SANTANA AND THE CHEERIOS For the bulk of her time on Glee, Santana Lopez has been a Cheerio. In fact, it took us thirty-two episodes to see Santana out of her uniform, and in plainclothes. But despite this, we don`t really make a clean image of what Santana feels towards the Cheerios and her position among them.
The Cheerios Uniform means something. It is not simply any old school uniform.
Sue Sylvester`s cheerleaders wear their uniforms every day, as a symbol of their status, broadcasting to the plebeians of McKinley that they indeed suffer the king bestowed to them by success and popularity and Sue herself. And Santana is introduced to us as one of them, as somebody who values that. She is a sycophant of both Quinn Fabray and Sue Sylvester, hiding comfortably behind three layers of shelter from even being called a loser, let alone actually being one.
But as time has drawn on, it`s become clear that Santana Lopez is no one`s minion. Her relationships with both Sue and Quinn have turned rather antagonistic, perhaps at the reach of Santana rebelling against what it way to be second-in-command.
For as often as Santana behaves as a Top Dog, it`s amongst the Cheerios where she is never quite the top of the pyramid. Sue is God, Quinn is Queen, and Santana is nevertheless the Jester. She is nothing more than a Boob Joke to Sue now, and Quinn ratted her out, betraying her desire and sending her to the seat of the pyramid. Santana is on the outs with her erstwhile leaders, and we`re left wondering how exactly she feels about it. (More on Santana and Quinn in a future part, fear not.)
From Day 1, we were to acquire that Quinn, Santana, and Brittany operated as something of a unit. They were packaged up and delivered to us as a maligned trinity, three mean girls who had something to benefit from destroying the Glee Club. But since then, the contingent has splintered, and we`re left mostly in the darkness around the very relationship between the 3 girls, having never really known their honest opinions about being a Goodbye in the foremost place.
In "The Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle," all three Glee Cheerios gave up Glee Club by the end of the episode - but they were denied, by the writers, the chance to have their own decisions. They were instead convinced by Finn, which weakens their choices and leaves us wondering about their uninfluenced emotions. In the bath scene, Quinn says she`s torn, and then Santana says she`s not. That`s all we got, and the fact of the subject is that`s not terribly indicative of any clear-cut feelings about Glee vs. Cheerios. The writers behaved as though the girls would inherently choose Cheerios in the flesh that they are malignant and that the Cheerio Squad is rife in its villainy - not because cheerleading could leave the triad with protection and success, or the possibility of university scholarships, or level that it could maybe - gasp! - make them happy.
It has become painfully clear that Glee`s writers have little value to the Cheerios as a valid extracurricular at Mckinley High, largely because they`re too busy bogging down Sue Sylvester and her teenage associates with the facing of malefaction. What`s worse about this is that the evidence has purposely made an attempt to humanize Sue, Santana, and Quinn (Brittany was never terribly nefarious to start with) and yet they often forget those instances and proceed to often and ignorantly paint the girls in a single, two-dimensional layer of beef and villainy.
"The Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle" presented the opinion that the Cheerio Gleeks had to select between their two extracurriculars, and simultaneously had a built-in opportunity to so let us understand the Cheerios` feelings about their involvement on the squad. We really get enough understanding to consider that all three, including Santana, would make good reason for choosing Glee Club on their own - the 1st time around. But instead, the show denied them this opportunity, operating solely on the supposition that Quinn might be torn, but Santana wouldn`t be (clearly forgetting that Glee Club is the better piece of Santana`s day) and Brittany is ever just Brittany. And so in the end they made their decision because Mr. Quarterback breezed through with his Ethos and inspired them to Do The Right Thing. Oh, missed opportunities and ignored potential - not to observe the faintest, stomach-turning whiff of sexism.
Of course, the event of that plotline is what is possibly most interesting about Santana`s relationship to the Cheerios: examining how Santana behaves now that she is not a Cheerio. That definition, the one label that gave her office in the halls of McKinley High, is gone. Santana no longer wears the impervious red and white uniform, and we are finally afforded the opportunity to see who she truly is: how she dresses, how she fixes her hair, how she interacts with her peers, what her bedroom looks like - it`s no stroke that by having Santana shed that external armor, the writers are now allowing the hearing to see a glance of her genuine self.
At the same time, Santana`s post-Cheerio existence lends itself to the version that she is having something of an identity crisis. The present is frankly not quite connecting this concept to Santana`s status as an ex-Cheerio, but I suppose the grounds and timing is substantial enough to get the end that perhaps Santana is re-evaluating her individuality and feel of self without that uniform.
Since "The Sue Sylvester Bowl Shuffle," Santana has had her guard down and demonstrated a wide compass of emotions in a people of fairly surprising scenarios - sure, she schemes easily as usual, but she`s also flown into hysterics at the fall of a hat (or alcohol), struck up a partnership with Sam, seemed to twice fangirl a performing Rachel Berry, penned a jazz number (with Tina! about her boyfriend`s fish face, and dropped her bosom in the heart of the McKinley Hallway in hopes that Brittany would see it.
Of course, the death of those examples is possibly the headlining reason to think that Santana, without her Cheerios uniform defining her, would be re-examining herself and her identity. It`s no coincidence that the record has Santana jump-starting hers and Brittany`s Real Feelings Love Story when they`re off the Cheerios, allowed to do how they need to and be who they wish to within the freeing safe place that is Glee Club - but it`s also not clearly demonstrated onscreen. And to those crying foul about Santana`s sudden qualms about her sexual identity: perhaps if the writers connected the mind that she feels vulnerable without her Cheerios uniform to the impression that she`s frightened of confronting her sexuality, the development wouldn`t look so jarringly uncharacteristic.
Regardless, it`s unclear what Santana`s future with the Cheerios will be - she currently shows no signs towards returning to the club, especially not while Sue continues to barrage her with boob jokes, and with the aspect of a sexuality-centered storyline on the horizon. But still with a cheerleading-free future, the fact of the affair is that we don`t quite know just what Santana previously felt about that area of her life, in any material and tangible way, for those thirty-two episodes where cheerleading was ubiquitous in Santana`s existence.
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