"Supernatural" Fans Rant
So, Supernatural happens to be the closest thing to a "favourite show" I currently have. When it started in 2005, I was incredibly impressed that a show about folklore, ghosts, and a Monster-of-the-week was there to pick up the remnants of the Buffy demographic that preferred a more subtle "face your demons" element.
And, yes, I'm more than happy to compare Supernatural to Buffy.
Thing is, it's the only show I'm willing to outright buy DVDs for when I haven't seen episodes in a season (I saw nothing of season four when it was airing, but I picked up the DVD on release date-- I also managed to stay spoiler-free throughout it). It's also the only show I can put on as marathon background noise at any given time.
That said, it's bad. It's cheesy. It's Buffy with prettier people and no overt homosexuality-as-a-means-of-character-development. It was described as "Han Solo and Luke Skywalker road trip across America," and I like that element, but there are entire episodes that make me cringe and go "oh, come on."
I like the characters. I don't much like the overarching plot, despite loving the little bits and pieces you get to see throughout. I like that the rules of the universe are generally consistent, and that they actually have references to different cultures in the folklore tidbit. I have at least one favourite episode per season ("Provenance," "Houses of the Holy," "Bad Day at Black Rock," "On the Head of a Pin," "Changing Channels*") that will justify the the series when I'm reminded of the episodes I don't like.
But more and more recently, it's the fandom that has me cringing.
I draw the line at pairing up actors. I like the actors, and I like their works, and I respect them for other works (hell, I've poked through various Misha Collins' work since seeing Girl, Interrupted and thinking "that guy is really pretty" and he had a tendency of popping up in other shows I watched at the time). But I draw a personal line at speculating what they do in their own time. See, I'll follow them on Twitter and public postings-- whatever they post there is what they want to share-- but I'm pretty much of the mind that "okay, they have their own lives and their own interests, and it's none of my business."
Really, I don't understand fans getting worked up or actually taking that much of an interest in the whole personal life thing. It's creepy. Fucking creepy. And brushing it off with "it's all in good fun" is like saying "oh, I know you're not fucking the guy in your class/presentation group/job interview cohort, but you're both hot. So it's all in good fun." Never mind the actual fervour some fans show towards the pairings and shipping wars.
I like Dean and Castiel together because the characters play really well off each other and have a lot of chemistry. I like Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins because I find them both incredibly charming men with a shared wicked sense of humour. Would I want to see either one acted out/confirmed? Probably not**.
Thing is, I love Supernatural because of the characters and the little games they play. I love Sam as "the smart guy" and I'm still sort of miffed that it's downplayed now (granted, in third season he was panicking over Dean's death and the fourth season was mostly "Oh my god, angels"-- but there could still be more instances of him doing stuff that he used too: that crossword reference when he worked at a bar for an episode). I like Castiel becoming more human, but I hope to everything holy that he does not end up as broken as he was in "The End" because that was fucking heartbreaking. I like that Dean's been broken from day one. I liked Ruby (both), and Meg (not so much the current one, because she just seems... off? Jared did the character really well in "Born Under a Bad Sign"). I like John and think he wasn't such a bad father. I adore Bobby and Ellen and Jo, and wish Pastor Jim got more (I understand, thematically, why he didn't).
But frankly, I just wish I could have one actual conversation about the characters (more or less to suss out some ideas and conflicts) with people in real life other than Katy. I'm honestly sick of listening to both "did you know" and interjections of crap trivia found online, and fangirl/fanboy moments. The only time I had a talk about characterization was interesting but left me saying "you do know that an alternate reality means a potentially different set of values, right?" and that would have just left into the nature/nurture debate (Katy makes an excellent argument about just how far it could have gone if John had chosen to fend off everything that could pose a threat to his boys rather than just monsters in her Angelface series).
Seriously, it's hard to have a conversation when someone is either shipping, fangirling/boying, or dumping random trivia and favourite quotes into something.
Long story, short: I'd rather have a discussion on the rules of the Supernatural universe once or twice. Like the nature of the demons, and the handprint on Dean's shoulder, and the angels. The physics of that world fascinate me, and I'd love to know the mechanics, since the rules seem to be pretty consistent. I'd love to know thoughts on what people think the pagan gods are, and whether or not the differences in the ways ghosts manifest is a conscious difference, a habit, or a limitation of the form.
I'd love to discuss the switching of faith from Sam to Dean (addressed in a one-shot, sort of), and whether or not there is a "predestination versus free will" debate going on. I'd love thoughts on what Ruby meant when she told Sam that he "had it in [him] all along", or if she was just mocking him with the Disney over-simplification of things. There's the nature of angels, themselves, since they sure as hell seem to have free will while arguing that destiny and fate cannot be avoided.
