Brothers. It's a word.
I was writing a comment to thimpressionist and thought maybe I'd make a post about this because I've been thinking about it a bit and was wondering what anyone else's thoughts were on the matter. (Also, I should be doing the dishes and also my bit for the tg-crack round robin, but instead I'm doing this. Anything to procrastinate!)
Brothers. A discussion in which I attempt to put my brainy specs on.
(They're not real specs, they're meta specs.)
I watch and enjoy Supernatural. I watch and enjoy Boondock Saints. I am a slasher, yes. And I know the main characters in these shows* are brothers. And, yes, I slash the brothers. (Special hell, hello? It's me. Save me a seat.)
But these shows make it pretty fucking easy to slash the brothers. Ok, yes, both sets of brothers are easy on the eyes. Some might even say smokin' hot - if you go in for that pretty boy sort of thing. (I'm gonna be restrained and not make this into a picture essay - you can use Google Image Search if you want proof of this.) But both sets of brothers also have intense relationships with each other - intense, committed, complicated, loving, caring, close relationships. They are willing to die for each other; they are willing to kill to protect each other. They work best as a unit, as a pair, as a duo. They have kind of relationship that is more often depicted between spouses than siblings - actually, it is more intense than the depictions of a lot of spousal relationships. They have the kind of relationship I have never seen in real life siblings - but then I've never met a pair of siblings who hunt/kill demons/bad guys as a full-time pastime and maybe, were I to meet such siblings, then my opinion on this would change.
I'm probably not the first to say this kind of thing, but only being on the fringes of both SPN and BDS fandoms then I wouldn't know where to look to find where someone else has said this better before me. But it seems to me that somewhere in the creation of these shows, someone made the decision to make the main characters brothers. Instead of just two guys, two friends, two close friends, maybe two childhood friends, or - heavens to betsy! - two same-sex attracted guys, two gay (or bi) guys who are possibly lovers or in a relationship or have some close but complicated relationship (an "It's complicated" on Facebook). No, no, no - that would just be difficult. It would not appeal to the masses - the masses who I like to (optimistically) think are not homophobic (though maybe a chunk of them are), but who might not watch a show about two same-sex attracted guys. More importantly, for the network, could they sell ads to go into the advertising time that comes with such a show? Would the show rate, and thus sell more ads? With Supernatural, they are aiming for a pretty mainstream audience - young males, I would say. More specifically, young straight males - that being being a larger demographic than young same-sex attracted males and thus a larger group of people to target ads towards.
Ok, so no show about two not-straight men fighting demons/bad guys/crime (I'm just not going to mention Life on Mars, am I? Am I?!) It wouldn't sell - as much as I'd like to watch it (how about Angel and Spike, both vampires with souls, fighting bad guys and dealing with their pasts together and their "It's complicated" relationship with each other? Anyone?) So what if your two leading guys were just friends? (And why is it so difficult to type the words "just friends" and not want to put quotation marks around them?!). Say, SPN or BDS just the same except the brothers are not brothers? Ok, I know that would change things, but in essence the shows are two guys, who spend each and every day together, share the same space, have an intense complicated loving relationship with each other, and do this thing which is intense and dangerous and that they feel driven to do (hunting/killing bad guys), this thing which puts them outside the law and potentially on the run because of it, and thus isolated from pretty much everyone else. It's not like their relationship is legitimised by them being partners in some professional context, as in cops or detectives or whatever, something where two men can spend a whole heap of time together doing the same thing but no one doubts their heterosexuality because at the end of the episode they go home to their wives/girlfriends/test-card girls. That's a buddy thing or an odd-couple thing. And that is a thing that both SPN and BDS are not - at least, not for the most part. In SPN and BDS, the lads choose to spend all their time with each other**. And were they not brothers, the intensity of their relationship means that it could too easily be read as "something else". Too easily read that way by people who are not even slashers.
So, instead, you call them brothers. You legitimise them that way. That makes them Not Gay, not gay in the slightest - two guys who spend all their time together and sleep in the same room every night and etc etc. They can't possibly be gay if they're brothers. And then the word "brother" becomes the way of explaining all these things they do for each other, all the sacrifices they make, everything they are willing to do for each other. And then, to me, the word "brother" becomes code. The show says these two are deeply committed to each other and love each other, because they're brothers. The show says they do this thing for each other (whatever it is at the time: kill something, sacrifice something, do something heroic to save each other) because they're brothers. And each time it says "because they're brothers", as an viewer, you're meant to nod and say 'a-ha' as though that explains it. Except it doesn't explain it! What brothers do that kind of stuff? Have that kind of relationship with each other? Have that level of intensity and understanding between each other? Not many that I know of. But maybe I'm wrong. Who knows? The shows say it's "because they're brothers" and because of that, you're not meant to question it.
I think these shows invent an idea of "brothers" or "brotherhood" to fit in to their idea of what they want the character's relationship to be. As a way to show that two men can be close like this, can be interdependent, can love each other - but it's ok, it's not gay, because they are brothers. A-ha.
Does this sound like I'm trying to convince myself it's ok to slash brothers? That is, in fact, not what I'm trying to do. I write and read fanfic about the relationship between these two sets of brothers because it is so intense, so compelling, so interesting. I like the Weasley twins but (despite my icon) I haven't ever felt the need to read/write about them. I don't know whether it's homophobia that means shows like these can't portray such relationships between men who aren't brothers, or men who's relationship isn't legitimised in some form or another (ie. by being cops, etc). It is, I guess, what Peter Jackson was interested in exploring in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and of course, no one thought that any of that lot were shagging each other. No one. At all.
