Mike Chang is a legend. Harry Shum is awesome.
Friday, April 22, 2011
While mopping at work tonight
all I could think about was this.
Mike Chang is a legend. Harry Shum is awesome.
Mike Chang is a legend. Harry Shum is awesome.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thank You
It's always the people you least expect that make the biggest impact.
Everyone's leaving and I feel lonely.
Everyone's leaving and I feel lonely.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Why I love Santana Lopez
In which I practically write an essay in list format about my favorite character from Glee expounding on an opinion about the show often seen as controversial, especially in its early stages, and sprinkle in references of my other two favorite fandoms, Futurama and the X-Men.
When I first started watching this show, Tina Cohen-Chang was my favorite. I understood her. She was a minority, unapologetically different from the others, wasn't exactly known as the most gorgeous of the McKinley girls (though this has absolutely nothing to do with Jenna Ushkowitz's beauty and rather with the way the show chose to portray her), and though I never faked a stutter before, I had definitely done things to actively push people away, especially in high school. And I waited and waited for something substantial to happen with her. It never did. I got disappointed. I lost interest. I'm still disappointed.
I realize now that even back then I had a soft spot in my heart for the resident Latina and by the time Madonna rolled around, actually probably around Sectionals, I knew. And people looked at me questioningly when I said it so early on (The bitch? Really? Why?) though it is quickly becoming a more acceptable opinion, but Santana Lopez was my favorite.
Now, my appreciation for this character is quickly approaching Kif Kroker levels, which is to say everything she does just makes her more awesome. To further explain this, I refer you to the Futurama episode Proposition Infinity in which Bender and Amy campaign to make marriage between robot and human legal. I've been in love with Kif for some time. In fact, his action figure is sitting on my desk staring at me as I type this. (He came with the absolute best accessories ever! I mean come on, a cowboy hat, brain ball, and a framed picture of Amy!) But when Kif broke up with Amy in the first few minutes of the episode I practically fell out of my chair with pride and then 15 minutes later when he showed up on a motorcycle and leather jacket to win her back, well I was just beaming. It is still one of my favorite Kif moments. You see, it doesn't matter what Kif does. Whether he's breaking up with her in one scene or making up with her almost immediately after, every single thing he does just makes me love him more. And I've realized in the past five or so episodes that this is pretty much true for Santana as well, unless of course the writers do something incredibly horrible and out of character with her which let's face it is not all that uncommon of an occurrence. Anyways with regards to this post, half of this list is reasons I love her. The other half is reasons I love her even more. Does that make sense? Let us begin.
1. She's a side character and I tend to have a thing for side characters. Apparently this is because I see myself as a side character in my own life which is depressing as hell but also pretty true. But Santana is a side character that wormed her way up beyond the other characters, grabbed the spotlight and then basked in it. Really, she started off as a Quinn bee minion and as far as I can tell, there was never any intention to build on that. She could've been Matt Rutherford, Terri Schuester, or the football coach whose name eludes me but had a storyline and character development from the get go. When Santana Lopez was created, her purpose was to be in the background and now look at her. She's got one of the biggest storylines currently being explored on the show and her fandom has surely and steadily been growing. And because she worked her way up I feel like she's earned our attention even more so.
2. She keeps it real and she's hilarious. Her words. Not mine. A lot of this has to do with sarcasm and cynicism and I will always be a fan of these things.
3. She reminds me a lot of Monet St. Croix. (See last post.) So much so that I actually called her Monet once.
4. I said once that reaction shots make the show. Well, Santana Lopez makes the reaction shots. And these shots of Naya Rivera's beautiful face especially in all those episodes where she didn't say anything real showed us this was a character worth exploring. Hilarious as several of them are, the other ones show us when she's vulnerable, when she's lying even to herself, and yes, when she's in love with her best friend. She can say something completely harsh and you can tell if she really means it or she's just doing what she's supposed to do. And there are moments when the camera catches her and you think we weren't supposed to notice that. That was a private moment reserved for her alone and she would hate to know that we saw it. I refer you to that moment in Throwdown when Quinn tells Sue about the minority students not being heard or Grilled Cheesus after Brittany's 'heart attacks are just from loving too much.' Her reaction shots defined her character way back in the F13. You always knew there's something more to her. RIB just took what was already there and put words to it.
