It would destroy their narrative viability as a couple.

Thanks for writing in!

4. Glad you loved it, Anon!

5. Hey, Anon!

So, like you say, we don’t have any evidence as to when exactly Brittana officially become a couple following Brittany’s break up with Artie near the end of Season Two. All we know is that, come Season Three, Brittany and Santana begin the year dating-without-calling-it-dating and officially become girlfriends in 3x04, though they don’t come out as a couple until the events of 3x06 and 3x07 take place.

I think it’s important to keep in mind that the main thing preventing Brittana from dating prior to the Back Six of Season Two is Brittany’s relationship with Artie. I don’t think Brittana start sleeping together prior to 2x19, then, following the Hurt Locker.

As for Santana’s emotional “readiness” after that point, I honestly don’t think Brittany keeps a checklist of ways in which Santana has to prove to her that her self-esteem is high enough for them to have a relationship. Really, I think things are probably messy and undefined between them for a while, with every success—e.g., “Songbird”—followed by a setback—i.e., the Revert Locker.

My own headcanon for their relationship during this time period comes entirely from Lauren’s stories (see here and here): I think that Brittana first sleep together following the Hurt Locker sometime circa the events of 2x19, but then Santana’s gay panic following “Songbird” and surrounding the Revert Locker forestalls further relations between them until sometime between 2x20 and 2x21. I am almost one-hundred percent positive that by the events of 2x22, Brittana have resumed a regular sexual relationship, but have yet to really clarify the exact nature of their relationship, which is why we see Santana ask Brittany about their future together during the Heart Locker scene.

From there, I tend to believe that Brittana spend their summer dating-without-calling-it-dating. Brittany likely knows that they’re dating the whole time but waits for Santana to be the one to broach the topic between them come November and 3x04, largely because the events of the Back Six last year teach Brittany that Santana needs to take things at her own pace.

On the whole, Santana’s process of learning to accept herself and get comfortable in her own skin isn’t something that happens all at once; honestly, it is still ongoing, even now. Really, I don’t think Santana could have developed to the point that she has to date without being with Brittany; for as much as both girls needed to work on themselves as individuals for a while—which is what we saw from them during the Back Six of Season Two—they also needed to work on being together—which is what we saw during the first seven episodes of Season Three.

In my opinion, we see Santana make a ton of progress towards accepting herself between episodes 2x18 and 2x22 of Season Two. Yes, she does take some major back steps during that period—e.g., the Revert Locker—but she also makes some awesome progress towards accepting herself and making herself emotionally available to Brittany.

Since I doubt that Glee will ever clarify the timeline for Brittana getting together, to each shipper her own headcanon on this one.

Sorry I can’t be more specific.

Thanks for writing in!

6. Hey, Anon!

Of course I believe that Brittana love each other on the show as much as they do in fanfiction! I believe that more than anything.

The beauty of Brittana’s love is that it’s not just in the writing of the show or just in HeYa’s acting or in the songs Brittana sing to each other or in the scenes they share together—it’s in all of those things, it’s everywhere. 

It’s in all this:

“… but, still, I have to accept that I love you. I love you and I don’t want to be with Sam or Finn or any of those other guys. I just want you. Please say you love me back. Please.”

“Of course I love you! I do!”

“I’m so yours. Proudly so.”

“Clearly you don’t love you as much as I do…”

“I love you, I love you, I love you like never before.”

“I’ll ask you out to prom and I’ll tell you how I feel. All you have to do is say yes.”

“… because I voted for you and because I believe in you, Santana.”

“I love you, Santana. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone else in this world.”

“You’re my best friend”

“There’s no one like you. You’re a genius, Brittany. You are the unicorn.”

“I wish you’d hold my hand.”

“She’s beautiful, she’s innocent, she’s everything that’s good in this miserable, stinking world.”

“When I’m with Brittany, I finally understand what people are talking about when they talk about love.”

“It’s a playlist with all the songs that I hear in my head when I’m with you or when I’m thinking about you.”

But it’s also in this all of this, too:

The only difference between how Brittany and Santana love each other in fanfiction and how they love each other on the show is that, in fanfiction, we get to focus solely on Brittana, whereas on the show their story is just one of many.

I see incredible love in everything these girls do concerning each other on the show. They are ridiculously, hopelessly, helplessly, wonderfully, over-the-moon in love with each other. The fanfiction we write just reflects what we see on our screens.

Trust me, Anon, these girls love each other more than anything. I promise.

Thanks for writing in!

7. Hey, Anon!

I love about a million and a half things about Brittana and I fixate on different things I love about them all the time, but here’s the most recent list of things I love about Brittana:

5) I love how much fun they have together.

I love that Santana Lopez the HBIC Cheerio captain and Brittany Pierce the senior class president and most popular girl in school are total and complete goons around each other.

They dance like dorks both for and with each other and smile like goobers whenever they share the same space. Brittany constantly cracks these little jokes for Santana’s benefit and Santana flirts with Brittany like she can do nothing else.

The way they smile when they’re alone together, when it’s just them and they can be as ridiculous and soppy and careless as they want? That is one of the number one reasons why I ship Brittana.

