Awk-ward

[deirdre_c]

Wow.

Compared with Dean, Sam is really hard to buy for!!!

Someone should write a meta-post about how little we know about Sam's tastes. You know, Dean. He's got the Impala and metal bands and C-grade horror movies and M&Ms and weaponry and Jack Nicholson and you could go on and on. But what does Sam like? Casa Erotica and the laptop? Seriously.

Comments

[janissa11]

I could not agree more. See, I don't get this about the characterization -- Dean has been fleshed out in so many different ways, but it's like positives and negatives, as you point out: We know what Dean likes, but only the same details about Sam to the extent that he disagrees with Dean's likes. So we can say "Dean likes X, Y and Z," but for Sam we're kinda forced to say, "and Sam doesn't like X or Y and really hates Z." But what does he like instead? I think Dean talks about Sam's music, but what IS Sam's music? I mean, really, so much of Sam's character in fanfic is fanon, you know? Like healthier foods -- I don't know if canon Sam has ever really advocated eating better. I just can't remember any specific instances. I CAN remember Dean saying just once he'd like to eat something that doesn't come from a Quickie Mart or something, or out of a microwave, or SOMETHING. Does Sam's fanficcy desire to be healthier spring from a canon reference -- surely it does? Argh.

Fast arty comparison: Dean's a drawing of what is there, but Sam's a drawing of negative space -- we recognize his form by drawing AROUND him, the empty spaces, and thereby depicting a Sam-space by what we omit from the drawing. You know what I mean? It's really frustrating (although it's a cool technique in drawing). I'd love to know what things are Sam's favorites, like we do Dean's. I wonder what Sam plays in the car when he's driving and Dean's asleep. I wish the show would tell us those details.

[trinity_clare]

I think Sam bitchfaces at Dean's gas-station Twinkies for breakfast routine, maybe in Skin. Not sure. Also there was a line cut from an episode about Sam's "angry chick rock" at some point.

[deirdre_c]

Heh. I'm not sure Sam actually eats at all! Mostly he's all about turning down food. *g*

And, boy, doesn't the fact that the line about Sam's music gets cut say it all about how little they've given us!

[trinity_clare]

Isn't there a conspiracy or something that Sam never eats onscreen? (Are you the one following that?) I'd say something metashow about how a lot of actors won't eat onscreen because they have to film it over and over again, but Jared doesn't seem like the kind of person to have a problem with that. Jensen certainly doesn't. :D I personally think that while Sam doesn't eat like an anorexic ballet dancer, he probably substitutes salad for french fries once in a while. He's not as sophisticated as we make him sometimes - look at the debacle with the wine list in Provenance - but I bet he likes sushi.

I think that Sam's characterization is a really interesting thing to look at, because so much of fandom is made up of students or people who went to college and know how that changes a person. The other fascinating thing is that we have all this fanon about Sam - and unlike most of the wacky Dean fanon, we know it's right without canon confirmation. We knew Sam listened to angry chick rock before that script with the deleted line got released. There's a meta I've been meaning to write about Sam as the canon POV character and what exactly I mean by that, but it's still brewing. You should poke me for it once in a while.

[kc_rumors]

Off hand, I know Sam ate a doughnut in the beginning of Phantom Traveler (in the commentary, Jared talked about how he had to eat it each time they shot the scene, and then they never used the footage)

Also, the scene where Sam bitches at Dean's eating habits are from the pilot. They're at the gas station and it's right before he bitches about Dean's tape collection.

[deirdre_c]

Wonderfully put! What I wonder is if they want us to see Sam as naturally ascetic. That he's one of those people who doesn't want a lot of things, that ideas matter more than goods? But that still wouldn't preclude him from having tastes in food or music, so I don't know why they haven't given us more depth to him (particularly when they've made Dean so colorful!). For example, they often show him reading, but it seems like it's always for the job. But if he's intended to be portrayed as an intellectual, you'd think they'd make a big point of having him read for pleasure, too. Hmmm.

[missyjack]

There's some irony in that it was Sam who left to have a "normal" life, but really it was Sam who put life on hold, who has repressed and constrained his desires. And Dean despite being a 'freak', is the one who has engaged with life, who has a range of tastes and passions.

Hey this is meant to be a birthday party not a bloody meta conference! here have a purple nurple shooter!

[deirdre_c]

Hey this is meant to be a birthday party not a bloody meta conference! here have a purple nurple shooter!

Wait! This is totally appropriate! You know Sam is the kind of guy who, on his birthday, stares into his beer and gets all self-reflective and philosophical.

*pounds purple nurples and makes Sam carry me home*

[missyjack]

heheh - Sam could carry us all home!

[eponin10]

I wonder if its just that Sam has shut down some in the last year or so, since he lost Jess? Maybe he's subconsciously afraid of having things (anything, though being close to people is obviously a fear of his), because he never manages to hang on to them. He lost Jess, his college/normal life, his Dad... that has to have left scars, even if he doesn't recognize what he's doing.

[deirdre_c]

Oooh! That's an excellent explanation! *nodnod*

Poor Sammy. :(

[pheebs1]

I guess part of the trouble with Sam is that he's been all business so much of the time - avenging Jess, getting over Jess, finding the demon, that they haven't had time to show him kick back and indulge his interests. You'd think they would the more the series progresses.

Replying to a later comment of Dee's here too if I may - yes you would think they would show Sam reading for interest. I guess we know that he spends time online as research, that he likes to read for study, and he's the encyclopaedia of weird so he reads a lot for them - and part of him must enjoy that. We could fanwank that Sam is someone who'd say, like crosswords or trivia pub nights or anything where 'facts' that he knows might be useful.

I love your comparison of Sam as negative space though, as in reaction to Dean. It is interesting because so many of Dean's ACTIONS are in reaction to Sam's - Sam leaves, Dean stay's behind...Sam makes the decision and Dean follows, but Sam's interests are in reaction to Dean's... (or am I reaching too much here?!)