There's Azazel's role, Crowley's role, whether or not Lucifer was right in saying that Castiel would become the new public enemy, how much of "The End" was fabricated by the angels (since in that reality, the Colt was still seen as a real weapon), and what did Dean crave when confronted by Famine? Hell, why not surmised just how much of a sneaky bastard Castiel is?
There's a whole slew of different things to discuss and debate and analyze. So maybe I'm just sick of meeting fans in real life who don't seem to progress beyond "so-and-so is hot" and "you know, they'd never kill, since it was such a huge deal in the show" (Gordon Walker, Max, Andy, the townspeople in "Croatoan" who were lucid enough to beg for their lives, Bella... Dean alone is pretty fucking heartless when it comes to a living threat against his brother-- he may have turned away in "Croatoan" from killing the guy tied to a chair, but he put three bullets in the kid's mother).
It's... depressing, walking into that room sometimes. I should probably just ignore the conversations if I do go there from now on.
And again, if you were offended in any way, shape, or form by this rant: close the browser, go outside, play video games, watch TV, go hang out with friends, clean, bake, whatever. It's the Internet. And the chances that I know you personally enough to care about an opinion-- other than honest critique of my fanfics, because I do seriously value those-- are pretty slim.
It's a TV show, and I'm a total stranger on the Internet about to go clean my apartment and write an essay about thematic transformation in the short, early works of Margaret Atwood (or just play Sims 3 until I'm bored). This rant will last only so long as the browser is open for me.
---
*"Changing Channels" is the season five favourite, so far. It's also the only episode (so far) that Katy and I agree on for a shortlisted "favourites" marathon.
** By "probably not" I mean both in the show as the characters and in reality. Yes, there's that sense of justification if Dean and Cas ended up in some sort of romance, but seriously? Would it live up to what you wanted to see? And would it just make other fans cough up their lungs in protest?
As a "probably not" in reality, it's because it's none of my business who the actors are sleeping with. They seem happy enough as they are, and I like them as human beings, so it still doesn't matter who's doing what on their own time. None of my business.
---------------
Other News: I'll be posting a review of Heart of the Dragon soon. As well as the next chapter of "Building Steam" (also have a sort of pre-steam thing going with John Winchester before Dean inherited the Impala).
And, yes, I'm more than happy to compare Supernatural to Buffy.
Thing is, it's the only show I'm willing to outright buy DVDs for when I haven't seen episodes in a season (I saw nothing of season four when it was airing, but I picked up the DVD on release date-- I also managed to stay spoiler-free throughout it). It's also the only show I can put on as marathon background noise at any given time.
That said, it's bad. It's cheesy. It's Buffy with prettier people and no overt homosexuality-as-a-means-of-character-development. It was described as "Han Solo and Luke Skywalker road trip across America," and I like that element, but there are entire episodes that make me cringe and go "oh, come on."
I like the characters. I don't much like the overarching plot, despite loving the little bits and pieces you get to see throughout. I like that the rules of the universe are generally consistent, and that they actually have references to different cultures in the folklore tidbit. I have at least one favourite episode per season ("Provenance," "Houses of the Holy," "Bad Day at Black Rock," "On the Head of a Pin," "Changing Channels*") that will justify the the series when I'm reminded of the episodes I don't like.
But more and more recently, it's the fandom that has me cringing.
I draw the line at pairing up actors. I like the actors, and I like their works, and I respect them for other works (hell, I've poked through various Misha Collins' work since seeing Girl, Interrupted and thinking "that guy is really pretty" and he had a tendency of popping up in other shows I watched at the time). But I draw a personal line at speculating what they do in their own time. See, I'll follow them on Twitter and public postings-- whatever they post there is what they want to share-- but I'm pretty much of the mind that "okay, they have their own lives and their own interests, and it's none of my business."
Really, I don't understand fans getting worked up or actually taking that much of an interest in the whole personal life thing. It's creepy. Fucking creepy. And brushing it off with "it's all in good fun" is like saying "oh, I know you're not fucking the guy in your class/presentation group/job interview cohort, but you're both hot. So it's all in good fun." Never mind the actual fervour some fans show towards the pairings and shipping wars.
I like Dean and Castiel together because the characters play really well off each other and have a lot of chemistry. I like Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins because I find them both incredibly charming men with a shared wicked sense of humour. Would I want to see either one acted out/confirmed? Probably not**.
