Supernatural: character meta: Dean
May. 6th, 2006 03:18 pm![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phantomasFirst scene in Devil's Trap: Dean receives the call from Meg, tells Sam they have Dad, and that they have to leave.
I am fascinated by how Dean represent the 'female' heart of the Winchester's Family. Here follow my thoughts :)
Dean.
All throughout the episode, Dean is the moving force, the planner, the leader. Since that shot that starts on his eye (echoing the one in Salvation starting from the Deer's eye, remember? Both open wide, frozen, in death and shock), since he rubs his face with his hand and collects himself...Dean is in charge, and you can almost see the Red Alert warning bell going off inside his head: FAMILY IN DANGER
Nothing else counts, everything else stops until they find Dad. Dean's priorities are straight and clear, more than ever before. Yes, he hunts because he believes in it, because it saves life and helps people, because that's what his Dad taught him and that's the best way to keep his family safe.
Through the episode's events (going to Bobby, exorcising Meg, lying to Sam about the Colt, shooting the demon carrier, up to pointing the Colt against Demon!Daddy and still FAILING to shoot, and begging Sam not to shoot John), we come to know what Dean is really capable of, and to what extent he's ready to do anything in order to protect his family: killing is probably just one of the many things he knows he would do, in his own words, without even flinching.
We know that Dean is obnoxious, protective, daredevilish, get-the-job-done and go. We know that deep down he had dreams of his own and that he gave up on them at some point (did he really want to be a fireman? It makes sense, given the way Mary died, and the way we all have noticed how he's usually the one using Fire as often as he can: he is well aware of the power of the beast, so to speak).
Dean's laugh/snort when Sam tells him that he was the one taking him away from Stanford for the mission...he didn't go to Sam for the mission, he went because Dean had found himself ALONE, because DAD was GONE, and Dean...Dean wanted his brother back.
For a child that has suffered a traumatic loss (Mary's death) and then lived with a almost/neurotic-obsessed father who would disappear 'hunting' for days...it's a miracle Dean isn't MORE broken or doesn't have panic attacks. He does call himself a 'freak', however, and my guess is that by taking on the hunting and embracing the lifestyle, helped by John's love (because, no matter what evidence we have of John being a harsh, flawed father and someone with a tough personality, we do have enough evidence that he loves his boys, too), Dean has found a sort of in-between space, a personal limbo between 'normal life' and the 'hunting life'. A precarious balance that goes to hell when John disappears.
Sam has grown up without his mother, and with whatever life John has given the boys, but Dean, even if his memories aren't probably that clear now, at the time, when he four, five, six, he must have been VERY aware of the huge differences, of the lack in his life, of his mother's absence and his father's grief.
Now, classically, we know that the character that is the HEART of the Family/Ensamble group used to be a woman. I can't help referring to Xander in Buffy as the most obvious and recent straying from classic narrative. Xander is the one without powers or specific knowledge, since the beginning to the series' end, and his role as the Heart of the Gang is most evident when he alone, his affection for Willow, manages to stop Evil!Willow from destroying the world.
What fascinates him is how somehow a few of the technical ways of highlighting this role for a character are the same, whether the character is actually male or female. For example, take that shot (I don't remember the episode now, sorry) where Dean is sleeping and Sam enters the motel room they are sharing. Dean is wearing boxers and a t-shirt, and the camera pans on his body, from ankles to head, slowly, in a shot that VERY rarely is let to a male body - we can see all the curves, from ass to the small of his back to his shoulders. It's a vulnerable pose, too, since he's sleeping, and abandoned. It's an intimate pose, and we are all happy voyeurs enjoying the show. :)
Many fans have noted Dean and Dean's Lips. How not to? JAckles is a damn gorgeous man, but can we deny that his features have 'innocent' (feminine) traits? Big eyes, long eyelashes, luscious full lips. His refusal of 'chick flicks moments' carries with it less the idiosyncracy for externating emotions than the fear that once he does start talking, he won't stop. Because Dean's emotional moments are few, but intense and desperate. There is no way in between, for Dean's feelings: Sam and John are "All I have."
The role of protector of the family comes with the burden of having to be the one that drags the heroes away from the fight, away from the sacrificing of their lives - a role that's traditionally given to women (see Jessica in the Pilot, who, justly so in many ways, is worried for Sam leaving for some reason she doesn't know, thus putting in danger his future), because they 'carry life'. Dean doesn't carry life, per se (unless we suddenly end up in a Mpreg story;), but he's clearly the one attuned to children: we have seen it in more than one episode. To help tone down this 'femininity' of his, we are then given the way-to-open "Oh pretty girl, gimmie" attitude, the hyper masculine attachment to the Impala (the car as a symbol of you-know-what...but, imo, at the same time, the car is also an intimate place -- a convenient comfy and intimate place where one is safe...uhm *g* I'll leave it at that *G*)
In comparison, Sam and John are more traditionally 'masculine', testosterone-charged and willing to die, no matter what and portrayed so.
