openingyourselfuptojoy | Meta Wednesday: Santana Lopez

Santana, more than any other character, wears a lot of red. Let's discuss that!

OMG OMG OMG I found a color analysis site!

http://www.wwwearables.com/techniques/color-analysis.htm

Red:

Just as red sits on top of the rainbow, you like to stay on top of things. You have a zest for life. Remember that red can speed up the pulse, increase the respiration rate and raise blood pressure. It is associated with fire, heat, and blood, so it is impossible to ignore. And so are you (or would like to be).

The key words associated with red are winner, achiever, intense, impulsive, active, competitive, daring, aggressive and passionate. Red people are exciting, animated, optimistic, emotional and extroverted. Desire is the key word, they hunger for fullness of experience and living.

Now that you have all the good news, let's hear it for the bad news. Since you crave so much excitement in your life, routine can drive you bananas. Restlessness can make you fickle in your pursuit of new things to turn you on. It is hard for you to be objective and you can be opinionated. You have a tendency to listen to what others tell you and then do whatever you please. Patience is not one of your virtues.

However, you are an exciting person to be with, and always stimulating. The world would be a dull place without red people.

I'm not that good at colour meta, but there's the whole devil in a red dress/cheerleading uniform thing, no?

"If everyone put out we'd have a winning football team."

"Just do what I do, and never say no."

Even from the very beginning, Santana has been Glee's most sex-positive character. What are we to make of that? Any discussion of Santana, sex, and sexuality should go here.

Personally I don't feel Santana counts as "sex positive." To me, sex positivity is about acknowledging and embracing all different kinds of sexualities: straight/queer, kinky/vanilla, mono/poly, active/chaste, sexual/asexual... It's also about sex education, safer sex, enthusiastic consent, etc etc. It's not about flippantly declaring that everyone should put out, or pressuring someone to have sex because it's tiring to look at virgins, and it's definitely not about never saying no.

I feel like Santana has a lot of issues around sex, and a lot of that has to do with her discomfort with being queer. I'm still not entirely certain whether she's attracted to men, but it seems clear that she has had sex for lots of reasons that have nothing to do with attraction or sexual fulfilment, things like status and popularity and manipulating people. Not that it's necessarily bad to have sex for those reasons. It just seems like she wasn't coming at it from a sex positive perspective.

Edited 2012-07-11 15:55 (UTC)

I agree with all of this. None of the sex Santana has with boys is fulfilling for her. The aftermath scene for her and Finn in TPoM is incredibly depressing for both of them. That's also where Santana says that it takes a few times for any sense of accomplishment to kick in.

She has just enough sex with just enough guys to convince herself she's straight and that she has control. As long as she and Brittany making out is usually just for titillation purposes, and otherwise when she needs a warm body, it doesn't have to mean anything.

Think about how long Santana's on-again off-again relationship with Puck lasts. There's references to the two dating or sleeping together from Acafellas until Furt, for crying out loud, and Santana still expects Puck to buy her dinner in Silly Love Songs.

There's also the matter of Santana's position in the sexuality spectrum. She identifies as a lesbian, and that's what matters. However, she does tell Holly that she is attracted to both girls and guys and even had a sex dream about a shrub (and thus was an amusing crack ship born). She's attracted to Martinez, Cooper and Puck in a dress. I like that this is complicated, because so is sexuality in real life.

(Just like Blaine is 100% gay, but it's not like being drunk actually changes whether or not kissing a girl turns him on.)

Let's take a closer look at the things Santana has sang, shall we?

A list, for reference.

Solos:
Science Fiction Double Feature
Valerie
Trouty Mouth
Songbird
Back to Black
If I Can't Have You
Love You Like A Love Song

Duets
The Boy is Mine (Mercedes)
Me Against the Music (Brittany)
River Deep Mountain High (Mercedes)
Dancing Queen (Mercedes)
A Boy Like That (Rachel)
Hit Me With Your Best Shot/One Way Or Another (Finn)
I Kissed a Girl (Rachel)
We Found Love (Rachel)
Smooth Criminal (Sebastian)
La Isla Bonita (Mr Martinez)
I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Brittany)
So Emotional (Rachel)
Take My Breath Away (Quinn)

My favorite thing about Santana's songs is that she goes from confrontational or mad-flirty songs to singing all the ballads.

In other words, she goes from faking (The Boy Is Mine) to sort of subliminally asking for Brittany (River Deep - Mountain High, Valerie, not to mention Trouty Mouth, which I have been told is actually about vaginas). Me Against the Music is very telling, but then it's a dream sequence, and Santana sings Songbird when she's alone with Brittany... and then can't go along with Fondue for Two. Then prom happens and Santana becomes very afraid and starts lying again with Back to Black.

I Kissed a Girl, naturally, marks a turning point. She admits her Constant Craving for Brittany. After that, she sings If I Can't Have You and Love You Like A Love Song, which are super sweet and tender. As for duets, since Santana is happier now, she sings We Found Love. In the Trouble Tones, she sings about surviving and being able to make it without the men in her life needing to support her. She doesn't hesitate to sing with Brittany now. As for duets with boys... Smooth Criminal continues the trend of "Santana is at risk" that was started in season 2 with "You saw what they did to Kurt" and continued with her being cast as Anita and everything about I Kissed a Girl. La Isla Bonita is not a sexual performance, it's about celebrating her culture (although, why are the lyrics so heteronormative?).

Oh, and all the mildly lesbian duets with Rachel, ndb.

This all makes so much sense! You're a genius!

Anything else you'd like to talk about can go here!

I just watched Dreamgirls and suddenly everything about Mercedes makes even more sense.

"You're not Beyonce, you're Effie White" and Sunshine sang Beyonce's song but Mercedes actually wanted Sunshine to join.

Curtis and Effie are an item ---> Kurt and Mercedes substitute each other for boyfriends
Curtis gets married to Deena ---> Kurt spiritually marries Blaine
Curtis is Magic's baby daddy ---> Kurt and Mercedes produce Unique
"Effie, I'm tired of all the problems you're making up!"

Meta Wednesday: Santana Lopez

Color Theory: Red

Re: Color Theory: Red

Re: Color Theory: Red

Sex and Sexuality

Re: Sex and Sexuality

Re: Sex and Sexuality

Songs and Lyrics

Re: Songs and Lyrics

Re: Songs and Lyrics

Re: Sex and Sexuality

Misc

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