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Aaaand then I didn't post for a week and a half, oops.
In honor of tonight's Supernatural finale, I'm going to make an effort to pull together some of the thoughts I've been having this season - for the last season and a half, really - and finish by trying to justify why I still watch this show.
In retrospect, it seems obvious - Supernatural started losing me last season with the constant additions to the pile of angst Dean has always carried around. I won't call myself a Deangirl, because that's too close to identifying with a fandom I've never been all that fond of (oh SPN fandom, why so fucking crazy?), but Dean was the brother I was most invested in. Sam's never done much for me. The imbalance of acting talent between Jensen and Jared is almost painful - Jared's improved, but not in time to draw me in. Jensen's acting and screen presence have been more accessible to me from the start, and that made Dean more accessible to me as a character, where Sam leaves me pretty cold.
But last season, I stopped caring about Dean. Somewhere along the way, it all got to be too much. Dean went to hell! Dean is back from hell! Dean remembers hell! Dean didn't spend four months in hell, he spent forty years in hell! After the first thirty years in hell, Dean caved in to the demons' offers to let him do the torturing, and he remembers those last ten years too! They made the same offer to John, and John always said no, and so Dean isn't as strong as the father he's always idolized to an unhealthy degree! Oh, and by the way, Dean's act of giving in was THE FIRST SEAL IN THE SERIES OF SIXTY-SIX THAT NEEDED TO BE OPENED TO RELEASE LUCIFER.
I MEAN ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME
I don't remember exactly which of these revelations pushed me over the edge, but about halfway through, I stopped feeling bad for Dean and just started laughing. It was so fucking ridiculous. It wasn't dark anymore, it was just melodramatic emotional torture porn.
And as soon as I started laughing at Dean, I stopped taking him seriously, and then I stopped caring about him. So that's a show with two main characters I don't care about. So why do I still watch?
You know what? It isn't the rampant misogyny. Yeah, I'm finally gonna go there. It's embarrassing to admit that I needed to watch the infamous and amazing fanvid "Women's Work" to really point it out to me. But once it had been shown to me, I couldn't not see it. It's everywhere, in every episode. The show starts off by fridging not one, but TWO women, for Christ's sake! And since then it has gone on to systematically kill off every single recurring female character who has any brains, any strength, any intelligence at all. If you're a love interest (and thus explicitly, rather than implicitly, a sex object), you might have a chance - Cassie, Sarah, and Lisa are still around. As far we know. Poor Madison was an exception, but then we have to keep Sam's angst nice and fresh, don't we?
Mary, Jessica, Meg, Ava, Bela, Ruby, Lilith, Pamela, Anna, Ellen, Jo . . . that's a much longer list, and it's a list of kickass women, and it's a list of kickass women who all had to die so the men of the show could keep their spotlight.
One more thing about that before I get too angry to continue: What the show did to Ellen and Jo in particular, bringing them back just to die? If Eric Kripke came up to me, gave me the finger, and said, "Yeah, my show hates women, whatcha gonna do about it?", I would still find that less offensive.
And all of that is just the the tip of that nasty little iceberg. So why do I still watch?
It isn't the influence of fandom. Supernatural is the best example I've ever seen of why fandom should never have a say in what happens on their beloved show. Most of the women in that long list died because fandom resented them for taking time from/horning in on their precious Winchesters. The angst gets piled on because fandom likes it - there's always been a particular taste for watching Dean suffer, because he does it so very prettily. Even Castiel's (whose popularity, by the way, stands in stark contrast to the hate directed at every single recurring female character) fucking nickname came from fandom. This influence became especially obvious in season four, and the decline of the show is no coincidence. So why do I still watch?
Not for the race issues, which I feel less equipped to address properly. But it's worth mentioning that, as of now, the only black male character I can think of who's survived his appearances has been Rufus Turner. RUN, RUFUS. FOR GOD'S SAKE, RUN.
So why do I still watch?
Mostly? It's the show's epic multi-season story arc working in its favor. I've sunk way too much time into this goddamn thing to give up so close to the finish line. That's what I've been telling myself all season. I've endured some bad episodes and lots of blank staring (on my part) at characters I know I'm supposed to care about but can't anymore because I just can't let go until I find out what how it ends. I don't care about the Winchesters, and the prospect of Sam spending eternity hanging with Lucifer doesn't elicit the kind of horror it's meant to for me, and I'm so tired of all the privileged bullshit, but I do care about that story and about the world the show has created. And I care about not having wasted all the time I've put into being a fan. And I care about Castiel, because they haven't managed to ruin him yet and because Misha Collins has brilliant comic timing and has kept the character fresh for me. (The operative word in that sentence is "yet," and I know it, so I don't care as much as I could out of sheer self-defense, but it still counts.) And in the last couple of episodes I have cared about watching Crowley be fucking awesome; Good Omens ripoff though he may be, he's still brought an energy and life to his episodes that Supernatural has been missing for a long, long time.
In last week's episode, Sam asked Dean if he remembers when they just roamed the country, hunting. Dean's answer was a cool and simple "No."
Neither do I, Dean. Neither do I.
(And if you disagree with every single thing I have just said, I think we can still find common ground with this question: What the fuck are they going to do for season six?!)
In honor of tonight's Supernatural finale, I'm going to make an effort to pull together some of the thoughts I've been having this season - for the last season and a half, really - and finish by trying to justify why I still watch this show.
In retrospect, it seems obvious - Supernatural started losing me last season with the constant additions to the pile of angst Dean has always carried around. I won't call myself a Deangirl, because that's too close to identifying with a fandom I've never been all that fond of (oh SPN fandom, why so fucking crazy?), but Dean was the brother I was most invested in. Sam's never done much for me. The imbalance of acting talent between Jensen and Jared is almost painful - Jared's improved, but not in time to draw me in. Jensen's acting and screen presence have been more accessible to me from the start, and that made Dean more accessible to me as a character, where Sam leaves me pretty cold.