ETA: Dean..a tigress with his cubs *G* all that ferocity, to die for. :)
I am fascinated by how Dean represent the 'female' heart of the Winchester's Family. Here follow my thoughts :)
Dean.
All throughout the episode, Dean is the moving force, the planner, the leader. Since that shot that starts on his eye (echoing the one in Salvation starting from the Deer's eye, remember? Both open wide, frozen, in death and shock), since he rubs his face with his hand and collects himself...Dean is in charge, and you can almost see the Red Alert warning bell going off inside his head: FAMILY IN DANGER
Nothing else counts, everything else stops until they find Dad. Dean's priorities are straight and clear, more than ever before. Yes, he hunts because he believes in it, because it saves life and helps people, because that's what his Dad taught him and that's the best way to keep his family safe.
Through the episode's events (going to Bobby, exorcising Meg, lying to Sam about the Colt, shooting the demon carrier, up to pointing the Colt against Demon!Daddy and still FAILING to shoot, and begging Sam not to shoot John), we come to know what Dean is really capable of, and to what extent he's ready to do anything in order to protect his family: killing is probably just one of the many things he knows he would do, in his own words, without even flinching.
We know that Dean is obnoxious, protective, daredevilish, get-the-job-done and go. We know that deep down he had dreams of his own and that he gave up on them at some point (did he really want to be a fireman? It makes sense, given the way Mary died, and the way we all have noticed how he's usually the one using Fire as often as he can: he is well aware of the power of the beast, so to speak).
Dean's laugh/snort when Sam tells him that he was the one taking him away from Stanford for the mission...he didn't go to Sam for the mission, he went because Dean had found himself ALONE, because DAD was GONE, and Dean...Dean wanted his brother back.
For a child that has suffered a traumatic loss (Mary's death) and then lived with a almost/neurotic-obsessed father who would disappear 'hunting' for days...it's a miracle Dean isn't MORE broken or doesn't have panic attacks. He does call himself a 'freak', however, and my guess is that by taking on the hunting and embracing the lifestyle, helped by John's love (because, no matter what evidence we have of John being a harsh, flawed father and someone with a tough personality, we do have enough evidence that he loves his boys, too), Dean has found a sort of in-between space, a personal limbo between 'normal life' and the 'hunting life'. A precarious balance that goes to hell when John disappears.
Sam has grown up without his mother, and with whatever life John has given the boys, but Dean, even if his memories aren't probably that clear now, at the time, when he four, five, six, he must have been VERY aware of the huge differences, of the lack in his life, of his mother's absence and his father's grief.
Now, classically, we know that the character that is the HEART of the Family/Ensamble group used to be a woman. I can't help referring to Xander in Buffy as the most obvious and recent straying from classic narrative. Xander is the one without powers or specific knowledge, since the beginning to the series' end, and his role as the Heart of the Gang is most evident when he alone, his affection for Willow, manages to stop Evil!Willow from destroying the world.
What fascinates him is how somehow a few of the technical ways of highlighting this role for a character are the same, whether the character is actually male or female. For example, take that shot (I don't remember the episode now, sorry) where Dean is sleeping and Sam enters the motel room they are sharing. Dean is wearing boxers and a t-shirt, and the camera pans on his body, from ankles to head, slowly, in a shot that VERY rarely is let to a male body - we can see all the curves, from ass to the small of his back to his shoulders. It's a vulnerable pose, too, since he's sleeping, and abandoned. It's an intimate pose, and we are all happy voyeurs enjoying the show. :)
Many fans have noted Dean and Dean's Lips. How not to? JAckles is a damn gorgeous man, but can we deny that his features have 'innocent' (feminine) traits? Big eyes, long eyelashes, luscious full lips. His refusal of 'chick flicks moments' carries with it less the idiosyncracy for externating emotions than the fear that once he does start talking, he won't stop. Because Dean's emotional moments are few, but intense and desperate. There is no way in between, for Dean's feelings: Sam and John are "All I have."
The role of protector of the family comes with the burden of having to be the one that drags the heroes away from the fight, away from the sacrificing of their lives - a role that's traditionally given to women (see Jessica in the Pilot, who, justly so in many ways, is worried for Sam leaving for some reason she doesn't know, thus putting in danger his future), because they 'carry life'. Dean doesn't carry life, per se (unless we suddenly end up in a Mpreg story;), but he's clearly the one attuned to children: we have seen it in more than one episode. To help tone down this 'femininity' of his, we are then given the way-to-open "Oh pretty girl, gimmie" attitude, the hyper masculine attachment to the Impala (the car as a symbol of you-know-what...but, imo, at the same time, the car is also an intimate place -- a convenient comfy and intimate place where one is safe...uhm *g* I'll leave it at that *G*)
In comparison, Sam and John are more traditionally 'masculine', testosterone-charged and willing to die, no matter what and portrayed so.
