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'''Brittany Susan Pierce''' is a [[fictional character]] from the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] musical comedy-drama series ''[[Glee (TV series)|Glee]]''. The character is portrayed by actress [[Heather Morris (actress)|Heather Morris]], and has appeared in ''Glee'' from its second episode, "[[Showmance]]", first broadcast on September 9, 2009. Brittany was developed by ''Glee'' creators [[Ryan Murphy (writer)|Ryan Murphy]], [[Brad Falchuk]] and [[Ian Brennan (writer)|Ian Brennan]]. In ''Glee'', Brittany is a [[cheerio]] for the fictional William McKinley High School cheerleading squad, and a member of the school's glee club led by [[Will Schuester]]. Morris was originally hired to teach Beyoncé's "[[Single Ladies]]" dance to the ''Glee'' actors. The show at the time was looking for a third cheerleader, and Morris landed the role. Morris was upgraded to a series regular in the second season of the show, which saw the character have larger storylines, sing solos and perform dance routines.
'''Brittany Susan Pierce''' is a [[fictional character]] from the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] musical comedy-drama series ''[[Glee (TV series)|Glee]]''. The character is portrayed by actress [[Heather Morris (actress)|Heather Morris]], and has appeared in ''Glee'' from its second episode, "[[Showmance]]", first broadcast on September 9, 2009. Brittany was developed by ''Glee'' creators [[Ryan Murphy (writer)|Ryan Murphy]], [[Brad Falchuk]] and [[Ian Brennan (writer)|Ian Brennan]]. In ''Glee'', Brittany is a [[Cheerio]] for the fictional William McKinley High School cheerleading squad, and a member of the school's glee club led by [[Will Schuester]]. Morris was originally hired to teach Beyoncé's "[[Single Ladies]]" dance to the ''Glee'' actors. The show at the time was looking for a third cheerleader, and Morris landed the role. Morris was upgraded to a series regular in the second season of the show, which saw the character have larger storylines, sing solos and perform dance routines.


The character has been favorable with television critics. Jarrett Wieselman of the ''[[New York Post]]'' has compared Morris as Brittany to Lynch as Sue, opining that she has "emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now". Wieselman wrote that since her introduction, Brittany has been given "more and more to do [and] less and less to think", and that the result has been "one of the most clueless characters that's ever figured out how to dress herself in the morning."<ref name="NYPB"/> When a promotional clip for the episode "Sectionals" indicated that Brittany and Santana had slept together, Dorothy Snarker, writing for lesbian entertainment website [[AfterEllen.com and AfterElton.com|AfterEllen.com]], praised the pairing, referring to them by the [[portmanteau]] "Brittana".<ref name="AE"/> Snarker called the two her "new favourite ''Glee'' pairing", commenting that: "While Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana) have had minimal screen time, they’ve made it count. Heather in particular has brought the laughs as the Cheerio least likely to get a [[Mensa International|Mensa]] invitation."<ref name="AE"/> Brittany has attracted comparison to [[Amanda Seyfried]]'s character from the 2004 hit teen comedy ''[[Mean Girls]]''. Heather also receives acclaim for her dancing and her portrayal as Brittany.
The character has been favorable with television critics. Jarrett Wieselman of the ''[[New York Post]]'' has compared Morris as Brittany to Lynch as Sue, opining that she has "emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now". Wieselman wrote that since her introduction, Brittany has been given "more and more to do [and] less and less to think", and that the result has been "one of the most clueless characters that's ever figured out how to dress herself in the morning."<ref name="NYPB"/> When a promotional clip for the episode "Sectionals" indicated that Brittany and Santana had slept together, Dorothy Snarker, writing for lesbian entertainment website [[AfterEllen.com and AfterElton.com|AfterEllen.com]], praised the pairing, referring to them by the [[portmanteau]] "Brittana".<ref name="AE"/> Snarker called the two her "new favourite ''Glee'' pairing", commenting that: "While Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana) have had minimal screen time, they’ve made it count. Heather in particular has brought the laughs as the Cheerio least likely to get a [[Mensa International|Mensa]] invitation."<ref name="AE"/> Brittany has attracted comparison to [[Amanda Seyfried]]'s character from the 2004 hit teen comedy ''[[Mean Girls]]''. Heather also receives acclaim for her dancing and her portrayal as Brittany.
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In the episode "[[Sexy (Glee)|Sexy]]", following her performance of [[Landslide (song)|Landslide]] with [[Holly Holliday#McKinley High faculty|Miss Holliday]], Santana admits her true feelings for Brittany. Although Santana fears being ostracized by the McKinley High student body for being in a [[same-sex relationship]], she confesses her romantic love to Brittany, feelings which are reciprocated. However, Brittany states that she loves her boyfriend, Artie, too and would never do anything to hurt him, even if it means not being able to be with Santana. She says that if she and Artie ever break up, she would be all Santana's, proudly so.
In the episode "[[Sexy (Glee)|Sexy]]", following her performance of [[Landslide (song)|Landslide]] with [[Holly Holliday#McKinley High faculty|Miss Holliday]], Santana admits her true feelings for Brittany. Although Santana fears being ostracized by the McKinley High student body for being in a [[same-sex relationship]], she confesses her romantic love to Brittany, feelings which are reciprocated. However, Brittany states that she loves her boyfriend, Artie, too and would never do anything to hurt him, even if it means not being able to be with Santana. She says that if she and Artie ever break up, she would be all Santana's, proudly so.

