Glee’s Santana Was Never the Villain - How She Became an Icon

Was charismatic mean girl and queer icon Santana Lopez ever really a villain, or a secret hero all along? When it comes to characters to root for on ‘Glee’, it’s not as simple as ‘love the main character, hate the antagonist.' One name that continuously pops up on lists of ‘best’ and ‘nastiest’ Glee characters is Naya Rivera’s Santana - a character who was unmistakably introduced as a villain, with her signature snappy comebacks and harsh insults. But thanks to Rivera’s performance, an unorthodox coming out narrative, and her channeling her mean girl energy to fight the bullies, Santana ends the show as one of the most lovable, easy to root for characters.

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We are The Take (formerly ScreenPrism).

00:00 Was Santana ever really the villain?
01:24 How Naya built Santana into who she became
02:20 The iconic coming-out storyline
05:08 Santana pit her mean girl traits agains the bullies
07:38 Naya's Glee legacy

[trinaq]

Rest in peace, Naya Rivera. She really brought a lot of heart and soul to Santana, who could have easily been a one dimensional bully.

[daze.d]

Naya Rivera was a triple threat. Gurl can sing, act and dance. I admire her boldness to not be trampled down by anyone. Fly high Naya 😭

[jordanloux]

It honestly sounds like a lot of this came down to tropes clashing with reality. Like the teacher is meant to be sympathetic, but in reality he's got a massive ego from expecting the world from high school students. Then you have Sue, who is a jerk but really has every reason to be even before they softened her.

[lilil]

It probably wouldn't had happened if Naya wasn´t actually quite talented, havign pretty good dancing and acting skills and a voice that is not only great, but quite versatile. Naya and Amber´s duets are probably my favorite covers

[Spicie]

My favourite Santana moment, was when she filled a complaint against Mr Schuester for cultural appropriation in his Spanish class, revealing that he wasn't very good at teaching actual school subjects, and calling him out for not applying himself as a teacher. One of my least favourite moments of the show, was when in the very same season (third) of the series, Mr Schuester won the award for best teacher 🙃

[LouiseAndersen]

Santanna Lopez is a total icon, and deserved more regonition than she got

[Ms_artful]

“Only straight I am is straight up bitch” one of the most iconic lines on TV

[charliescozycorner]

I LOVE Santana with my whole heart. Naya made her incredible and if anyone else played her she wouldn’t be the girl we love

[quietstorm]

The outfit Santana wore in her Smooth Criminal battle duet with Sebastian Smythe is and always will be my favorite. RIP Naya Rivera 🖤🖤

[JenniferBrigitteOpticalVortex]

Naya Rivera is one of my most significant influences. I want to thank you for honoring her. She was my everything. She deserves to be alive. I miss her so much, and her passing left a deep depression in my life. Naya should have won the Emmy for Santana Lopez, and I wish that nobody ever forgets the kind of hero we had in our lives. Naya, may you forever rest in power and glory! You ARE the ultimate hero.

[realemmcee]

There's a Homer Simpson quote I really like where he tells Lisa "you're my greatest accomplishment and you did it all by yourself", and I definitely think it applies to what Naya's portrayal of Santana did for Glee. The acting choices she made were phenomenal and brought so much heart, soul and charisma into her performance (in fact in season 5 they tried to introduce a "Santana 2.0" that just didn't work because you can't just "recreate" Santana Lopez with just anyone). I also admire that Naya was fully willing to be a gay icon at 23 with no reservations (especially as support for the LGBTQ+ community was still kinda iffy in 2010). This queer kid growing up in Sydney going to an all-girls Catholic school (who also had feelings for their best friend, just like Santana and Brittany did) will always be grateful to her for that.

[mereana]

I just watched Trope Anatomys video on this! I love how relevant Nayas performance and Santanas storyline still is. She will be missed, rest easy Naya 🕊

[trinaq]

I used to think that Santana was mean and unnecessarily cruel to Rachel. But now that I'm older, I realise that she was stating facts. Plus, the fact that Lea apparently had bad blood with multiple cast members behind the scenes leads me to believe that Naya wasn't entirely acting...

[BallroomXtra]

Glee came out in 2009, I was still in High School during that time. As a teenager, I was struggling with my own identity and I preferred to stay isolated and cordial to people because I didn't really like those around me. Everyone was fake, or pretending, or artificial and I didn't play along. I tended to call people out and that made everyone afraid of me or not want to be friends. As a result, I was alone a lot of the time. When Glee came on the screen I was immediately drawn to the music and followed a similar path to others at the time (I tried to connect to Kurt, I worshipped Rachel, I found Puck incredibly attractive (Everyone was panting over Finn) etc.) but when Santana hit the screens I was enamored by her wit and sarcasm. 

That's where the connection developed at first but the issue was those character traits are rarely ever used in a positive way. Wit, Sarcasm, Shade throwing, etc. are only ever used to hurt people. I never strived to be mean or hurtful so I simply enjoyed her from afar as a fan. When her character arc began to change and I saw her use that for good, I began to find my connection to her and applying my wordy snarky intelligence in ways to protect others. If anything, Santana gave me permission to stand up for others and protect myself with my words and snark. So when I say how much I value what Naya brought to this character and how she inspired a generation of smart mouth kids who use villainous traits for the greater good, it's because I was and still am one of them. 

Now, 2022, I am a HS Fine Arts Teacher. I have classes full of sassy, playful, shade-throwing children who I find ways to teach them how to use it for the greater good as opposed to tearing each other down. The generation I am teaching are so curious and excited about the world they are about to walk into. I only hope to give them the tools to: stand up for themselves, stand up for others, and always strive for the greatness they are all capable of achieving.

[xxbexx_lynnexx]

she was so wonderfully talented. Her versions of songs are usually my preferred over the orginals even. Gone too soon, RIP

[audreytheausllyologist]

I freaking love Santana. She’s so funny and always spouts facts and her speech patterns are literally the best 😂😂😂😂 RIP Naya ✝️❤

[mbanerjee]

Not to mention, Naya Rivera was easily one the strongest singers on the show; second only to Amber Riley.
I remember way more powerhouse performances by Santana than by Rachel, Mr. Schuester, Finn, or Kurt.

[lost_in_the_forrest]

I appreciate this video so much. I’ve always loved Santana, even before I could fully appreciate why. She was one of the first characters that I could truly relate to as bisexual Latina she/they myself. I will always be grateful for this character and she the part of glee that I remember the most fondly.

[aureinaalvarez]

It’s weird watching movies and shows where one of the actors isn’t alive anymore. Like they’re forever alive in film but forever gone from this world.

[madinp]

Man I love Naya so much. I can't believe it's been two years. It still hurts to think about how she's gone and how she was NEVER appreciated enough in her time.