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themostrandomfandom · 8 years ago

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Hey JJ! I'm new to glee (currently in the middle of s2) so I don't know much. Something that has confused me so far is Brittany' characterization. On one hand, she's portrayed as a genuinely good person who accepts everyone (her friendship with Becky, the guilt she feels when she hurts Artie, her love for Santana) but she can also be very cruel (deserting Quinn during her pregnancy, and making fun of Finn, Quinn, and Rachel when they were vulnerable). What is your opinion on this contradiction?

To add on, Brittany also didsome morally questionable things such as accusing Beiste of harassment(although eventually backing off) and being willing to dine and dash. Can youexplain why Brittany can be one of the most loving, accepting characters of glee,while at the same time being one of the most cruel characters (and, unlikeSantana, Brittany doesn’t have self-hatred to explain her meanness)

Hey, @chickennuggets66!

First off, welcome to the Glee fandom! Sorryit has taken me so long to post a reply to your question. It took me a while toget my thoughts in order.

Second, RE your question:

Brittany Pierce is a complicated person—and,unfortunately, Glee doesn’t often give us a lot of insight into what’s going oninside her head. Between the inconsistent way in which her character is writtenand the fact that she is most often wielded as a side character within thenarrative, her actions can appear random and perhaps even contradictory,especially when it comes to how she treats the people around her.

Undoubtedly, Brittany has her reasons for actingthe way she does—it’s just that those reasons are often hard to tease out.

Sometimes it comes down to preference. It’sabout her likes and dislikes.

Other times, it has to do with politics andsocial maneuvering, because even though her classmates and teachers oftenunderestimate her, Brittany did not get to be one of the most popular girls inschool for nothing. She knows how to play the social power game, and she playsit well when she needs to.

Additionally, Brittany has her own personalethics—a sense of what is right and wrong, of what is fair game and what isn’t.

Her own personal experiences and evenSantana’s experiences can also figure in to how she treats people. There arecertain individuals she is sympathetic to because she knows where they’recoming from. There are also certain individuals with whom her personal historyplays into how she reacts to them.

Because the motivations for her behavior areso diverse, I think it’s best to just take them case by case, so let’s startwith the first example you mention and work out from there, okay?

More discussion after the cut.

I’ll try my best to stick to examples fromSeasons One and Two.

____________

Inepisode 1x09 “Wheels,” the New Directions hold a bake sale to raise money forArtie’s bus. Popular kids Finn, Puck, Quinn, and Santana are manning the table.Just then, Brittany saunters up, holding Becky Jackson by the hand.

“Ohmy god!” Quinn exclaims, scandalized that Brittany would willingly associatewith someone like Becky in public. Finn and Puck explain that they believeBrittany and Becky are kind of friends, though it is clear they alsodisapprove.

Brittanyand Becky approach the table, and Brittany not only helps Becky to purchase acupcake, but she also speaks kindly to her and tells her that buying cupcakesis cool.

Throughoutthe whole exchange, Santana can hardly look at Brittany and wears a sourexpression, obviously displeased that Brittany is taking such a big risk byhanging around with Becky, who, at this point, is not even a cheerleader.

Ifyou compare Brittany’s behavior in this scene to Finn, Puck, Quinn, and Santana’sbehavior, then there is no question: Brittany is far more accepting than theyare.

Whilethey’re all concerned about their respective images, Brittany is concerned withmaking Becky feel welcome, and she doesn’t seem to particularly care that hangingout with Becky is considered uncool.

Wesee a similar pattern play out in her Season One interactions with Kurt Hummel.

Brittanyis also friendly to and accepting of Kurt at a time when both other kids atWHMS and Kurt himself are struggling to understand and accept Kurt’s sexuality(see here).

While others mock Kurt, bully him, or try to push him out of the closet beforehe is ready, Brittany allows Kurt to run the show when it comes to how heidentifies, both to her and to others, including his own father (see here).

