In which I witter about Supernatural

So, thanks to a typo in his contract, Dean Winchester's gone to Hull, right?

Right?

Come on, there could be dramatic potential in Sam having to rescue Dean from East Yorkshire.

*ponders concept of Hullbound: Hullraiser II*

Sigh. At some point while rewatching the second half of season 1 and the first half of season 2 I became a little obsessed with Supernatural.

Alright, a lot obsessed.

Alright, I started reading Wincest when I ran out of episodes. *facepalm*

And I've been mainlining so much imagery and commentary and fic since season 3 finished that Dean and Sam are now making regular appearances in my dreams. I don't believe things have been this bad since the heady days of my Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanaticism. Which is ironic because I ignored Supernatural for ages for the sole reason that I'd read discussions of its problematic treatment of women, framed to suggest a conscious backlash against BtVS (Now BtVS, at its most basic level, was of course about subverting the horror movie cliché of the blonde girl victim, and sure enough Supernatural - in its very first episode - has not one but two blonde women meeting horrible ends in order to further the plot and motivate our two (male) protagonists). And - given that - it's doubly ironic my fannishness has reached critical mass now, when SPN fandom is currently exploding over the subject of misogyny in the series.

The seemingly constant use of gendered insults against women this season has certainly bothered me (to the point where, despite generally liking Dean and disliking Ruby, it made me ridiculously happy when the latter called the former a dick), and the lack of any real female allies means we've had less good stuff to balance out the nastiness. I think it's important that in previous seasons, not only did we have recurring female allies in the form of Ellen and Jo, we also got a number of women whose situations explicitly paralleled that of either Sam or Dean in some way, and with whom our protagonists clearly identified as a result. I can't really think of any examples of this happening in season 3 off the top of my head.

Still, for the most part, my enjoyment has outweighed my frustrations (which is more than I can say for Torchwood this year, but that's another post) and I'll be watching season 4. I don't seem to be able to look away at the moment.

Comments

[ensign_ricky]

[this is good] Hi there. I'm just a random person who was linked to your journal via imagesearch, but then I scrolled and I noticed this entry and was all DAMN this person agrees with me on a great many things! I too am currently into SPN (though I'm more recent), probably the biggest into fandom I've gone since the Buffy days. And I kind of dislike the show's treatment of women (though I didn't realize it had a reputation for that). And I have read so much wincest over the past few months that my eyeballs are about to fall out of my skull. In fact, I have about eight different fics open in other tabs right now, all wincest. Plus Plastic Winchester Theater. Umm.

I guess what I'm saying is, hi?

[ensign_ricky]

Oh, and I watch Torchwood. Not Dr. Who yet, but I plan to (mostly for Barrowman, really).

[ensign_ricky]

Um, and I immediately got your username. "We thought you were a myth!" Heh.

P.S. The version of your journal I was linked to is your SPN-tagged entries only, which I think makes me slightly less creepy (also, the fact that I'm a female college student).

[Liz]

Hi fellow SPN fangirl! Hi! *waves*

And I kind of dislike the show's treatment of women (though I didn't realize it had a reputation for that).

Yeah, don't know if you're into fanvids at all, but try googling for
"Women's Work" by Luminosity - it's a really powerful critique of the
violence against women in Seasons 1 and 2. There's quite a bit of
discussion floating around on the subject of the show's often clueless
gender (and racial) politics.

I think Season 4 has been a bit better. Certainly, I was thrilled with
Mary's back story as revealed in "In the Beginning", since it made her
no longer an incidental victim but a proper, active character, whose
choices and actions directly impacted the plot. \o/

I have about eight different fics open in other tabs right now, all wincest.

Inorite?! I keep having to remind myself I don't actually have
to read everything ever written. It doesn't help that SPN fandom is so
prolific and the good stuff so easy to find. Some of the writing
absolutely blows me away. And, god, don't even get me started on J2 RPS. RPS used to seriously squick me and now it's practically the very air I breathe.

Plastic Winchester Theater is LOVE. I haven't made much time for it lately though, need to catch up!

Um, and I immediately got your username. "We thought you were a myth!" Heh.

Gold star for you! :D

Hee! Don't worry about coming off as creepy - it's always nice getting comments, and I am always up for sharing the SPN squee.