Pierce is [[Dutch people|Dutch]] and has a pet cat named Charity, who she believes reads her diary and crashed the family [[SUV]]. Her favorite song of all time is "My Headband" by Rachel Berry.


==Development==
==Development==

Revision as of 18:19, 17 March 2011

Brittany Pierce
'Glee' character
File:Brittany-Glee.jpg
Heather Morris as Brittany Pierce.
First appearance"Showmance"
Created byRyan Murphy
Brad Falchuk
Ian Brennan
Portrayed byHeather Morris
In-universe information
OccupationHigh school student

Brittany Susan Pierce is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actress Heather Morris, and has appeared in Glee from its second episode, "Showmance", first broadcast on September 9, 2009. Brittany was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. In Glee, Brittany is a Cheerio for the fictional William McKinley High School cheerleading squad, and a member of the school's glee club led by Will Schuester. Morris was originally hired to teach Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" dance to the Glee actors. The show at the time was looking for a third cheerleader, and Morris landed the role. Morris was upgraded to a series regular in the second season of the show, which saw the character have larger storylines, sing solos and perform dance routines.

The character has been favorable with television critics. Jarrett Wieselman of the New York Post has compared Morris as Brittany to Lynch as Sue, opining that she has "emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now". Wieselman wrote that since her introduction, Brittany has been given "more and more to do [and] less and less to think", and that the result has been "one of the most clueless characters that's ever figured out how to dress herself in the morning."[1] When a promotional clip for the episode "Sectionals" indicated that Brittany and Santana had slept together, Dorothy Snarker, writing for lesbian entertainment website AfterEllen.com, praised the pairing, referring to them by the portmanteau "Brittana".[2] Snarker called the two her "new favourite Glee pairing", commenting that: "While Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana) have had minimal screen time, they’ve made it count. Heather in particular has brought the laughs as the Cheerio least likely to get a Mensa invitation."[2] Brittany has attracted comparison to Amanda Seyfried's character from the 2004 hit teen comedy Mean Girls. Heather also receives acclaim for her dancing and her portrayal as Brittany.

Storylines

"Britney/Brittany" is the first Glee episode in which Heather Morris (pictured) is featured singing a solo performance.