5. She feels invisible and is oh so afraid of her many many feelings. Who doesn't relate to this? Okay, probably a lot of people. But you know who does? Me! And before her big moment in Sexy, this was all very subtly explored. Constant put-downs and sexual escapades coupled with her little comments here and looks there that betray it all. It makes you wonder if anyone does care about her. At least Tina's parents were friends with her on facebook. Santana's paid for her 'summer surgery.' Sure there's always Brittany, but she took that for granted and after Original Song, is there really Brittany anymore? I like to think she's friendly with Mercedes after Duets and Tina after Trouty Mouth, but there's a big difference between friendly and friends. She's lonely and alone and she wants desperately not to be, but at the same time she's been hurt before and it's kind of safe being where she is with just herself. Compare this to some of the main characters whose conflicts and motivations can be so blatant. How many times had Finn had to choose between Glee and football? How many times has Kurt said he was the only openly gay student at McKinley? Not that there's anything wrong with this, but the way it was done so delicately with Santana just adds so much to her layers. You wonder, does she even know these things about herself? Is she hiding or is she lying? There's so much complexity there. She's like an everlasting gobstopper only the potential is limitless.
6. Girl's not afraid of a fight. And even when she loses horribly, she still wins. Cause that's how they do it in Lima Heights!
7. Her hair. As someone with frizzy hair and lots of it, I've depended heavily on the Goody brand of rubber bands on many a 'harried' day and this unfashionable decision of mine has attracted quite a bit of unwanted derision to a girl with admitted self-esteem issues. And this may seem really superficial but this is important to me because you know what people? Santana Lopez owns that hair and if it's good enough for her than it's damn well good enough for me. You wish you could pull off a ponytail like that.
8. She is an HB but definitely not IC. And that's an interesting character dichotomy to me. You wonder who is holding the reigns. Is it Brittany? Society? Even Puck at times? I wonder sometimes if it used to be Quinn superficially before Babygate came and left this big power vacuum where Quinn used to be, even if it is like a jealousy/ respect thing. Like she followed Quinn around in public because it was easy and inside her mind she was the one using Quinn to get where she wanted. Then Quinn fell from grace and Santana's plans to climb up the social ladder with her get thrown around a bit too and for a moment she questions whether or not she really wants it at all anymore. Then she kind of gets what she always thought she wanted, but not completely. Not like Quinn had. She's still a loser on Glee. She sleeps with Puck when he's obviously thinking about Quinn. And she sleeps with Finn when he's thinking about Rachel for her 'popularity' then never tells anyone about it even though telling people was the point in the first place. Then Quinn comes and knocks her off the top of the pyramid quite literally and quite harshly when Santana totally kept Quinn's pregnancy a secret from their coach a year before. And then Santana just kind of lets it go. It's obviously not Quinn, but I like the idea of a power vacuum and Santana's just struggling to rise above it but not sure if she can.
9. The way she talks. It's like a mix between Guido Carosella and Sal from Futurama only ghetto-fied. I know. More X-men and Futurama references? I warned you. Anyways, my two favorite lines so far? “We'z be goin' to Breadstix,” and of course, “Now, get out of my way please, a-fores I ends you.” And then she starts talking in Spanish when she gets angry. Harry Shum Jr.'s first language was Spanish and I kind of really want that pulled into the Glee universe so the two of them can bond over it. Yay for multiculturalism on my TV!
10. Brittana. There is just so much to be said about this relationship, friendly or otherwise, it really deserves it's own post but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to do it justice.