Consideringthat Brittany takes this tack at the same time when other main characters onthe show, including Finn, are being downright cruel to Kurt, she (again) lookspretty accepting by comparison.

ThatBrittany could be compassionate towards two people whom many would consider themost outcast of the outcasts at WMHS—remember, both Becky and Kurt are at timesrejected by the glee club, which is supposedly a group that takes in those whohave no other place to go—makes it tempting to say that Brittany is able to“accept everyone.”

Butas you point out in your question, that generalization isn’t actuallytrue—because while Brittany shows great acceptance for Becky and Kurt in theaforementioned instances, she also shows cruelty towards others, like Finn,Quinn, and Rachel, on numerous other occasions.

Brittanyisn’t actually nice to everyone—and, in fact, I would go as far as to say thatjust as often as she is nice, she can be equally mean.

Honestly, the only person she is pretty much universally compassionate towards throughout the show is Santana. Telling, no?

Likeyou say, Brittany has the capacity to be fairly vicious at times, as much as orsometimes even more so than Quinn and Santana.

Sowhy would she choose to be nice to Becky and Kurt, who are so far below her insocial status and who are generally considered “undesirables” by the otherpopular kids at WMHS?

In thesetwo cases, Brittany’s personal experiences seem to contribute to her ability tobe compassionate.

On asurface level, Brittany seems like someone who is fairly confident in herself.Not only does she make frequent reference to her own hotness and popularity(“You look terrible. I look awesome”), but she also seems content to do her ownthing and not pay much mind to what people think about her—and particularlywhen one compares her to Quinn and Santana, who, at least on a surfrace level, seem to maintain their public images much more fastidiously than she does.

Buthere’s the thing: Even though it seems as if Brittany doesn’t care what peoplethink about her, she actually does. The truth is that Brittany has a majorinsecurity, and that insecurity has to do with how people perceive herintelligence.

As welearn throughout the show, most people perceive Brittany as stupid, and theyhave no problem telling her so to her face. Rachel talks to Brittany in a loudvoice, over-enunciating each word, as if Brittany were a toddler. While they’redating, Artie tends to infantilize Brittany. Several times, Kurt makes his lowopinion of Brittany’s ideas known. Even Mr. Schue, who is supposed to be hisstudents’ champion and biggest advocate, meanly insinuates in front of thewhole glee club that he believes Brittany is lacking in smarts (see episode2x17 “Night of Neglect”). Sue Sylvester is even worse, frequentlybelittling Brittany’s mind both in public and in private.

—andBrittany is fully and painfully aware of these perceptions (see episode 2x19“Rumours”).

Throughout Season Oneand early Season Two, Brittany actually has fairly low self-esteem, because foras much as she is aware that she is desirable on a superficial level, she isalso aware that some of the most quintessential parts of her person are alsothe things that people most often and most vehemently reject about her.

Yes, people like the way she looks. Yes,people like that she is a cheerleader. Yes, people like her fashion sense. Yes,as a member of the Cheerios and Unholy Trinity, she wields a lot of socialpower at WMHS.

But people tend toreject her thoughts. They tell her to her face that she is an idiot. Santana isthe only one who ever seems to get her jokes. Even the people who are nice toher are often “nice” in a condescending way. They coddle her as if she were achild. She opens her mouth to say something that makes sense to her, and shegets blank stares and muttered comments disparaging her intelligence inresponse. She tries to talk about things she cares about, and people shut herdown.

Brittany knows whatit’s like to be ostracized because people think she’s somehow unequal to them.She gets that it hurts when people talk past you or devalue your thoughts andfeelings because they think those thoughts and feelings somehow don’t count.

—andthat’s where her ability to accept Becky comes in.

Brittanysees other people rejecting Becky because they think that Becky is “less than,”underestimating Becky’s capabilities and the depth of Becky’s humanity, treatingBecky’s thoughts and feelings like they don’t matter, etc., and, frankly, shedoesn’t like it.

Beckyis a person just like Brittany is a person, and neither one of them should beminimized just because people think they’re unintelligent.