Brittany Pierce first appears in Glee during the show's second episode, as a member of William McKinley High's cheerleading team. She joins the glee club, New Directions, with her friends and fellow cheerleaders Quinn Fabray (Dianna Agron) and Santana Lopez (Naya Rivera) in the episode "Showmance", as part of a plan by cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) to destroy the club from the inside.[3] When the club is due to compete at the sectionals round of show choir competition, Brittany gives their set-list to Sue, who leaks the routines to competing glee clubs. New Directions put a new set-list together at the last minute, and go on to win the competition regardless. Brittany also reveals that she and Santana have had sex, but are not dating.[4] Following the club's victory at sectionals, Sue renews her effort to bring them down, enlisting Brittany and Santana to break up co-captains Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) and Finn Hudson (Cory Monteith). They invite Finn on a date with the both of them, but ignore him throughout the evening, ultimately requesting that he sit in the car and leave them to finish their meal alone.[5] She mentions in the episode "Bad Reputation" that she has made out with almost everyone in the school - guys and girls alike, and the school janitor. She also briefly dates Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) in the episode "Laryngitis" as he wants to appear more masculine to impress his father and he's the only guy she hasn't made out with in the school.

The episode "Britney/Brittany" was where she made her singing debut, covering "I'm a Slave 4 U" as a solo and "Me Against the Music" as a duet with Santana. The episode also revealed her full name is Brittany Susan Pierce, so her name, written as "Brittany S. Pierce," is pronounceable in the same way as "Britney Spears". She reflects how she had always lived in Britney Spears's shadow, stating that she will never be as talented as she. Although later in the episode, after having a Britney fantasy while anesthetized, she comes to embrace Britney and finds that she actually encouraged her to want to get a solo, as she does in "Toxic." In the episode "Duets", she asks Santana to be her partner for the duet competition while they are making out. Santana cruelly rejects her, leaving her devastated. She attempts to make Santana jealous by dating Artie, and signaling to her that she will no longer be sexually available. She ends up sleeping with Artie, but Artie breaks up with her after Santana tells him that Brittany was just using him for his voice. Artie is upset at the loss of his virginity, which he wanted to mean something. Brittany apologizes, but he doesn't listen. The closing scene of the episode shows that Brittany has been very upset by how she treated Artie, and how it parallels her relationship with Santana.[6]

Brittany's relationship with Artie continues to develop. In "Never Been Kissed" he gets her to go out with him again. As of "Furt" they are officially dating. When Mr. Schuester decides to showcase some of their other strengths, such as Brittany and Mike's dancing, they begin rehearsing together. Not confident of having the weight of Sectionals on her shoulders, Artie gives her a "magic" comb to boost her confidence, which she promptly loses. Unwilling to face Artie, she starts avoiding him just as Tina shares her concern that Mike and Brittany were having an affair together. Artie confronts her about her avoiding him, but due to her limited vocabulary she admits her guilt incorrectly, which she repairs later and makes up with Artie. She then dances lead with Mike to Santana's solo of "Valerie". In a Christmas themed episode it is revealed that Brittany still believes in Santa Claus. In "The Sue Sylvester Shuffle", Brittany is forced by cheerleading coach Sue to be used as a human cannonball. She also has to make a choice between Glee Club and the Cheerios, like her friends Quinn and Santana, she at first chooses cheerleading to keep her popularity, but they eventually choose Glee Club and quit the Cheerios.[7]

In the episode "Sexy", following her performance of Landslide with Miss Holliday, Santana admits her true feelings for Brittany. Although Santana fears being ostracized by the McKinley High student body for being in a same-sex relationship, she confesses her romantic love to Brittany, feelings which are reciprocated. However, Brittany states that she loves her boyfriend, Artie, too and would never do anything to hurt him, even if it means not being able to be with Santana. She says that if she and Artie ever break up, she would be all Santana's, proudly so.

Pierce is Dutch and has a pet cat named Charity, who she believes reads her diary and crashed the family SUV. Her favorite song of all time is "My Headband" by Rachel Berry.