But last season, I stopped caring about Dean. Somewhere along the way, it all got to be too much. Dean went to hell! Dean is back from hell! Dean remembers hell! Dean didn't spend four months in hell, he spent forty years in hell! After the first thirty years in hell, Dean caved in to the demons' offers to let him do the torturing, and he remembers those last ten years too! They made the same offer to John, and John always said no, and so Dean isn't as strong as the father he's always idolized to an unhealthy degree! Oh, and by the way, Dean's act of giving in was THE FIRST SEAL IN THE SERIES OF SIXTY-SIX THAT NEEDED TO BE OPENED TO RELEASE LUCIFER.
I MEAN ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME
I don't remember exactly which of these revelations pushed me over the edge, but about halfway through, I stopped feeling bad for Dean and just started laughing. It was so fucking ridiculous. It wasn't dark anymore, it was just melodramatic emotional torture porn.
And as soon as I started laughing at Dean, I stopped taking him seriously, and then I stopped caring about him. So that's a show with two main characters I don't care about. So why do I still watch?
You know what? It isn't the rampant misogyny. Yeah, I'm finally gonna go there. It's embarrassing to admit that I needed to watch the infamous and amazing fanvid "Women's Work" to really point it out to me. But once it had been shown to me, I couldn't not see it. It's everywhere, in every episode. The show starts off by fridging not one, but TWO women, for Christ's sake! And since then it has gone on to systematically kill off every single recurring female character who has any brains, any strength, any intelligence at all. If you're a love interest (and thus explicitly, rather than implicitly, a sex object), you might have a chance - Cassie, Sarah, and Lisa are still around. As far we know. Poor Madison was an exception, but then we have to keep Sam's angst nice and fresh, don't we?
Mary, Jessica, Meg, Ava, Bela, Ruby, Lilith, Pamela, Anna, Ellen, Jo . . . that's a much longer list, and it's a list of kickass women, and it's a list of kickass women who all had to die so the men of the show could keep their spotlight.
One more thing about that before I get too angry to continue: What the show did to Ellen and Jo in particular, bringing them back just to die? If Eric Kripke came up to me, gave me the finger, and said, "Yeah, my show hates women, whatcha gonna do about it?", I would still find that less offensive.
And all of that is just the the tip of that nasty little iceberg. So why do I still watch?
It isn't the influence of fandom. Supernatural is the best example I've ever seen of why fandom should never have a say in what happens on their beloved show. Most of the women in that long list died because fandom resented them for taking time from/horning in on their precious Winchesters. The angst gets piled on because fandom likes it - there's always been a particular taste for watching Dean suffer, because he does it so very prettily. Even Castiel's (whose popularity, by the way, stands in stark contrast to the hate directed at every single recurring female character) fucking nickname came from fandom. This influence became especially obvious in season four, and the decline of the show is no coincidence. So why do I still watch?
Not for the race issues, which I feel less equipped to address properly. But it's worth mentioning that, as of now, the only black male character I can think of who's survived his appearances has been Rufus Turner. RUN, RUFUS. FOR GOD'S SAKE, RUN.
So why do I still watch?
Mostly? It's the show's epic multi-season story arc working in its favor. I've sunk way too much time into this goddamn thing to give up so close to the finish line. That's what I've been telling myself all season. I've endured some bad episodes and lots of blank staring (on my part) at characters I know I'm supposed to care about but can't anymore because I just can't let go until I find out what how it ends. I don't care about the Winchesters, and the prospect of Sam spending eternity hanging with Lucifer doesn't elicit the kind of horror it's meant to for me, and I'm so tired of all the privileged bullshit, but I do care about that story and about the world the show has created. And I care about not having wasted all the time I've put into being a fan. And I care about Castiel, because they haven't managed to ruin him yet and because Misha Collins has brilliant comic timing and has kept the character fresh for me. (The operative word in that sentence is "yet," and I know it, so I don't care as much as I could out of sheer self-defense, but it still counts.) And in the last couple of episodes I have cared about watching Crowley be fucking awesome; Good Omens ripoff though he may be, he's still brought an energy and life to his episodes that Supernatural has been missing for a long, long time.
In last week's episode, Sam asked Dean if he remembers when they just roamed the country, hunting. Dean's answer was a cool and simple "No."
Neither do I, Dean. Neither do I.
(And if you disagree with every single thing I have just said, I think we can still find common ground with this question: What the fuck are they going to do for season six?!)
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Hrrgh, this show. I've been dancing around saying some of the stuff in this post for quite a while.
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Have to agree with you on Crowley, though. He's been enjoyable. I wonder if he's another Ruby type sent to push the brothers further apart than they already are and influence Dean into saying yes. I would lose my shit if Crowley turned out to be a tool of the angels.
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The funny thing is, I finally quit watching Chuck a few episodes ago even though I still care about the characters. The writing had just gotten too frustrating for me to deal with. And yet I can't do the same with SPN, despite NOT caring about (most of) the characters. Sigh.
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I know what you mean about not caring about the characters being the reason for giving up. I couldn't get into Dollhouse cause I just didn't care. And I also get what you mean about being time-invested in the story. I finally gave up and removed Heroes from the dvr so I could stop watching it.
So, season 6 as a retcon season and Sam wakes up at Stanford and they go back and do the show right?
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I think the characters are horror story stupid and I hope that its a nod to the genre and not unintentional.
God, I hope so. The boys really are rock-stupid this season. It has not helped at all with getting me to give a crap about them.