Meta: on Supernatural
Jun. 11th, 2006 04:15 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phantomasMostly, I've been thinking about canon and fanon (or canon vs. fanon).
I'm very much intrigued to witness how little canon details get used, transformed, enhanced or ignored by writers (and it can be for a million reasons, of course, for ease of writing, for not remembering it, and what have you). I don't mean these observations as critical in a negative way, I'm just observing (I'm probably the first to tweak details to my own liking :), but as I said, it's fascinating to see how fanon builts on itself from writer to writer.
Also, spoilerish for the season finale.
- In the Pilot, Sam never says he wants a 'normal' life. Dean says that. Sam replies with 'Safe'.
Now, I think this makes a big difference in working out what Sam priorities might have been in choosing to go to college, making him possibly less selfish than he's usually interpreted. What he wanted was safety - who knows how many times John and Dean and Sam himself had risked death and/or serious wounds, and at some point Sam said, 'this is enough'. It was his 'one hell of a fight' exchange with John to push him over the limit and to, with typical Winchester stubborness, for once, make him obey one of Dad's orders 'Stay gone'. Sam's original intentions were probably of the more normal kind: 'I'll go to college and come back during holidays'.
However, in many fictions the 'safe' gets changed with normal, and expanded into the picket fence, wife and 2.4 kids, plus dog. In a way, because John Winchester is who he is, and in part because of the boys having their own personality, but also thansk to how they were taught growing up, we are lucky that Sam didn't turn out a real library mouse, scared of his own shadow, an anal freak retentive obsessed with closed windows, escape ways and with an exorcism or two always on his lips. Which would make for a brilliant What If, I suppose *G*
- the 'always living in motels' thing
Uhm. As much as I like the idea of them being a real gipsy family, I don't remember anywhere in canon saying that they NEVER stopped in one place. I do believe, as we've seen in SW, that indeed John took them around with him in many of his hunting trips. I also believe that the boys probably did miss school days here and there. But, from what John wrote in his journal, I don't think they really moved around constantly. Especially for Sam to be able to graduate, and with flying colors.
So, yes to fanon with the 'moving often' but possibly every year or two? Which would, in a way, be even more difficult for them growing up, adjust to a place, be there long enough to make friends but still having to keep them at a distance because of the Family Business.
Also, in the Pilot again, I think the whole conversation about John letting Dean do his own solo hunting trips and Sam's surprise about it means that until Sam was 18 and Dean 22, John didn't let them go on their own - obsessive protective father much? But it also meant that John was looking after them, in his own way.That paired with John's journal observation that 'this year we'll be going to Little League' for Dean makes me think that he did try to give them some semblance of normality. Sam's observation about that are all in connection with weapons ad fighting 'he gave me a 45 - we were raised like warriors - melting silver'...
...which makes me think that in a way, if they had a completely a-normal life, out of any common rules, Sam might not have felt the difference so much. He had to have something to compare his/their family life to, and to realise that the weapons/training/hunting was the abnormal very unsafe element that made him forever different.
Much more romantic to expand the notion in an undistinguished series of nameless motels, I know :) *pets fanfic*
- the 'don't call me Sammy' thing
Sam says it in the Pilot. And possibly another time or two? Always to Dean, and always in relatively relaxed times. But, if Dean says it in moments of danger, I don't remember Sam objecting to it at all. Most important, John calls Sam 'Sammy' lots of times, and Sam doesn't utter a breath about it. Which makes sense to me, in a way, because as much as Dean is the one always trying to/pleasing/obeying John, the one that really still needs John's approval, as much as he denies, it's Sam.
In (the much undervalued!) Bugs Sam tells Dean that when they find Dad, he doesn't even know if Dad will want to see him. He says that whatever he did, it was never enough. I'm not surprised then that Sam goes away to college, because it's John's approval that seems to evade him doing the hunting life, and Sam sort of gives up on his father and his approval altogether. In a way. Decisions like that are never really easy and always propelled by more than one clear b/w motive.
