Following the news of Nayana Rivera’s death on July 8th, co-stars, celebrities and fans all around the world condolence for the glee star.
GLEE TV SERIES:
In the fox show which ran from 2009-2015, Rivera played the role of a highschool cheerleader ‘Santana Lopez’. After her screen time and presence increased in the second half, her character is radically changed to lesbian. Throughout the series, her roles show how she faces struggles to open up about her sexuality and her inability about coming out of her closet and proposing her love to her best friend. She received many favourable and positive reviews for her performance. We can say taking up the lesbian role is brave and revolutionary at that point of time where the LGBTQ community is not really supported.
BBC in 2020 looked at the impact of Santana role as a lesbian and stated that how her role impacted women internationally is really appreciable.
Here are some Santana most empowering moments from Glee beloved by critics and fans.
- Coming out to her grandmother: maybe you connect to the scene where Santana pours her heart out and comes out to her grandmother finally accepting herself.
- Her mashup performance: when she gives a performance of adeles mashup of “someone like you” and “rumor has it” singing her heart out when she is outed in the hallway.
- Santana is confessing her feelings to Brittany: in this scene, Santana explains all her inner anger, turmoil as well as her love toward her best friends. watch the scene here
4. Songbird: when Santana sings an intimate song about her best friend when they breakup after school and decides to go on separate ways. Watch the scene here.
5. marrying her best friend: watching Brittany and Santana love each other, overcoming obstacles and getting married.