Tension, Conflict, Motivation, and Plot: Why the Story is About Dean and We Do Know Sam
I wrote a meta thingy! :)
There’s been avid discussion about Sam and Dean and which of them, if either, seems to be favored by Kripke as well as debate about “who is the story really about”. I’ve noticed there’s been a propensity for some self-proclaimed “Dean girls” and “Sam girls” to run circles around each other, trying to prove their points. ( Read more... )
There’s been avid discussion about Sam and Dean and which of them, if either, seems to be favored by Kripke as well as debate about “who is the story really about”. I’ve noticed there’s been a propensity for some self-proclaimed “Dean girls” and “Sam girls” to run circles around each other, trying to prove their points. ( Read more... )
I think this summarises their relationship beautifully. Until 'Mystery Spot' I don't think I realised how damaging their dependence on each other could actually be (Sam's spiral into depression after Dean's death, his obsession to change the past, his willingness to kill Bobby despite not being one-hundred-percent certain it wasn't him). I think I knew it, underneath, subconsciously, just the way most fans know that Sam and Dean need each other to the point of obsession. But I think this episode really slapped us in the face and showed us that, no matter how endearing their loyalty to each other, it could one day do more damage than good.
You've articulated beautifully what I've always believed -- that Sam and Dean are both hybrid tigers. I know Sam through Dean and vice versa, and I know about each through their actions, their motivations, the way they approach the plot. Despite my fannish love for Jensen Ackles/Dean, this show cannot exist without Sam. It's almost as if I adore Sam because Dean does and because Sam loves him back. Even if Kripke insinuated now that the show would soon become the Dean-show, without Sam present, I'd know instinctively that it wouldn't work, because as brilliant as Dean is, it is through Sam that he's allowed to be this reckless, this snarky, this heroic. His relationship with Sam is one of the fundamental things that makes his character so interesting -- the conflict it causes him, the choices he makes me because of it, his self-sacrificing nature.
I don't get weepy watching this show because Dean happens to be crying man-tears or beating the crap out of cars. I get weepy because I understand why he gets upset. I understand how his displaced identity, his choice to give up everything he was and could be for Sam and John, damaged something in him. The fact that he is a motivation tiger seems a little more devastating than being a plot tiger. Because once the plot is finished that tiger can go off and make his own territory. But Dean's motivation, his love for his family, will always tie him to them. It will never end. Even if Sam dies, he won't be free. His need for vengeance will motivate him. And once he's fulfilled that he will have nothing.
I think that's why I'm enjoying season three, because now Dean isn't the only motivation tiger. Sam is, too. I sympathise with his terror of losing his brother because I have an emotional investment in Dean just like he does. And that allows me to jump into his shoes and really get to know the character that he is.
Reply
*nods* "MS" was an eye-opening episode. Although I'd consciously realized that Sam, I think, is the only person that can really destroy/end Dean and Dean is the only person that could truly wreck/defeat Sam, I'd never consciously considered their "saving thing" being utterly and completely destructive in and of itself. But the beauty of eye-opening meta (if it be delivered via canon or through fannish blabber) is it's simplicity, that it just seems to so blatantly obvious you say, "Well, that makes complete sense, duh."
I'm sure this "no good comes of self-sacrific" idea will resurface just like the "what's dead should stay dead" mantra.
it is through Sam that he's allowed to be this reckless, this snarky, this heroic. His relationship with Sam is one of the fundamental things that makes his character so interesting -- the conflict it causes him, the choices he makes me because of it
Beautifully said! And I think the same is true for Sam. Both characters have grown into each other over the past 3 years such that, excuse the horrible Jerry McGuire reference *snortlaugh*, they do complete each other. It's Sam and Dean's symmetry, the fact that they can be mirrors for each other and weirdly be such opposites at the same time, their push-pull dynamic on all sort of levels that gets the meta brain churning. How is that possible, and how does that somehow work? *ponders*
I get weepy because I understand why he gets upset.
Sympathy/empathy is a powerful thing. I think the writers have gone above and beyond in building not just the plot but the characters. In fact, I'd hazard to say that characterization is what's bumped this show from just another cast of pretty faces jumping around on a rather fluffy network to a story about brothers learning how to live with each other on a rather fluffy network.
To go along with your last thought, I'm also relieved that Sam's become more emotionally available this season. There's a lot of stuff bottled up inside of him and I want to see it!
Because once the plot is finished that tiger can go off and make his own territory. But Dean's motivation, his love for his family, will always tie him to them. It will never end.
I've never thought of this in terms of long-lasting effects and what happens beyond the story. O.O OMG, I think I'm going to cry. Actually, I think you touch on something tangentially related to the original meta that sparked the one we're now discussing (which I have yet to finish): the fact that the implicit promise established in the pilot is that this is a story of a pair brothers muddling through impossible odds together. In fiction, for a satisfying ending the implicit promise MUST BE fulfilled. Ergo, in my mind, Sam and Dean need to be together in some capacity. Plus if they're not, there will probably be a worldwide Kleenex shortage. ;)
Thanks for sharing your insight! Excellent thinky thoughts. :)
Reply
Leave a comment