Sothat’s why even when other people—and particularly the popular kids—blow Beckyoff, Brittany doesn’t and instead treats Becky like the human being that sheis. Brittany sees Becky’s humanity and knows that Becky longs to be accepted.She also knows that Becky can’t change the thing that causes others to rejecther. Her Down syndrome is part of her identity, just like Brittany’s divergentway of thinking is part of Brittany’s identity. Neither one of them can changethose parts of who they are. They shouldn’t be ostracized just because aquintessential part of their identities makes them “different.”

Thesame is very much true when it comes to Brittany’s acceptance of Kurt.

Kurtis gay, and that’s just part of who he is. He can’t change his identity, thoughGrilled Cheesus knows he tries to. He shouldn’t be made to feel less thanbecause he is gay, just like Brittany shouldn’t be made to feel less thanbecause she is bi, or Santana because she’s a lesbian. Brittany gets that, soshe can have compassion even when other members of the New Directions don’t.

While Brittany is out herself, Santana is (at this time) closeted and in deep denial about her sexual orientation, so Brittany can be sympathetic to Kurt, who struggles with the same issue.

Soall of this is to say that Brittany tends to be very accepting of people’sessential qualities, and she also tends to understand when people feel insecureabout things they can’t change about themselves. She is particularlysympathetic to people whose personal plights are similar to her own or toSantana’s. However, though she is able to accept certain people whom thepopular majority at WMHS reject, she isn’t universally accepting.

Justlike there are some people Brittany can really empathize with, there are alsosome people who Brittany flat cannot stand—and those people are often the oneswho choose to behave in ways thatBrittany finds obnoxious.

Theprime example here would be Rachel Berry.

Now.

Wedon’t know Brittany and Rachel’s history prior to Season One. It seems that theUnholy Trinity are acquainted with Rachel and bully her prior to the start ofthe show, but we don’t know for how long this scenario has been in play.

Theoretically,Brittany may have known Rachel for years—since kindergarten, even—or she mayhave only met Rachel more recently, circa the start of ninth grade, when they both matriculated at WMHS together.

In any case, it is clear that Brittany has ahistory of antagonizing Rachel that predates the start of the show by a fewmonths, at the very least.

Ofcourse, part of Brittany’s willingness to antagonize Rachel probably hassomething to do with the “pack mentality.”

BothQuinn and Santana, Brittany’s two best friends and social guides, openlydespise Rachel, and they often take jabs at Rachel when Brittany is present. Whileit is one thing for Brittany to show kindness to people towards whom Quinn andSantana for the most part ignore, like Becky and Kurt, it would be anotherthing entirely for Brittany to outright go against Quinn and Santana and showkindness to someone whom they are actively bullying.

—andespecially when you consider that Quinn and Santana aren’t the only influencesin Brittany’s life who tend to antagonize Rachel.

SueSylvester, Brittany’s cheerleading coach, has a vendetta against Racheland the glee club. Independent of the Unholy Trinity’s own personal motivationsfor bullying Rachel, Sue sometimes specifically gives them, and Brittany andSantana in particular, orders to terrorize Rachel so as to sabotage the NewDirections (see episode 1x14 “Hell-O”). That’s a very strong directive comingdown from on high, and Sue’s willingness to attack Rachel does a lot tonormalize that behavior to Brittany, as well.

However,as demonstrated above, there are times when Brittany is willing to deviate fromUnholy Trinity and Cheerio social norms—she doesn’t avoid Becky, though bothQuinn and Santana do; she actually likes glee club, though Sue only intendedfor her to be a spy there—so if Brittany is willing to bully Rachel, then thatimplies she has her own reasons for doing so, independent of wanting to pleaseQuinn, Santana, and Sue, and she isn’t just succumbing to peer pressure.

Asstated, we don’t know Brittany and Rachel’s full history together, so it isimpossible for us to say exactly how Brittany got into the habit of callingRachel names, fucking with Rachel’s mind (see here),stealing Rachel’s boyfriends, etc.