There’s this poem that I really like—the whole thing reminds me of Brittana—and it has this part that says

I like you because… I don’t know why
but everything that happens is nicer with you.
I can’t remember when I didn’t like you.
It must have been lonesome then.
I like you because because because—

To me? That’s Brittana right there:

“Everything that happens is nicer with you.”

Everything and anything they do together automatically becomes a million times better for them. They have so much fun together. They are best friends who love each other more than anything in the world. How could I not ship that?

4) I love the gratitude in their relationship.

Brittana don’t have to say all their little Thank you’s and You’re welcome’s to each other, but somehow they always do. 

Brittany thanks Santana for understanding when Santana defends her against Kurt in 2x02. Brittana thank each other kindly in turn when they embrace one another after “Landslide” and then Santana thanks Brittany again for singing with her at the Hurt Locker. After Santana sings “Constant Craving” in 3x07, Brittany tells Santana the song was beautiful and Santana thanks Brittany for saying so as they hug. In 3x13, Santana thanks Brittany for the making their infinite playlist and Brittany thanks Santana for dedicating “Cherish/Cherish” to her at the dance.

Gratitude is one of the foundations to a strong and lasting relationship.

It just blows me away how thankful Brittana are just to have one another—like they just can’t believe how lucky they are to be together. Brittana’s little thank you’s to each other are just another one of the one bijillion things I love about their relationship. They show a depth and maturity that’s rare in any relationship, let alone a high school romance. Their own love is so precious to them. There is such intimacy in their graciousness towards one another.

3) I love that they believe in each other even when no one else does.

Everybody thinks that Santana Lopez is a bad person except for Brittany Pierce, who not only thinks that Santana is a good person, but thinks that Santana is the best person. Everyone thinks that Brittany Pierce is stupid and worthless because she’s promiscuous, but Santana Lopez knows that Brittany is a genius and that Brittany is everything that’s good in this miserable, stinking world.

They cherish one another and believe in each other when no one else will.

When the world tells Santana that she’s mean and unlovable, Brittany tells Santana that she is awesome and that Brittany loves her more than anything. When the world tells Brittany that she isn’t capable of doing anything meaningful, Santana tells Brittany that she’s the unicorn and that her ideas are wonderful. 

The encouragement they offer each other isn’t just lip service or platitudes on their parts, either: Santana honestly believes that Brittany is the smartest, most incredible person that she has ever met; you can tell by the way that Santana trusts her life to Brittany’s advice and looks to Brittany for answers when Santana herself sometimes can’t even figure out the questions that Santana not only believes in Brittany’s wisdom, but counts on it. Likewise, Brittany knows, knows, knows that despite what everyone says, Santana is the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful human being on the face of the planet; she delights in Santana’s awesomeness and defends Santana’s character when others misjudge Santana.

Even before they learned to believe in themselves, they believed in each other more than anything. Now they believe in themselves and believe in each other and believe in their love.

And because of that?

“Anything is possible.”

2) I love that, no matter what, Brittana never give up on each other.

Our poor, brave Baby Girls have been through so much with each other and for each other: gay panicking, dating other people, cheating, keeping secrets, heartbreak, uncertainty, losses, setbacks, confusion, hurt, a very public outing, a very private disowning, others not believing in them, others disrespecting and hurting them, and even the damn whole world telling them that they shouldn’t love each other or be together, really. 

That’s more pressure than most couples deal with in a whole lifetime.

And they’re still just kids.

Through it all, our girls make a lot of mistakes. Sometimes they behave very badly. Sometimes they take wrong turns. Honestly, they hurt each other a lot during Seasons One and Two.

But, in the end? They’re always, always still for each other. They will always try to find each other and they never give up because to them their love is worth everything—all the shit that they have to go through is worth is because they love one another so much.

It all comes down to this: “I just want you.”

It probably would have been easier for them to just give up at times, but Brittana know what Vergil knows:

Omnia vincit amor, et nos cedamus amori. 

1) I love Brittana’s love.

So I’m totally cheating with this one because it’s a catchall, but I don’t care: I love Brittana’s love, just everything about it.

I love how sweet they are to each other—the infinite playlists and cute mouse voices and Lord Tubbington doodles passed between lockers.

I love that they can be serious with each other when they need to be serious and jokey when they need to be jokey.

I love that they make each other smile so much; I love that Santana totally has a Brittany-smile and Brittany totally has a Santana-smile, too.

I love that they’re so tender with one another in the way they hold hands and cuddle. I love that they’re so physical with one another.

I love that they keep each other’s secrets.

I love that they speak each other’s language—that Santana gets Brittany’s Brittanyisms and Brittany understands Santana’s snark.

I love that they make each other so damn happy.

I love that they’re fucking goobers together.

I love their locker conversations, their friendship bracelets, their pinky-linking, their sweet lady kisses, and their adorable height difference.

I love how much they trust one another and that you can see that trust in their kisses and the way they interact with each other.

I love that they comfort each other.

I love that they’re in love.

I suppose that all this is to say that it’s impossible for me to pick just five top things to love about Brittana. I mostly just love them because they love each other. Theirs is the most beautiful love story I’ve ever seen.

Brittana is Love.

I’ll ship them forever.

Thanks for writing in!