Dean knows his place in the family. Dean and John are like soldiers, and Sam will always be Sam to them, the little one, the baby to protect -- and a part of Sam, the part that wants 'safe', possibly doesn't reject that all, because in each child, the parent (and John is the only parent that Sam has known) is the protector. As Sam himself says in Salvation, he wishes that John was there to watch their back.
All of this to say: 'don't call me Sammy' works for Dean, in certain moments, but John gets a free pass. *g*
Uhm. So, how come that this turned into a sort of 'Analyse Sam' thingy? :)
Anyway.
Moments in which I thought JP's acting particularly kicked ass:
- when they find John in DT, and Sam stays on the door, holding his breath in and totally looking like a ten year old all of a sudden, then releasing his breath in relief when Dean says that John's alive.
- in BM, playing his own reflection in the mirror. He was quite scary, so detached and cold.
- again in DT, when he kneels beside Bleeding!Dean, and there he goes again with the 10 yo voice.
- HH, because he truly looked amused by all the pranks (ie. he made me believe in the laughing)
- in SW, all the little looks and glances he gives Dean as he slowly learns what really happened with the Strega when they were kids.
His acting doesn't really convince me when he has to yell/scream in anger, because he does this 'chin-forward' thing and this 'deepening-voice' things and they smell to me of acting tricks more than true yelling. All my problem, of course, but it's as if he doesn't come across as really angry, to me, which of course underpowers the scene itself.
And I think I've rambled enough :D
Ideas, opinions, comments?
I'm very much intrigued to witness how little canon details get used, transformed, enhanced or ignored by writers (and it can be for a million reasons, of course, for ease of writing, for not remembering it, and what have you). I don't mean these observations as critical in a negative way, I'm just observing (I'm probably the first to tweak details to my own liking :), but as I said, it's fascinating to see how fanon builts on itself from writer to writer.
Also, spoilerish for the season finale.
- In the Pilot, Sam never says he wants a 'normal' life. Dean says that. Sam replies with 'Safe'.
Now, I think this makes a big difference in working out what Sam priorities might have been in choosing to go to college, making him possibly less selfish than he's usually interpreted. What he wanted was safety - who knows how many times John and Dean and Sam himself had risked death and/or serious wounds, and at some point Sam said, 'this is enough'. It was his 'one hell of a fight' exchange with John to push him over the limit and to, with typical Winchester stubborness, for once, make him obey one of Dad's orders 'Stay gone'. Sam's original intentions were probably of the more normal kind: 'I'll go to college and come back during holidays'.
However, in many fictions the 'safe' gets changed with normal, and expanded into the picket fence, wife and 2.4 kids, plus dog. In a way, because John Winchester is who he is, and in part because of the boys having their own personality, but also thansk to how they were taught growing up, we are lucky that Sam didn't turn out a real library mouse, scared of his own shadow, an anal freak retentive obsessed with closed windows, escape ways and with an exorcism or two always on his lips. Which would make for a brilliant What If, I suppose *G*
- the 'always living in motels' thing
Uhm. As much as I like the idea of them being a real gipsy family, I don't remember anywhere in canon saying that they NEVER stopped in one place. I do believe, as we've seen in SW, that indeed John took them around with him in many of his hunting trips. I also believe that the boys probably did miss school days here and there. But, from what John wrote in his journal, I don't think they really moved around constantly. Especially for Sam to be able to graduate, and with flying colors.
So, yes to fanon with the 'moving often' but possibly every year or two? Which would, in a way, be even more difficult for them growing up, adjust to a place, be there long enough to make friends but still having to keep them at a distance because of the Family Business.
Also, in the Pilot again, I think the whole conversation about John letting Dean do his own solo hunting trips and Sam's surprise about it means that until Sam was 18 and Dean 22, John didn't let them go on their own - obsessive protective father much? But it also meant that John was looking after them, in his own way.That paired with John's journal observation that 'this year we'll be going to Little League' for Dean makes me think that he did try to give them some semblance of normality. Sam's observation about that are all in connection with weapons ad fighting 'he gave me a 45 - we were raised like warriors - melting silver'...
