Sam Winchester vs The Heart of the Show: Why Sam Winchester is unsympathetic

[ash48]

I've mostly written this for me. I needed to do this as a way of trying to understand why I feel sympathy for Sam (at the moment and usually) when it seems much of fandom doesn't. It's puzzled me because even though I know we each see the show with certain goggles on I've struggled to understand how a few lines of dialogue seems to have removed

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[ruby_jelly]

May I post this in my journal, please. You said it all.

I watched Dean start his little speech, the one Kevin thwarted - thank heavens - and thought is this what makes a hero? An over-developed (way over) sense of responsibility? Dean has repeated the refrain "...on my watch..." so often, it must make him the hero.

And then Sam agreed to "Get over it!" way too quickly. Oh dear, I thought, keeping the ghost happy here. I was right, and I'm with Sam all the way; outright fighting doesn't alter anything, but withdrawal (yes, I know, passive aggressive) at least gives Sam space, to survive life with his brother. What was it Dean said? "24/7, quality time", between Kevin and Mrs Tran. Little hint about emotional state of both, methinks.

I want more of Sam's perspective also, and feel I've been saying this since season 2, when ummm, when I could actually see anyone else on the screen but Dean.*blush* It feels to me he didn't get nearly the same air time, and often he is in the scene, but silent.

Enough. cya :)

[partly]

Actually, from a cultural standpoint, "on my watch" does make you the hero. In American culture it's the person who acts, who takes the risk, who accepts responsibility for their actions and the responsibility for the well being of others that makes a hero. It's the doctor, police, the soldier, the paramedic -- that goes out and acts and fights to make people safe and the world better.

Internal strife, angst and personal/emotional conflict makes a character "tragic" but whether that character is a "tragic hero" or simply a "tragic figure" is determined whether or not that person acts on EXTERNAL events. In American culture, Sam's desire to kill himself so that he doesn't potentially harm others (either to spare others or himself from pain and guilt) does not make him a tragic hero, it just makes him a tragic character. On the other hand, if he would die in an immediate act of attempting to save someone (wether he succeeds or not) he would be seen as a tragic hero.

It's just how the American psyche is wired.

[ruby_jelly]

Interesting, thank you.

[ash48]

Hey hun!

The "on my watch" is interesting because he's mentioned it a couple of time. I wonder if he's referring to the actual moment when Kevin was killed or way back to when he made the decision to let an angel possess Sam.

And yeah, I think Sam probably wasn't lying when he said he's work at moving on, but he's just not ready to yet. Thank goodness. If they kissed and made up this soon it would trivialise everything that has gone before.

Sam's POV is seriously lacking, but it always has been so I figure it's a deliberate choice.

cya!