#forget deconstruction that's too high for glee

[tuiyla]

speaking of Quinn and religion, one thing that's always baffled me is that I do think S1 wants to set up the black comedy of the "Queen of the Chastity Ball" getting knocked up, and it's supposed to be a whole commentary on celibacy, religious hypocrisy, etc. But I've never fully understood why they didn't truly lean into that? Because what the rest of Quinn's arc through S3 shows us is that honestly she's NOT a hypocrite about this. She believed in waiting. She was sincere in her faith. Her big slip-up was super dubious and a one time thing. For how much we've been told we were meant to hate Quinn in S1, I wonder why RIB didn't have her sleeping with the entire football team except Finn, having her play the nice girl around her parents then being knowingly cynical about using her religion as a disguise. It would still even work to contrast her with Santana, one being unapologetically sexual, the other hanging onto her pristine rep while doing the exact same things privately. It would've been such an easy way to make sure the audience sees her as the villain and tbh, might have better fit the dark humor of S1. That they didn't go that path is more proof to me that RM was ALWAYS writing Quinn as an empathetic character, even if he wasn't aware of it.

Alright alright, not gonna put off answering this because it's an amazing topic I wanna keep discussing or as long as y'all have thoughts.

Completely agree, they never lean into it. Not nearly as much as this ostensibly satire show should have. I often think about that, the deliberate irony of framing Quinn as ultra-religious and having her be the president of a damn Celibacy Club just to have her get knocked up. After having sex once, too. A better show would have a) leaned in and b) examined how society treats those who cross the madonna-whore threshold. Even in terms of the cheerleading stereotypes that the Unholy Trinity all check, it's ultimately Quinn who gets portrayed as a whore because she's the one with "evidence" that she's had sex. Brittana are much, much more promiscuous, yeah, but there's something about teen pregnancy as the ultimate symbol of sexual transgression. But, like you say, Quinn wasn't actually a hypocrite about all this.

I think she was also scarred from the pregnancy emotionally, understandably, but the only times she uses her sexuality after this in high school are when she's clearly unhinged. I.e. trying to make another baby with Puck. She wants to take things slow with Sam, completely understands Joe's perspective, and I for one seriously doubt Fuinn ever actually had sex. All that happened with Beth's conception was Puck taking advantage of her. But Glee season 1 just,,, does not get this. They so badly want Quinn to be this hypocritical bitch who cheats on her boyfriend and gets knocked up and isn't all that virginal after all. But even if we didn't see the actual scene, and oh boy do we, that narrative would still be dubious. Simply put, Quinn isn't the character Glee thinks they're writing.

I've said this so many times in so many ways but the bottom line remains the same. The writers did not know what kind of character they were writing. And there's a lot to be said about how RM reacted to that, goddammit I still haven't talked about that Rolling Stone interview, but at the end of the day we just have these facts within the show itself. And this is how I try to explain my frustrations with season 1 to people. Later seasons Quinn is a whole convo, too, but s1 always feels particularly insidious to me.

In terms of how you would have written it, yeah I think that would have worked better with what they were trying to do. There's still the contrast to Brittana so a chance for Quinn's redemption, but this villanizing would at least make more sense. She really would be a hypocrite and not just... a victim. But no, instead they wrote the story of a clear victim. I don't give a fuck if she happens to be rude to Finn and lie to him, yeah that's messed up but the dude is also actively cheating on her, so. Lest we feel too bad for him. It just sucks so much that RM was so, so unaware of the Quinn he was writing. Makes season 1 in particular incredibly frustrating to me, I can't believe there are people out there who consider this to be her best season. Why do you hate her so much?