...which makes me think that in a way, if they had a completely a-normal life, out of any common rules, Sam might not have felt the difference so much. He had to have something to compare his/their family life to, and to realise that the weapons/training/hunting was the abnormal very unsafe element that made him forever different.
Much more romantic to expand the notion in an undistinguished series of nameless motels, I know :) *pets fanfic*
- the 'don't call me Sammy' thing
Sam says it in the Pilot. And possibly another time or two? Always to Dean, and always in relatively relaxed times. But, if Dean says it in moments of danger, I don't remember Sam objecting to it at all. Most important, John calls Sam 'Sammy' lots of times, and Sam doesn't utter a breath about it. Which makes sense to me, in a way, because as much as Dean is the one always trying to/pleasing/obeying John, the one that really still needs John's approval, as much as he denies, it's Sam.
In (the much undervalued!) Bugs Sam tells Dean that when they find Dad, he doesn't even know if Dad will want to see him. He says that whatever he did, it was never enough. I'm not surprised then that Sam goes away to college, because it's John's approval that seems to evade him doing the hunting life, and Sam sort of gives up on his father and his approval altogether. In a way. Decisions like that are never really easy and always propelled by more than one clear b/w motive.
Dean knows his place in the family. Dean and John are like soldiers, and Sam will always be Sam to them, the little one, the baby to protect -- and a part of Sam, the part that wants 'safe', possibly doesn't reject that all, because in each child, the parent (and John is the only parent that Sam has known) is the protector. As Sam himself says in Salvation, he wishes that John was there to watch their back.
All of this to say: 'don't call me Sammy' works for Dean, in certain moments, but John gets a free pass. *g*
Uhm. So, how come that this turned into a sort of 'Analyse Sam' thingy? :)
Anyway.
Moments in which I thought JP's acting particularly kicked ass:
- when they find John in DT, and Sam stays on the door, holding his breath in and totally looking like a ten year old all of a sudden, then releasing his breath in relief when Dean says that John's alive.
- in BM, playing his own reflection in the mirror. He was quite scary, so detached and cold.
- again in DT, when he kneels beside Bleeding!Dean, and there he goes again with the 10 yo voice.
- HH, because he truly looked amused by all the pranks (ie. he made me believe in the laughing)
- in SW, all the little looks and glances he gives Dean as he slowly learns what really happened with the Strega when they were kids.
His acting doesn't really convince me when he has to yell/scream in anger, because he does this 'chin-forward' thing and this 'deepening-voice' things and they smell to me of acting tricks more than true yelling. All my problem, of course, but it's as if he doesn't come across as really angry, to me, which of course underpowers the scene itself.
And I think I've rambled enough :D
Ideas, opinions, comments?
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no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 03:04 am (UTC)Here it is:
Sam: The way we grew up. Like survivalists or something. New town, new school every few months.
Dean: Lots of families move around.
Sam: Yeah? Do they have weapon training? And occult homework? Maybe some family fun time, melting silver into bullets? I never asked for it, Dean. I never wanted to be Dad's good little soldier. I never wanted to hunt down all those freaky-ass things.
I'm not saying it's canon. Quite a few things, including characterization things, changed from that draft(I've only seen it quoted I don't actually have a copy) BUT...I'm just saying, I do think perhaps that is the impression we were meant to be left with. That they spent alot of their childhood going from town to town and school to school every few months--with occasional longer stints.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 11:35 am (UTC)Thank you for digging that bit of info up *hugs you lots*
I get it now - and I am sure that they did move around a fair bit, I just wasn't under the impression it was 'that' often...but there you go "New town, new school every few months."
Fantastic. I know I'm nitpicky about canon (at least, that's my inclination) but it doesn't mean I refuse fanon - what fans come up with is often funnier/better/more heartbreaking/angstier etc etc than what the show's writers give us *G*
I just like to know where the two (fanon and canon diverge), that's all.
Thank you SO much for giving me this information :D
*yes, you're hugged again. lots!*
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 02:41 pm (UTC)I completely agree about the canon/fanon thing. Fanon can be great but sometimes it starts to get treated like canon and it can really warp perceptions of the characters.