11. She cries at the drop of a hat. Aside from the wonderful Brittany-comfort-her moments this provides, this really just gives us so much insight into who she is as a character. The hysterical crying is one thing, hilarious and pretty much just a show for those around her, but those moments of genuine crying are kind of shocking and heart warming at the same time. I felt the same way when Tina first cried. Like a little weirded out and surprised but also really happy about it. I don't know. Mostly I remember watching To Sir, With Love on youtube (one of my favorites by the way) and a lot of the comments were about how much more moving the song was after seeing thick skinned I like to pretend I have no emotions Santana Lopez shed some tears over the loss of something she didn't want people to believe she cared about. And I'm inclined to assume most of these people weren't even really fans of the character beyond being fans of the show.
12. She's a mystery. Her father is a doctor yet she comes from Lima Heights which is the wrong side of the tracks but her room and everything she wears kind of imply she is from the righter side of the tracks. This kind of reminds me of back when Brittany didn't have a last name yet and everything she said was so innocent and out there and you wondered how she ever got mixed up with Sue and Quinn and Santana in the first place. I really want to meet the people that brought Santana into this world and then stopped caring about her and the two little brothers she has in my head canon.
13. Naya Rivera's voice. I remember when Like a Virgin came out and I was still struggling to separate their voices and more in awe of everything Santana related that was going on in that episode. I mean, she had lines and characterization and exposure. And then Bad Romance hit and I was hooked. I don't know a lot about music, like at all, but there's something about this voice. It's so vulnerable yet sultry and infectious and classic even, and it sounds nothing like I imagined Santana Lopez's voice would sound like but makes perfect sense with the character nonetheless. I imagined it to be either really strong and dominant or rather forgettable and it wins because it is neither.
So what prospects do we have for Santana's future and how do I feel about them? Well, all this gossip of Santana being a flat out lesbian has me a little on edge. Part of the beauty of Santana and of the Brittana relationship is that it took the better part of two seasons to bloom into what it is now, naturally and in the background. But she has one moment of clarity and confesses her love to her best friend and then she's a lesbian all of a sudden? It could also be that there were so many other ways to go with this, via the bi-sexual, Brittany-sexual, or my favorite no-label routes. Sure, make her a lesbian if you want, but not after what little we've seen of it. It just feels like they'd be forcing something just for the sake of a label, you know? But this is all gossip and internet speculation and I'm still in the middle of my spoiler-free Lent (which is really long). Really, I just want her to be happy. I want her to be important. I want her to have friends and be loved and I want her to stop hiding. Also, I want her to have more solos. And to sing MAPS, the unofficial Brittana theme song.
When I first started watching this show, Tina Cohen-Chang was my favorite. I understood her. She was a minority, unapologetically different from the others, wasn't exactly known as the most gorgeous of the McKinley girls (though this has absolutely nothing to do with Jenna Ushkowitz's beauty and rather with the way the show chose to portray her), and though I never faked a stutter before, I had definitely done things to actively push people away, especially in high school. And I waited and waited for something substantial to happen with her. It never did. I got disappointed. I lost interest. I'm still disappointed.
I realize now that even back then I had a soft spot in my heart for the resident Latina and by the time Madonna rolled around, actually probably around Sectionals, I knew. And people looked at me questioningly when I said it so early on (The bitch? Really? Why?) though it is quickly becoming a more acceptable opinion, but Santana Lopez was my favorite.
Now, my appreciation for this character is quickly approaching Kif Kroker levels, which is to say everything she does just makes her more awesome. To further explain this, I refer you to the Futurama episode Proposition Infinity in which Bender and Amy campaign to make marriage between robot and human legal. I've been in love with Kif for some time. In fact, his action figure is sitting on my desk staring at me as I type this. (He came with the absolute best accessories ever! I mean come on, a cowboy hat, brain ball, and a framed picture of Amy!) But when Kif broke up with Amy in the first few minutes of the episode I practically fell out of my chair with pride and then 15 minutes later when he showed up on a motorcycle and leather jacket to win her back, well I was just beaming. It is still one of my favorite Kif moments. You see, it doesn't matter what Kif does. Whether he's breaking up with her in one scene or making up with her almost immediately after, every single thing he does just makes me love him more. And I've realized in the past five or so episodes that this is pretty much true for Santana as well, unless of course the writers do something incredibly horrible and out of character with her which let's face it is not all that uncommon of an occurrence. Anyways with regards to this post, half of this list is reasons I love her. The other half is reasons I love her even more. Does that make sense? Let us begin.