Development

Creation and casting

Brittany is regularly played by Heather Morris. Morris grew up with a strong choreographic background. Morris was taking acting classes and actively pursuing an acting career when Beyoncé asked her to join another world tour. Morris, however, turned her down. "She said, 'I'm really sad because I'm losing my token white girl!'" Shortly thereafter, she was asked by Zach Woodlee to teach the choreography for Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" dance to the Glee actors. At the same time, the show was looking for a third cheerleader, and Morris ended up landing the role of Brittany.[8] Initially a background character who hardly ever spoke, the role grew as writers discovered Morris had a gift for delivering one-liners.[9]

Brittany's role in the show was initially intended to be minor, but grew towards the end of the first season. She does not have any solo musical performances during season one, but Morris hoped she would have one in the second season.[10] On April 27, 2010, Michael Ausiello of Entertainment Weekly reported that Morris would be upgraded to a series regular for season two.[11] Speaking to E! Online, Morris commented: "It's so fun. I literally just stand there and and doze off and then I'm like, 'Oh yeah, I have to speak now!'"[12] At the 2010 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, Murphy stated that Brittany would have "big storylines" in the new season, as viewers want to know more about her.[13]

Characterization

Many of Brittany's lines are unscripted, and are instead devised by Murphy during filming, or improvised by Morris. Morris portrays Brittany as being "literally insane." She is used by the series' writers to say things no other character would, to the point that Morris considers some of her lines nonsensical.[10] Brittany's character traits include finding recipes confusing, cheating off intellectually disabled classmates, thinking her cat is reading her diary, and not knowing her right hand from her left.[1] She is friendly towards most of the other characters, with Morris explaining that Brittany "love[s] everybody, no matter who they are", so she is frequently smiling and being nice to people.[10] Morris bases her portrayal of Brittany on the character Karen Smith from the film Mean Girls. She plays Brittany as being very innocent, rather than stupid.[14]

At the Paley Festival Glee panel in March 2010, Murphy stated that Brittany and Santana would be seen to make out during the show's first season.[15] Morris and Rivera only became aware of this after reading a Paley Festival report online. When they asked Murphy about the development, he claimed to have made the statement "to get a kick" out of the "dirty guy" asking about them. Murphy told Morris and Rivera that Glee would not push relationships to appease the show's fans, but would only pursue those which were "organic and natural."[10] While there are moments on the show which depict Brittany and Santana as being very close to one another, Morris attributes these to her close relationship with Rivera, explaining: "that is just Naya and I joking around with each other and being really close. It's always her and I just messing around and they end up using it."[10]

Later in 2010, when interviewed by After Ellen and discussing the large lesbian audience of Glee, Ryan Murphy confirmed that Season 2 would contain at least one kiss between Brittany and Santana.[16] In January 2011, several months after the first Brittany/Santana kiss, Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk further confirmed that "Brittana is on. Brittana was always on."[17]

Musical performances

Brittany performs in several of the series' musical numbers. In the second season episode "Britney/Brittany, Brittany performs one song ("I'm a Slave 4 U") as a solo and another ("Me Against the Music") as a duet with Santana. The songs by Morris as Brittany have been released as a single, available for digital download, and also featured on the show's soundtrack albums.[18] Brittany performed Kesha's Tik-Tok in the episode "Blame It on the Alcohol". Candace Bulter of ScreenCrave praised the New Directions' cover of "Tik Tok", writing, "Ke$ha might be able to out-drink the Glee members, but their cover of her song was phenomenal."[19] She would go on to praise Brittany's choreography and voice, calling it "mad" and "awesome".[19] Sandra Gonzalez of Entertainment Weekly praised all of the musical performances and cover of the episode.[20]

Reception

Jarrett Wieselman of the New York Post has compared Morris as Brittany to Lynch as Sue, opining that she has "emerged as one of the funniest second bananas on TV right now". Wieselman wrote that since her introduction, Brittany has been given "more and more to do [and] less and less to think", and that the result has been "one of the most clueless characters that's ever figured out how to dress herself in the morning."[1] E! Online's Megan Masters has also compared Brittany to Sue, stating that Brittany's one-liners "easily rival" Sue's. She deemed Brittany "brainlessly brilliant", and thanked the Glee producers for creating her, writing: "Never before have we had the pleasure of enjoying such a ridiculously dumb—yet always loveable—character on television."[21]

