The Women We Love Fest, Day Six: This Shouldn't Be Happening (Except For Where It Should)

Sep 14, 2011 20:51






Rewatching "Rumours," I was struck once again by what Artie said in the scene where he calls Brittany stupid:

You're the hottest girl in this school, and I wear saddle shoes on legs that don't work. This shouldn't be happening. Not because I'm in a wheelchair, but because I'm obsessed with Angry Birds, and my mom cuts my hair. [...] It's hard enough for me to believe that this is real.

I feel for Artie, but this is about the dumbest thing he's ever said.

Let's go back to the social stratification at McKinley High for a second. It's pretty intense, and there's a lot of pressure involved in being seen with the "right" group. The quest to be popular is a major thing for both Quinn and Finn; Puck's often torn between being part of the Glee club and trying to keep his bad-ass rep. Sam almost didn't join the Glee club because of it, and it remains an issue until it gets supplanted by the more pressing problem of being homeless. Santana won't come out because of it. And even with the original Glee kids, who are so far down on the McKinley food chain that Kurt once claims that "the special ed kids will get more play than we will," it's an issue. Kurt and Mercedes join the Cheerios and put up with Sue's demands in a quest to raise their status. Rachel's primary focus is on her fabulous future, but that doesn't stop her from having faith that she can somehow become popular, either by being in a "power couple" with Finn or by leading the New Directions to bigger and better victories. And when Artie and Tina both decide to date more popular kids, they both quickly collapse into paranoia, believing that Mike and Brittany are cheating on them with each other pretty much because they're both popular, and that's how it's supposed to be. They've internalized that social structure so much that it's stopped them from realizing that their partners adore them, that they've had that choice and they've chosen to be with them, not anyone else.

Tina figures it out. Artie seems to figure it out as well, but then in "Rumours," we realize that he hasn't at all.

This isn't to minimize the fact that Brittany is cheating on Artie, although it's obvious that she doesn't feel that way (and I think it's a little ridiculous to blame that one on Santana, because come on. Ms. Lopez is far from the only person to claim that it's not cheating if it's two girls; that's a really, really prevalent viewpoint, even today). But in a lot of ways, I don't know if that's really Artie's problem. I think that what it comes down to is that he can't recognize that Brittany's capable of seeing past the haircut, or the Angry Birds, or the sweaters. He hasn't figured out that she genuinely loves him. He thinks that if she's with him for any reason, it's the sex.

And that's really unfair to Brittany, because if there's any character on the show that genuinely does not give a shit how popular someone is or how "hot" they are compared to her or how awful their hair and wardrobe is, it's her. She has joined the Glee Club. She has joined the Braniacs. She has danced in Kurt Hummel's basement and worn the zombie makeup and beamed with delight as her boyfriend serenaded her for all to see. She does not care about the Angry Birds. That Artie still thinks she does is honestly a little insulting, to me. That he calls her stupid (and does so immediately after she once again displays that she doesn't care what other people think, saying "Everybody thinks [Santana]'s a bad person, but she's not --") is worse.

It's not surprising that she winds up being the one to break things off. Because while she does cheat on Artie, blinded by the skewed views of sexuality that are less a product of her gullibility and Santana's sneakiness than of a society that still doesn't quite get that lesbians are actually a real thing, Artie in turn displays that the previous six months never quite got through to him. In a lot of ways, he's still where he was right after "Duets," where he thinks that Brittany is only in it for the sex and that she can't possibly have feelings for him.

In Artie's defense, he doesn't do what Santana does; he doesn't enter into a sham relationship with someone else in an attempt to manipulate Brittany; he doesn't make promises and then fail to follow through. In fact, it's pretty likely that he realizes what he's done the very moment he does it -- maybe I'm reading "Never Going Back Again" the wrong way, but that song has always seemed like more of a vow to make amends than as a breakup song to me, and he woos her pretty persistently (and openly) afterwards.

But on the other hand, Artie also has a tendency to backslide in his relationships. A lot. Look at his relationship with Tina -- he dumps her for not having a stutter, gets back together with her only to try to get her to change to suit him, apologizes for that and makes amends only to end up ditching her for video games and calling her "woman" even after she's already made it clear that the righteous blade of her equality is freshly sharpened and ready to cut him in half. And when he first attempts to woo Brittany after "Duets," he's acting as sidekick to Puck's bizarre "bad-ass" flirtations. (It is my not-so-secret headcanon that Brittany was won over not because she thought that Artie was actually as nonchalant as he pretended to be, but because she knew better all along.) He gets better every time he stumbles, but not by very much. It's entirely likely that he'd have another freakout in another six months, whether or not Brittany's doing anything to deserve it. And that's not fair to her.

Now, the end of the season is ambiguous in terms of Artie/Brittany, more so than it is with Brittany/Santana. The last we see of Artie/Brittany is them writing and performing that modern classic, "My Cup," then having a few lines in "Light Up the World." Brittany mentions that she wants to be there when Artie finally walks again. And that's it. Did they get back together at prom? Have they settled into a relationship where they're lulzy besties who write awesome songs together? (Please, God, let it be the second one -- they might not be a great couple, but I could do with more "My Cup"s in my life.) It's impossible to say. But it's safe to say that, as she's done with Santana, Brittany is going to stick by him. She's not giving up.

And if she's putting a little necessary distance between them; again, I think that speaks to a high level of emotional maturity on her part. Hopefully, Artie will catch up one day.




(Also, stop trying to pretend it's not your favorite song ever, Puck. We know it's your favorite song ever.)

a tragic lack of giant robots, it's brittany bitch, women we love fest, brittany s. pierce

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