1. She's a side character and I tend to have a thing for side characters. Apparently this is because I see myself as a side character in my own life which is depressing as hell but also pretty true. But Santana is a side character that wormed her way up beyond the other characters, grabbed the spotlight and then basked in it. Really, she started off as a Quinn bee minion and as far as I can tell, there was never any intention to build on that. She could've been Matt Rutherford, Terri Schuester, or the football coach whose name eludes me but had a storyline and character development from the get go. When Santana Lopez was created, her purpose was to be in the background and now look at her. She's got one of the biggest storylines currently being explored on the show and her fandom has surely and steadily been growing. And because she worked her way up I feel like she's earned our attention even more so.
2. She keeps it real and she's hilarious. Her words. Not mine. A lot of this has to do with sarcasm and cynicism and I will always be a fan of these things.
3. She reminds me a lot of Monet St. Croix. (See last post.) So much so that I actually called her Monet once.
4. I said once that reaction shots make the show. Well, Santana Lopez makes the reaction shots. And these shots of Naya Rivera's beautiful face especially in all those episodes where she didn't say anything real showed us this was a character worth exploring. Hilarious as several of them are, the other ones show us when she's vulnerable, when she's lying even to herself, and yes, when she's in love with her best friend. She can say something completely harsh and you can tell if she really means it or she's just doing what she's supposed to do. And there are moments when the camera catches her and you think we weren't supposed to notice that. That was a private moment reserved for her alone and she would hate to know that we saw it. I refer you to that moment in Throwdown when Quinn tells Sue about the minority students not being heard or Grilled Cheesus after Brittany's 'heart attacks are just from loving too much.' Her reaction shots defined her character way back in the F13. You always knew there's something more to her. RIB just took what was already there and put words to it.
5. She feels invisible and is oh so afraid of her many many feelings. Who doesn't relate to this? Okay, probably a lot of people. But you know who does? Me! And before her big moment in Sexy, this was all very subtly explored. Constant put-downs and sexual escapades coupled with her little comments here and looks there that betray it all. It makes you wonder if anyone does care about her. At least Tina's parents were friends with her on facebook. Santana's paid for her 'summer surgery.' Sure there's always Brittany, but she took that for granted and after Original Song, is there really Brittany anymore? I like to think she's friendly with Mercedes after Duets and Tina after Trouty Mouth, but there's a big difference between friendly and friends. She's lonely and alone and she wants desperately not to be, but at the same time she's been hurt before and it's kind of safe being where she is with just herself. Compare this to some of the main characters whose conflicts and motivations can be so blatant. How many times had Finn had to choose between Glee and football? How many times has Kurt said he was the only openly gay student at McKinley? Not that there's anything wrong with this, but the way it was done so delicately with Santana just adds so much to her layers. You wonder, does she even know these things about herself? Is she hiding or is she lying? There's so much complexity there. She's like an everlasting gobstopper only the potential is limitless.
6. Girl's not afraid of a fight. And even when she loses horribly, she still wins. Cause that's how they do it in Lima Heights!
7. Her hair. As someone with frizzy hair and lots of it, I've depended heavily on the Goody brand of rubber bands on many a 'harried' day and this unfashionable decision of mine has attracted quite a bit of unwanted derision to a girl with admitted self-esteem issues. And this may seem really superficial but this is important to me because you know what people? Santana Lopez owns that hair and if it's good enough for her than it's damn well good enough for me. You wish you could pull off a ponytail like that.