That said, from the very beginning, Racheltalks down to Brittany as if Brittany were a toddler, and, in general, Rachelhas a massive ego, which Brittany seems to find annoying. Rachel can be veryholier-than-thou and condescending, even when she is trying to be nice, and itseems that that attitude is perhaps a Brittany pet peeve.

(Morediscussion on that point in a minute.)

Itisn’t simply that Rachel is unpopular that bothers Brittany because, frankly,Brittany ignores Tina and Mercedes, who are also unpopular, throughout most ofSeasons One and Two. It’s Rachel’s attitude and actions—the way that Rachel chooses to behave—that really grindBrittany’s gears (see here).

Brittanycan’t stand Rachel’s constant grabbing for solos, the way Rachel acts betterthan people even when she’s not, Rachel’s frequent sanctimoniousness, Rachel’sincorrect assumption that her singing talent makes her superior to everyoneelse in glee club, etc., etc.

Soeven though Brittany wouldn’t be mean to Becky for having Down syndrome or Kurtfor being gay, she will be mean to Rachel for being a diva—because once someonemakes the choice to be awful, then, in Brittany’s mind, they’re fair game.

Dittofor her meanness towards Finn.

Finnis supposed to be this nice guy and the leader of the glee club, but hisactions oftentimes complicate Brittany’s life, particularly as it relates toSantana (see episodes 1x14 “Hell-O” and 1x15 “The Power of Madonna”). He can bebrash, arrogant, dismissive, and homophobic—and though he is far from thesharpest tool in the shed himself, he sometimes looks down on Brittany for whathe perceives as her unintelligence. Like Rachel, his niceness can come off ascondescending, which is, again, a party foul where Brittany is concerned.

—andall of this has to do with how Finn choosesto behave, not his quintessential identity.

Again,in Brittany’s mind, that makes Finn fair game.

Withour Rachel and Finn examples in mind, we can add another summation to ourunderstanding of Brittany’s behavior: Just as Brittany will show kindness topeople whom she believes are unfairly ostracized for benign essential parts oftheir identities, she will go after people whom she believes choose to behavein ways she finds repugnant—and especially those who have an inflated (andunjustified) sense of ego that causes them to condescend to others.

Basically,if she thinks someone is too uppity, she won’t hesitate to take them down a pegor two if she gets the chance.

So isthat what we see going on with how Brittany treats Quinn? How do we account forthe fact that Brittany once seemed to be friends with Quinn but viciouslyturned on Quinn once Quinn became pregnant with Beth?

Here’swhere Brittany’s ability to play the social game comes in.

Asdiscussed by numerous characters on the show, the halls at WMHS are a cutthroatenvironment. It’s “eat or be eaten” out there, with popular kids at the top ofthe food chain, and everyone else miserable below them. Popularity can be wonand lost based on how one dresses, what extracurricular activities one isinvolved in, the people one hangs out with and dates, and even the way onestyles their hair (see episode 1x18 “Laryngitis”).

Particularlyat the start of the show, the kids who get to the top of the social hierarchyfrequently do so by putting others down. They stand on a pile of the hapless “losers”they’ve wrecked, and the more “losers” they can wreck, the better. That’s whybullies like Puck flourish, and that’s also why it is so easy for even the mostpopular kids in school to suffer downfalls after they make the slightestmisstep.

BrittanyPierce is certainly one of the most popular girls in school, along with Quinnand Santana.

—andthat “along with Quinn and Santana” point is important.

Asdiscussed above, when compared to Quinn and Santana, Brittany looks much moreaccepting than they are.

Shealso seems more unassuming.

Whileanyone can see that Quinn and Santana are dangerous HBICs who are not to betrifled with, Brittany seems more docile by comparison. But that docility is, frankly,an illusion, because the truth of the matter is that Brittany is just as dangerousas Quinn and Santana. It’s just that her dangerousness is more difficult todetect because their dangerousness, in a way, camouflages it.

It’seasy to identify Quinn and Santana as social predators.