Thing is, I love Supernatural because of the characters and the little games they play. I love Sam as "the smart guy" and I'm still sort of miffed that it's downplayed now (granted, in third season he was panicking over Dean's death and the fourth season was mostly "Oh my god, angels"-- but there could still be more instances of him doing stuff that he used too: that crossword reference when he worked at a bar for an episode). I like Castiel becoming more human, but I hope to everything holy that he does not end up as broken as he was in "The End" because that was fucking heartbreaking. I like that Dean's been broken from day one. I liked Ruby (both), and Meg (not so much the current one, because she just seems... off? Jared did the character really well in "Born Under a Bad Sign"). I like John and think he wasn't such a bad father. I adore Bobby and Ellen and Jo, and wish Pastor Jim got more (I understand, thematically, why he didn't).
But frankly, I just wish I could have one actual conversation about the characters (more or less to suss out some ideas and conflicts) with people in real life other than Katy. I'm honestly sick of listening to both "did you know" and interjections of crap trivia found online, and fangirl/fanboy moments. The only time I had a talk about characterization was interesting but left me saying "you do know that an alternate reality means a potentially different set of values, right?" and that would have just left into the nature/nurture debate (Katy makes an excellent argument about just how far it could have gone if John had chosen to fend off everything that could pose a threat to his boys rather than just monsters in her Angelface series).
Seriously, it's hard to have a conversation when someone is either shipping, fangirling/boying, or dumping random trivia and favourite quotes into something.
Long story, short: I'd rather have a discussion on the rules of the Supernatural universe once or twice. Like the nature of the demons, and the handprint on Dean's shoulder, and the angels. The physics of that world fascinate me, and I'd love to know the mechanics, since the rules seem to be pretty consistent. I'd love to know thoughts on what people think the pagan gods are, and whether or not the differences in the ways ghosts manifest is a conscious difference, a habit, or a limitation of the form.
I'd love to discuss the switching of faith from Sam to Dean (addressed in a one-shot, sort of), and whether or not there is a "predestination versus free will" debate going on. I'd love thoughts on what Ruby meant when she told Sam that he "had it in [him] all along", or if she was just mocking him with the Disney over-simplification of things. There's the nature of angels, themselves, since they sure as hell seem to have free will while arguing that destiny and fate cannot be avoided.
There's Azazel's role, Crowley's role, whether or not Lucifer was right in saying that Castiel would become the new public enemy, how much of "The End" was fabricated by the angels (since in that reality, the Colt was still seen as a real weapon), and what did Dean crave when confronted by Famine? Hell, why not surmised just how much of a sneaky bastard Castiel is?
There's a whole slew of different things to discuss and debate and analyze. So maybe I'm just sick of meeting fans in real life who don't seem to progress beyond "so-and-so is hot" and "you know, they'd never kill, since it was such a huge deal in the show" (Gordon Walker, Max, Andy, the townspeople in "Croatoan" who were lucid enough to beg for their lives, Bella... Dean alone is pretty fucking heartless when it comes to a living threat against his brother-- he may have turned away in "Croatoan" from killing the guy tied to a chair, but he put three bullets in the kid's mother).
It's... depressing, walking into that room sometimes. I should probably just ignore the conversations if I do go there from now on.
And again, if you were offended in any way, shape, or form by this rant: close the browser, go outside, play video games, watch TV, go hang out with friends, clean, bake, whatever. It's the Internet. And the chances that I know you personally enough to care about an opinion-- other than honest critique of my fanfics, because I do seriously value those-- are pretty slim.
It's a TV show, and I'm a total stranger on the Internet about to go clean my apartment and write an essay about thematic transformation in the short, early works of Margaret Atwood (or just play Sims 3 until I'm bored). This rant will last only so long as the browser is open for me.
---
*"Changing Channels" is the season five favourite, so far. It's also the only episode (so far) that Katy and I agree on for a shortlisted "favourites" marathon.
** By "probably not" I mean both in the show as the characters and in reality. Yes, there's that sense of justification if Dean and Cas ended up in some sort of romance, but seriously? Would it live up to what you wanted to see? And would it just make other fans cough up their lungs in protest?
As a "probably not" in reality, it's because it's none of my business who the actors are sleeping with. They seem happy enough as they are, and I like them as human beings, so it still doesn't matter who's doing what on their own time. None of my business.
---------------
Other News: I'll be posting a review of Heart of the Dragon soon. As well as the next chapter of "Building Steam" (also have a sort of pre-steam thing going with John Winchester before Dean inherited the Impala).