ETA: Dean..a tigress with his cubs *G* all that ferocity, to die for. :)
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 04:56 am (UTC)Great meta on Dean. Its very true as well as insightful.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 06:35 pm (UTC)I find the Winchesters fascinating, they have so many nuances.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 05:15 am (UTC)and oddly enough someone commented on my devil's trap commentary with the point that dean's the "girl" of the family because he nurtures and supports (those are her words, not mine - i was kind of o.O ) and is more about the big picture, whereas sam and john are all tunnel-vision about the demon. and then i said no, he's not the girl, he's the mom. heh.
oh, and this, too - he's kind of self-effacing, doesn't think he's as important as john or sam in the grand scheme of things. in faith he couldn't understand why he got to live and julie benz (i can't remember the character's name - i always think of her as darla >.< ) had to wait to be faith-healed. he didn't understand what made him so special. and to generalize HUGELY, that seems like more of a female/mom trait, to think of yourself as less important than your husband/kids/whoever you're taking care of. like, mothers always think their babies are beautiful and their kids are special, even when the babies are ugly as sin and the kids are really very average, and the traditional wife sort of subsumes her wants and dreams in deference to her husband's, and her kids' dreams become hers as well. she doesn't act on what she personally wants for herself - it's not that important. and whatever dean's dreams might have been, he's left them behind to help people and hunt evil things with his dad.
interesting comparing him to xander, too - i always said xander was the average guy in a room of superheroes, and one of the things i loved about him was that he never held it against his friends that they were all stronger and smarter and just generally more powerful. but he had to be rescued a lot, and while dean doesn't have the same kind of power as sam and probably isn't as skilled (or as well-read) a hunter as john, he can hold his own. i mean, he actually kills the things he shoots at. so maybe he's like the next incarnation of male-in-female-caretaker-role, the next step after xander. because it's a valid comparison, xander and dean.
(a tigress or a mother bear.... you wouldn't want to get between him and sam.)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 06:33 pm (UTC)Yes, yes and yes :D
it is a sort of generalised statement, but none the less true as far as representation in narrative/films/TV etc goes.
maybe he's like the next incarnation of male-in-female-caretaker-role, the next step after xander. because it's a valid comparison, xander and dean.
Oh, I like your definition, male-in-female-caretaker-role, thank you. And I agree, given that Dean can hold his own - also due to the fact that, even though John has 20 years of hunting and Marine training under his belt, and Sam has his psychic powers, they are both still quite 'flawed'...therefore, still making a comparison with the Buffy gang, it's as if the 'superpowers' are toned down to experience and erratic powers, and the 'caretaking' is matched by more effective fighting capacity.
In a way, this makes the whole group dynamic, Winchesters versus the Scooby Gang, more balanced (and also more to my personal liking, because I'd rather have 'heroes' that try to make do with what they have instead of being 'chosen ones' with superpowers).
thnak YOU for commenting, very stimulating!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 01:12 am (UTC)i agree with you about the powers thing, too - we've only seen sam's telekinesis once, and
i've been comparing spn to the x-files when trying to convince other people to watch it, but there's some definite buffy comparison too. nifty! altho, with the dean/xander thing, xander never held it against willow and buffy (and oz, i guess) that they were smarter and stronger and faster and just generally better, but i'd guess there was some resentment on dean's part towards his younger brother. not so much now, i mean i seriously doubt sam's visions are anything for dean to be jealous of, but when they were younger. the demon tells dean that sam was always dad's favorite, and i think he's picking that up from dean himself, and i don't doubt that at times dean really did think of himself as the less-favored son, and might have held it against sam for being the favorite. but xander never did.
...and that's actually more a family dynamic thing and less a who's-the-strongest thing, so maybe it's not that relevant after all. hm.
(also i bookmarked this post because hey, you're more articulate than i was when i was thinking about it.)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 11:45 pm (UTC)Faith is also one of my favourite episodes, and in part it's because of Julie Benz - she made Layla a full character, imo (and I fell in love with Darla and 'got her' after I watched Evil Angel, songvid by Luminosity) and there was chemistry with JAckles. I don't mean in the sexual way, but in the acting way, they owned their scenes. Layla is someone I'd love to see again in SPN :)
dean's homemade emf detector
YES! Exactly *giggles*
I liked Buffy, a lot, as I liked Angel, but the whole 'superpowers' and supermagic artifact of the week really were not/are not my cup of tea - it makes it too easy, in a way.
As you say, salt and holy water and the Colt are the most we've seen as far as extra help goes. I like this. It makes it more..uhm...something I can relate to more.
A mix between Buffy and XFiles...which is inevitable, I mean, why not learn from what has come before? It just makes sense, imo.