8. She is an HB but definitely not IC. And that's an interesting character dichotomy to me. You wonder who is holding the reigns. Is it Brittany? Society? Even Puck at times? I wonder sometimes if it used to be Quinn superficially before Babygate came and left this big power vacuum where Quinn used to be, even if it is like a jealousy/ respect thing. Like she followed Quinn around in public because it was easy and inside her mind she was the one using Quinn to get where she wanted. Then Quinn fell from grace and Santana's plans to climb up the social ladder with her get thrown around a bit too and for a moment she questions whether or not she really wants it at all anymore. Then she kind of gets what she always thought she wanted, but not completely. Not like Quinn had. She's still a loser on Glee. She sleeps with Puck when he's obviously thinking about Quinn. And she sleeps with Finn when he's thinking about Rachel for her 'popularity' then never tells anyone about it even though telling people was the point in the first place. Then Quinn comes and knocks her off the top of the pyramid quite literally and quite harshly when Santana totally kept Quinn's pregnancy a secret from their coach a year before. And then Santana just kind of lets it go. It's obviously not Quinn, but I like the idea of a power vacuum and Santana's just struggling to rise above it but not sure if she can.
9. The way she talks. It's like a mix between Guido Carosella and Sal from Futurama only ghetto-fied. I know. More X-men and Futurama references? I warned you. Anyways, my two favorite lines so far? “We'z be goin' to Breadstix,” and of course, “Now, get out of my way please, a-fores I ends you.” And then she starts talking in Spanish when she gets angry. Harry Shum Jr.'s first language was Spanish and I kind of really want that pulled into the Glee universe so the two of them can bond over it. Yay for multiculturalism on my TV!
10. Brittana. There is just so much to be said about this relationship, friendly or otherwise, it really deserves it's own post but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to do it justice.
11. She cries at the drop of a hat. Aside from the wonderful Brittany-comfort-her moments this provides, this really just gives us so much insight into who she is as a character. The hysterical crying is one thing, hilarious and pretty much just a show for those around her, but those moments of genuine crying are kind of shocking and heart warming at the same time. I felt the same way when Tina first cried. Like a little weirded out and surprised but also really happy about it. I don't know. Mostly I remember watching To Sir, With Love on youtube (one of my favorites by the way) and a lot of the comments were about how much more moving the song was after seeing thick skinned I like to pretend I have no emotions Santana Lopez shed some tears over the loss of something she didn't want people to believe she cared about. And I'm inclined to assume most of these people weren't even really fans of the character beyond being fans of the show.
12. She's a mystery. Her father is a doctor yet she comes from Lima Heights which is the wrong side of the tracks but her room and everything she wears kind of imply she is from the righter side of the tracks. This kind of reminds me of back when Brittany didn't have a last name yet and everything she said was so innocent and out there and you wondered how she ever got mixed up with Sue and Quinn and Santana in the first place. I really want to meet the people that brought Santana into this world and then stopped caring about her and the two little brothers she has in my head canon.
13. Naya Rivera's voice. I remember when Like a Virgin came out and I was still struggling to separate their voices and more in awe of everything Santana related that was going on in that episode. I mean, she had lines and characterization and exposure. And then Bad Romance hit and I was hooked. I don't know a lot about music, like at all, but there's something about this voice. It's so vulnerable yet sultry and infectious and classic even, and it sounds nothing like I imagined Santana Lopez's voice would sound like but makes perfect sense with the character nonetheless. I imagined it to be either really strong and dominant or rather forgettable and it wins because it is neither.
So what prospects do we have for Santana's future and how do I feel about them? Well, all this gossip of Santana being a flat out lesbian has me a little on edge. Part of the beauty of Santana and of the Brittana relationship is that it took the better part of two seasons to bloom into what it is now, naturally and in the background. But she has one moment of clarity and confesses her love to her best friend and then she's a lesbian all of a sudden? It could also be that there were so many other ways to go with this, via the bi-sexual, Brittany-sexual, or my favorite no-label routes. Sure, make her a lesbian if you want, but not after what little we've seen of it. It just feels like they'd be forcing something just for the sake of a label, you know? But this is all gossip and internet speculation and I'm still in the middle of my spoiler-free Lent (which is really long). Really, I just want her to be happy. I want her to be important. I want her to have friends and be loved and I want her to stop hiding. Also, I want her to have more solos. And to sing MAPS, the unofficial Brittana theme song.
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