Comments | chasingtides: The Thing That Should Not Be: Dean Winchester, Metallica, and H. P. Lovecraft

chasingtides

The Thing That Should Not Be: Dean Winchester, Metallica, and H. P. Lovecraft

Jun 06, 2011 00:05

I have a whole big complex meta I'm writing on class and words and meaning. But that's not a post for midnight before my weekend begins.

No, my post right now is about Dean Winchester.

( From Call of Ktulu to the Hetfield crying Not dead which eternal lie/stranger eons Death may die, I find this entirely too hard to buy )

meta, spn

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fannishliss June 6 2011, 13:59:03 UTC

I don't know... I'm a big Metallica fan and also a big SF fan, but I've never actually read any Lovecraft. I think if you said "arkham" to Dean he'd think "Batman" -- and if you said "Chthulhu" he'd think "Ktulu" and then his mind would start running the song and that would be the end of it.

I mean, I do know who Lovecraft is, but then, I also know who Lord Dunsany and Sheridan LeFanu are. (still haven't gotten around to reading them tho :P )

The Chthulhu stuff is also big in D&D which I bet Dean avoided like the plague.

There are some mysteries to Dean's self-imposed ignorance -- not just his claim that he's never heard of Lovecraft, but like in Bedtime Stories, not knowing the basic plots of fairy tales? ...

chasingtides June 6 2011, 14:09:41 UTC

Oh, he may well not have read Lovecraft. But he'd know who he was/have an inkling of what he wrote.

As for fairy tales.. it's harder to believe, considering he'd had four year with a stable family life before Mary died. On the other hand, maybe hunter's have their own fairy tales, and Mary didn't read him the normal ones?

itcomesinphases June 7 2011, 01:41:05 UTC

If that's the case then how would Sam be familiar with them? I really don't see John reading them bedtime stories on a regular basis. Though I can see Sam realizing that he doesn't know a lot of the stuff that other kids his age know and devouring the fairy tale section on principle.

Also, I don't think John knew that Mary's family was hunters. I doubt she'd read unusual fairytales to Dean. Though I can see her avoiding anything by the Brothers Grimm on account of it being far too close to reality.

chasingtides June 7 2011, 02:18:33 UTC

I was thinking more that hunter's fairytales are closer to fluffykins and rainbows because reality sucks giant donkey balls. You wouldn't tell regular fairytales because the regular stuff is adult life. And I doubt pre-hunter John would be like, "You need to harden up our three year old. Stop telling him tales of happiness and joy."

itcomesinphases June 7 2011, 02:26:31 UTC

I'm not sure if hunters have the sort of culture it takes to develop a collection of stories specifically for children. Cannon so far has shown very little in the way of unity outside the Campbell family.

That said, there's a wealth of children's stories and fables that aren't even remotely sinister or "fairytale" in nature. Aesop's Fables come to mind, some of Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes, Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, etc.

chasingtides June 7 2011, 03:38:53 UTC

I would see a hunter reading their child Dr Seuss and Curious George over Brothers Grimm, I suppose is what I'm saying. Given that Mary was a hunter and hated it, I don't have trouble believing that she didn't break out the big book of Disney fairytales when Dean was born. For a born hunter, I imagine that's traumatic or, at the very least, something she wouldn't want to expose her son to.

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