Just watchtheir scheming against each other in episode 2x01 “Audition,” and particularlytheir knock-down, drag-out fight during the hallway scene, and there is noquestion that they are the quintessential Mean Girls™,capable of waging the most brutal social warfare. Standing next to them,Brittany looks like an angel—and, indeed, in the aforementioned hallway scene,Brittany appears horrified to see her two best friends coming to blows againsteach other, and she quickly conveys Santana away as soon as Mr. Schue breaks upthe fight.

Within the context of the Unholy Trinity, then, it is very easy to thinkof Brittany as “the nice one.” It’s also easy, by extension, to think thatBrittany doesn’t social climb in the same way that Quinn and Santana do or thatshe isn’t as preoccupied with popularity as Quinn and Santana are.

—but,again, appearances can be deceiving, because the thing is, Brittany does socialclimb, and she is preoccupied with popularity, and, honestly, she can be everybit as ruthless and cutthroat as Quinn and Santana can be.

Sheisn’t as harmless as she seems.

Brittanyis highly aware of social rules, and the way she conducts herself proves asmuch.

Beingfriends with Becky certainly isn’t a great way to boost one’s social status,but Brittany knows that it’s something that she can get away with—both becauseof how people perceive her (“That’s just Brittany being Brittany”) and becauseof how people perceive Becky (“Well, I personally would never hang out withBecky, but Becky needs to be indulged, so I guess it’s okay that Brittanyindulges her”).

Bythe same token, Brittany would never hang out with Rachel Berry, even if shecould stand the girl, because hanging out with Rachel Berry is social suicide.There are no loopholes that would allow a popular person to make friends withsomeone as unfashionable, obnoxious, and blatantly uncool as Rachel Berry andstill maintain their own social cred.

—whichis part of why Brittany is so willing to mock Finn for his romantic interest inRachel.

He isbreaking a “set in stone” rule of popularity, and, since his behavior is out ofline, he can rightfully be punished for it.

Dittofor how Brittany treats Quinn.

As Idiscuss in thisanalysis, we really don’t know Brittany’s personal feelings toward QuinnFabray. The two girls are certainly are part of the same social unit at thestart of the show, but it is unclear whether any genuine personal affectionexists between them or if they’re more friends for the sake of socialconvenience. Do they ever hang out outside of school and cheer practice? Dothey even have a relationship independent of their individual relationshipswith Santana? Really, it is impossible to say.

Allwe know is that, to start the show, Brittany and Quinn run in the same pack,with Quinn as the leader of the Unholy Trinity and Brittany as her lackey.Along with Santana, they present a united social front, which is mutuallybeneficial to all three members of the group.

As Isay in the previously linked post,

Becauseall three members of the Unholy Trinity keep secrets that they don’t want thegeneral populace of WMHS to know, they benefit by forming an impenetrable groupwith an even more impenetrable reputation.

Whowould guess that the members of the mighty Unholy Trinity feel small or insignificantor broken or inadequate—and particularly when they project so much confidenceand crush their competition so unflinchingly?

Bybanding together, they can put down their competition. Anyone who becomes anenemy to one of them becomes an enemy to all of them, and no one can outmaneuverthem as a group. They’re basically unstoppable as long as they stick together.

Butjust because they mutually benefit from their bond doesn’t mean that said bondis stable—in fact, just the opposite.

To quote again from my previous post,

It’s fairly obvious to anyone who watches the first season ofGlee that the Unholy Trinity divides up into Brittana + Quinn as opposed tointo Quinntana + Brittany or Quitt + Santana. Not only do Brittana have thematching friendship bracelets to prove that they’re a pair, but they alsofrequently operate as a duo in the absence of Quinn, just like she frequentlyoperates solo in the absence of them…

In anamiable friendship, the fact that Quinn is the “odd friend out” might notmatter.

But theUnholy Trinity friendship is not always amiable.

Especiallywhen it comes to Quinntana, there exists a distinct adversarial dimension totheir interactions.