Xander never resented the others' powers, true, but in a way, he never screwed up as the others did (ie Willow)..in a way, he's always been the more centeredof the Scooby, would you say?
I agree that Dean may have resentment towards Sam (Skin wasn't that far off the mark, I believe), which Xander never had, but at the same time, we can see clearly in the seasone finale that sam does follow Dean's lead so there is compensation there, of a kind.
I'm rambling because it's late :) thank you for commenting!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 02:12 am (UTC)>>but in a way, he never screwed up as the others did (ie Willow)..in a way, he's always been the more centeredof the Scooby, would you say?<<
xander's screwups were on a smaller scale than buffy's or willow's. buffy screwed up and people died. when willow lost her shit she did it on a SPECTACULAR scale, because she had that much power. but in a way, yeah, he did turn out to be the most centered and grounded, because he didn't have the big powers and thus had fewer expectations placed on him. he knew he could do his thing but if he fucked up, it wasn't necessarily the end of the world, because he didn't have enough power to do that much damage.
>>but at the same time, we can see clearly in the seasone finale that sam does follow Dean's lead so there is compensation there, of a kind.<<
oh, totally. and i think dean genuinely loves his brother and is still genuinely invested in working with/protecting him, and the resentment he might have felt towards sam has been kind of folded into everything else and doesn't significantly affect the relationship. but it's definitely there to be used against him.
this is quite honestly my favorite part of being in a fandom - babbling all over the place about the show. :>
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 09:12 am (UTC)I'm all for babbling..and there it is another icon waiting to happen:
Internet Connection: 17 pounds a month
LJ Paid account: 20 pounds a year
Coffee provisions: 1.85 a packet
Babbling about your fandom all over the Internet:
Priceless *G*
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 06:26 pm (UTC)Do comment whenever you feel like it and RL lets you :D there are never ENOUGH hours in the day!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 02:57 pm (UTC)Fantastic meta actually. So good I'm bookmarking so I can refer to it again when need.
I find it very interesting this interplay of macho!man and typically feminised 'heart' characteristics.
I find your points re: the objectifying gaze and Jensen's features really intresting too. (With film as one of my majors I've become so terribly sick of the "camera is a masculine gaze" argument - because it's totally oversimplified - case and point the shot you pointed out of Dean. There's such a multiplicity of readings available.)
in a shot that VERY rarely is let to a male body - we can see all the curves, from ass to the small of his back to his shoulders. It's a vulnerable pose, too, since he's sleeping, and abandoned. Oh, guh, so distracted by your description right now. Even the word 'curves' is interesting - because Dean has such a curve to his features and is always shown in less than Sam(!)
If I was less sleepy I'm sure I'd be more articulate right now... but yeah... LOVE this meta.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 06:25 pm (UTC)yes :) I actually think that the macho!man aspects are highlighted in order to de-feminised the 'heart characteristics' as you say - it does border into 'camp' in more than one instance, I'd say, and the heteronormativy of the character has to be preserved (ah! they ignore the power of the Fangirls *G*)
(*waves* at films studies colleague - I'm doing a PhD in Film and Television *G*) the 'masculine gaze' is simplified,as an argument, although it was highly innovative at the time. Steve Neale has written extensively on the topic, and Laura Mulvay herself has come back to it. I'm fascinated by the dynamic, however, and obviously in part there's some interpretation, although no one can tell me that Ackles' lips are 'feminine' *G*
thank you for commenting :) I'll be happy to discuss it further when you feel like it :)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-07 09:10 pm (UTC)Personally, it's the more traditionally 'feminine' things about Dean that I like the most, the soft underbelly to all the more aggressive aspects of his personality (which you pointed out specifically). Makes him more relatable, you know?
It also fits in with his history, having to take care of Sam and probably John on occasion too.
Awesome, awesome meta. This is definetly going in my memories.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-08 12:09 am (UTC)Jokes aside *g* I'm glad it's noticeable - we only need to look at the way he relates to children (even though he doesn't 'know' children) to see that 'softer' side.
Yes, as you say, it probably makes him more relatable, even if unconsciously...and I am now wondering...I really have no idea about the demographics of us fangirls (more DeanGirls? More SammyGirls?), but your comment does make me wonder, if there are more DeanGirls than SamGirls, is it because unconsciously we relate more to his feminine traits, or simply because JAckles is kinda gorgeous?
No, seriously!! :) I mean it :)
*ponders*
thanks for reading and commenting! :D
no subject
Date: 2006-05-09 02:04 am (UTC)Lol my first thought is to say OF COURSE it's because he's gorgeous, but when you stop and think about it, some mix of both aspects are probably coming through. I already know I project onto poor Dean like crazy (having been something of a parentified child with a younger sibling myself), so it totally *IS* a valid point ;-)