When a promotional clip for the episode "Sectionals" indicated that Brittany and Santana had slept together, Dorothy Snarker, writing for lesbian entertainment website AfterEllen.com, praised the pairing, referring to them by the portmanteau "Brittana".[2] Snarker called the two her "new favourite Glee pairing", commenting that: "While Heather Morris (Brittany) and Naya Rivera (Santana) have had minimal screen time, they’ve made it count. Heather in particular has brought the laughs as the Cheerio least likely to get a Mensa invitation. Never mind Finn and Rachel — I’m on Team Brittana now."[2]

In January 2010, Morris and her co-stars won the "Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.[22] Later that year, Brittany and Santana were nominated for the "Favorite Fictional Lesbian Couple" award at the AfterEllen.com Visibility Awards.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wieselman, Jarrett (November 19, 2009). "'Glee's' secret weapon". New York Post. Retrieved November 19, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d Snarker, Dorothy (December 7, 2009). ""Glee" spoils us with an unexpected coupling". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
  3. ^ Ryan Murphy (director, writer), Brad Falchuk (writer), Ian Brennan (writer) (September 9, 2009). "Showmance". Glee. Season 1. Episode 2. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ Brad Falchuk (writer, director) (December 9, 2009). "Sectionals". Glee. Season 1. Episode 13. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Ian Brennan (writer), Brad Falchuk (director) (April 13, 2010). "Hell-O". Glee. Season 1. Episode 14. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Eric Stoltz (director), Ian Brennan (writer) (October 12, 2010). "Duets". Glee. Season 2. Episode 4. Fox. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |series link= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Futterman, Erica (February 7, 2011). "'Glee' Recap: Super Bowl Episode Aims for a 'Zombie Double Rainbow'". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. Retrieved February 7, 2011.
  8. ^ "Young Entertainers Get a Taste of Hollywood". My Buffalo. December 31, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2010.
  9. ^ TV: Heather Morris has become a reliable comic voice on 'Glee' | ScrippsNews
  10. ^ a b c d e Steinberg, Lisa. "Heather Morris". Starry Constellation Magazine. Retrieved April 14, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Ausiello, Michael (April 27, 2010). "'Glee' exclusive: Brittany and Santana poised for major promotions". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  12. ^ "Glee's Heather Morris Promoted To Series Regular". Stars Entertainment.com. April 27, 2010. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  13. ^ Goldman, Eric (August 3, 2010). "Glee: More Whedon? More Brittany?". IGN. Retrieved August 8, 2010.
  14. ^ Martin, Denise (September 27, 2010). "Glee's Heather Morris on Becoming Britney Spears: I Was "So Nervous" To Sing!". TV Guide. Retrieved December 9, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Goldberg, Lesley (March 15, 2010). "Jane Lynch and Ryan Murphy offer "Glee" spoilers at PaleyFest". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  16. ^ Bendix, Trish (August 1, 2010). "Ryan Murphy tells us that Naya Rivera and Heather Morris will kiss in "Glee" episode filming this week". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  17. ^ Snarker, Dorothy (January 21, 2011). ""Glee" co-creator says "Brittana is on"". AfterEllen.com. Retrieved February 18, 2011.
  18. ^ Bentley, Jean (November 3, 2010). "'Glee: The Music, Volume 4' Track Listing Released". TV Squad. AOL. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
  19. ^ a b Bulter, Candace (February 22, 2011). "Glee: Season 2 Episode 14: Blame It On the Alcohol -TV Review". ScreenCrave. Retrieved February 23, 2011. Cite error: The named reference "sc" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  20. ^ Gonzalez, Sandra (February 22, 2011). "'Glee' recap: The Wasted Talent". Entertainment Weekly. Time, Inc. Retrieved February 23, 2011.
  21. ^ Masters, Megan (April 30, 2010). "Glee Sneak Peek: More Brittany Brilliance to Start Your Weekend". E! Online. E!. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
  22. ^ "16th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards scorecard". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. January 23, 2010. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  23. ^ AfterEllen.com Staff (December 1, 2010). "The AfterEllen.com 2010 Visibility Awards – Vote Now!". AfterEllen.com. Logo. Retrieved December 2, 2010.
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