Quinntana’sprimary dynamic is one of social power negotiation—i.e., of Quinn and Santana“jostling” over which one of them is dominant within their social sphere.

Interestingly,Brittany is actually the variable that allows this dynamic to exist betweenthem.

On theone hand, by all rights, Quinn “should be” dominant in Quinntana’srelationship. She represents the majority power in their culture—the heterosexualWASP cheerleading captain. Not only does she enjoy majority privilege thatSantana does not, but she is actually literally on top of their social pyramid,as yearbook photos of the Cheerios well-attest.

On theother hand, Santana’s relationship with Brittany actually gives Santana someleverage over Quinn. Basically, Brittany’s loyalty to Santana makes it so Quinnis “outnumbered” within her own clique.

WhileBrittana must ostensibly follow Quinn’s orders, they do have the power to workagainst her if they want to—which is what we see in 2x01, when Brittany leaveswith Santana following Quinntana’s fight.

Beyondjust the simple matter of numbers, Santana has an advantage over Quinn becauseshe possesses the one thing that Quinn has always craved—i.e., real love—andQuinn knows it. The fact that Santana has a relatively stable relationship withBrittany causes Quinn to feel insecure.

Furthermore,beyond these interpersonal dynamics, there is also a dark unspoken truth whenit comes to Unholy Trinity friendship: namely, that, at least during the earlyseasons on the show, said friendship is only viable for as long as it issocially beneficial.

By acting as a unit, the Unholy Trinity maintains theirpreeminence in the WMHS social order, ruling the school as three queens. But thesecond one of them does something that jeopardizes their supremacy, the groupwill divide down into its aforementioned parts, with Brittana going one way andQuinn going the other.

That’swhat we see with Quinn’s pregnancy and Brittany’s treatment of Quinn whileQuinn is pregnant.

Essentially,Quinn “breached the contract” and broke the social rules.

Populargirls are supposed to be sexually active without getting pregnant. Popular girlshave to stay on the cheer squad, and if they can’t or won’t, then they must beshunned. The group will do everything in its power to keep a girl from falling,but if she causes herself to fall, then she is on her own—and, even more so, shebecomes fair game. The group attacks the individual it once protected because,at WMHS, if you’re not going up, then you’re going down, and no one wants to godown, not when the fall comes at such great personal expense.

Again,as I say in the other post,

We have to keep in mind that, during Season One, Brittany andSantana were two very insecure fifteen or sixteen year old girls. When Quinnbecame pregnant and the whole school found out about it, Quinn went from beingthe proverbial queen bee and most popular girl in school to a target for dailyslushie facials. And what’s more? Anyone who associated too closely with Quinn,even Finn the quarterback and Puck the mega popular bad boy, became targets fordaily slushie facials, as well.

Remainingfriends with Quinn would have put Brittana in danger.

And nomatter how much they personally liked Quinn, at that point in their lives,Brittany and Santana were not willing to risk their own high social positionsor endanger themselves for Quinn’s sake.

Sothat’s why we hear Brittany say cruel things about Quinn during Quinn’spregnancy (see episodes 1x06 “Vitamin D” and 1x15 “The Power of Madonna”).Brittany is playing the social game. She is distancing herself from someonethat could potentially ruin her reputation, even though that someone used to beher friend.

BecauseBrittany is Brittany, she gets some leeway when it comes to how she acts andthe people she associates with, more so than the other popular kids. The otherpopular kids think she is weird, so they let her get away with things that forother people would be social suicide. Hanging out with Becky and Kurt and other“invisibles” won’t ding her reputation too much. But hanging out with andshowing open kindness to someone like insufferable Rachel Berry or pregnant Quinn or Finn when heis dating insufferable Rachel Berry would.

—andfor as much as it might seem like Brittany is oblivious to the rat race, sheisn’t. She is highly aware of what she can get away with and what she can’t,and she works the system, especially early on the show, when she is still relativelyinsecure and doesn’t fully recognize her own self-worth.

Now.

Inall this discussion, it has become clear that even though there are “rules”that explain Brittany’s behavior towards others, there are also instances inwhich Brittany behaves hypocritically, seemingly breaking her own rules—suchas, for instance, when she dates unpopular Artie—or acting with impunity.

Andthat’s very true.

Becausethe bottom line when it comes to Brittany is that she is human, and humans canbe messy—especially as teenagers.

Yes,Brittany can be incredibly compassionate at times, and oftentimes she is wisebeyond her years. But other times she acts very much like the high schooler sheis. She can be petty and contrary and mean. She can be disloyal. She can lether biases and assumptions take control of her.

Withoutgiving away major spoilers, I think that’s one area where we see Brittany growover the course of the show: She becomes more conscious of her own motivations,and she starts to be more deliberate about how she treats others. That self-awarenessdoesn’t always translate to her being nicer, but it does make her takeownership for her behavior and for her expectations of how people interact withher in a way that we don’t necessarily see during Season One and early SeasonTwo.

Now.

Atthis point, the one example from your question I don’t think I’ve reallytouched on is that of Brittany’s willingness to falsely accuse Coach Beiste ofsexual harassment, and that’s because I think that example deserves specialdiscussion.

Makeno mistake: That action is deplorable.

Butalso make mistake: That action is not one that Brittany takes independently.

That’snot Brittany going after Coach Beiste because Brittany dislikes Coach Beiste.

Rather,that is Sue Sylvester, an adult who is in a position of extreme authority overBrittany, coercing Brittany to behave in a way that is contrary to Brittany’sown personal volition.

Atthat point in her development, Brittany is justifiably terrified of Sue Sylvester, who has the ability to make her lifehell in ways that most of the faculty members at WMHS don’t fully understand.Brittany does not have enough personal power to defy Sue without posing greatpersonal risk to herself.

Remember:Sue often threatens Brittany’s safety and is both physically and emotionallyabusive to her. While it is no secret around WMHS how Sue mistreats Brittanyand the other Cheerios, none of the other faculty members, including Mr. Schueand Principal Figgins, does anything to stop the abuse.

Sowhen Sue says that Brittany has to accuse Coach Beiste, Brittany does accuseCoach Beiste, even though she undoubtedly knows it’s not right for her to doso.

Noticethat Brittany recants her story as soon as Mr. Schue makes it safe for her todo so. Notice that she casts frightened glances at Sue even with Mr. Schuesitting by her side while she recants, indicating that she still fears what Suemight do to her in retaliation.

Whilethere are examples of Brittany being mean and vindictive to people on the show for her own reasons,this instance isn’t one of them.

So.

Tosum up everything I’ve rambled about, here are what I see as the keys tounderstanding Brittany Pierce as a character in terms of how she treats people, particularly in early seasons ofthe show:

ThoughBrittany may act like she thinks she is the best, she actually has somedeep-seated insecurities related to her intelligence, and her self-esteem is insome ways low.

She is sympathetic to individuals whose plights she can personally empathizewith—and especially to those who have things they wish they could change aboutthemselves but can’t, and especially when they are unfairly maligned for it.

She is unsympathetic to individuals who act in ways she finds personallyrepugnant, and especially to those who are condescending.

She is unsympathetic to popular individuals who break social rules though theyshould “know better” than to do so.

Her reputation for being odd allows her some social leeway to be kind tooutcasts.

However, she still is careful to play the social game when it comes to socialrule-breakers and individuals she finds repugnant.

She is capable of knowing right from wrong, but she still sometimes behavespoorly, particularly when it socially benefits to do so or when she feels she needs to do so in order to please Quinn and, even more often and more so, Santana.

Her behavior can appear idiosyncratic, especially in comparison to Quinn andSantana’s behavior, but she has her own personal reasons for acting the way shedoes. It’s just that those reasons don’t get much play in the main narrative ofthe show.

Anyway,really sorry for jabbering so much. Thanks for the question! Hope this helps.

#Crazy Brittanalyst answers #chickennuggets66

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