So, why is it difficult? Why aren't men allowed to be close, just men, no qualifiers? Why is this so problematic? Are men not "real men" if they show they care about each other? Are men not "real men" if they love each other and sleep together? Or love each other and don't sleep together? Can we, the audience, only understand male caring if it is through the prism them either being related or being lovers? Why do they have to be brothers? Why isn't it ok for men to do all those things for each other without being gay or being related? You know, just because they actually do care, end of story, that's it?
While writing this a couple of male-male non-sibling relationships have come to mind. Caring, loving relationships - maybe not as complicated those in SPN and BDS. The first is the relationship/s of various (rather similar) characters depicted by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. I'm thinking particularly of Spaced, but of their films as well (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). They obviously care about it each other quite a lot and are very close - and are just friends - not brothers, not colleagues, but friends. And then they send this up, this "just friendsness". ("Your boyfriend's on the phone!" "He's not my boyfriend! ... [picks up phone] Hi sweetie!"). The other relationship I was thinking about was that between Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear. Though they do work together, they are obviously very close and care a lot about each other. And they have wives. And they have a fandom that writes slash about them together as lovers. As do Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, I'm sure.
Ok, I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm just exploring these ideas and I'm interested in your thoughts. Can you think of any shows/films that break out of this mold? That depict men who care about each other in a different way? (Flight of the Conchords perhaps? Or The Mighty Boosh?) It does frustrate me, the lack of same-sex attracted people in TV and film. And for a film to feature a main character or characters who are queer, it suddenly becomes "a queer film". (Another film that comes to mind is By Hook or By Crook.) Not that there's anything wrong with so-called "queer films", but why can't we just have same-sex attracted people as main characters of any TV show or film? (Oh yeah, Torchwood. Hi there.) Also where are the same-sex attracted women in all of this?
In conclusion: brothers. Or not? You tell me.
*ok, I know Boondock Saints is a film, but I'm gonna call it a show for the sake of... er, space? laziness? Because I can't be bothered saying "show and film" when I'm talking about both BDS and SPN, ok?
**Ok, I know Sam whines about it in Season 1 - Dean coming to get him out of school and all that. And he does try to walk away, but in the end, he can't. He chooses to stay. With Dean. Because of Dean.
Brothers. A discussion in which I attempt to put my brainy specs on.
(They're not real specs, they're meta specs.)
I watch and enjoy Supernatural. I watch and enjoy Boondock Saints. I am a slasher, yes. And I know the main characters in these shows* are brothers. And, yes, I slash the brothers. (Special hell, hello? It's me. Save me a seat.)
But these shows make it pretty fucking easy to slash the brothers. Ok, yes, both sets of brothers are easy on the eyes. Some might even say smokin' hot - if you go in for that pretty boy sort of thing. (I'm gonna be restrained and not make this into a picture essay - you can use Google Image Search if you want proof of this.) But both sets of brothers also have intense relationships with each other - intense, committed, complicated, loving, caring, close relationships. They are willing to die for each other; they are willing to kill to protect each other. They work best as a unit, as a pair, as a duo. They have kind of relationship that is more often depicted between spouses than siblings - actually, it is more intense than the depictions of a lot of spousal relationships. They have the kind of relationship I have never seen in real life siblings - but then I've never met a pair of siblings who hunt/kill demons/bad guys as a full-time pastime and maybe, were I to meet such siblings, then my opinion on this would change.
I'm probably not the first to say this kind of thing, but only being on the fringes of both SPN and BDS fandoms then I wouldn't know where to look to find where someone else has said this better before me. But it seems to me that somewhere in the creation of these shows, someone made the decision to make the main characters brothers. Instead of just two guys, two friends, two close friends, maybe two childhood friends, or - heavens to betsy! - two same-sex attracted guys, two gay (or bi) guys who are possibly lovers or in a relationship or have some close but complicated relationship (an "It's complicated" on Facebook). No, no, no - that would just be difficult. It would not appeal to the masses - the masses who I like to (optimistically) think are not homophobic (though maybe a chunk of them are), but who might not watch a show about two same-sex attracted guys. More importantly, for the network, could they sell ads to go into the advertising time that comes with such a show? Would the show rate, and thus sell more ads? With Supernatural, they are aiming for a pretty mainstream audience - young males, I would say. More specifically, young straight males - that being being a larger demographic than young same-sex attracted males and thus a larger group of people to target ads towards.
Ok, so no show about two not-straight men fighting demons/bad guys/crime (I'm just not going to mention Life on Mars, am I? Am I?!) It wouldn't sell - as much as I'd like to watch it (how about Angel and Spike, both vampires with souls, fighting bad guys and dealing with their pasts together and their "It's complicated" relationship with each other? Anyone?) So what if your two leading guys were just friends? (And why is it so difficult to type the words "just friends" and not want to put quotation marks around them?!). Say, SPN or BDS just the same except the brothers are not brothers? Ok, I know that would change things, but in essence the shows are two guys, who spend each and every day together, share the same space, have an intense complicated loving relationship with each other, and do this thing which is intense and dangerous and that they feel driven to do (hunting/killing bad guys), this thing which puts them outside the law and potentially on the run because of it, and thus isolated from pretty much everyone else. It's not like their relationship is legitimised by them being partners in some professional context, as in cops or detectives or whatever, something where two men can spend a whole heap of time together doing the same thing but no one doubts their heterosexuality because at the end of the episode they go home to their wives/girlfriends/test-card girls. That's a buddy thing or an odd-couple thing. And that is a thing that both SPN and BDS are not - at least, not for the most part. In SPN and BDS, the lads choose to spend all their time with each other**. And were they not brothers, the intensity of their relationship means that it could too easily be read as "something else". Too easily read that way by people who are not even slashers.
So, instead, you call them brothers. You legitimise them that way. That makes them Not Gay, not gay in the slightest - two guys who spend all their time together and sleep in the same room every night and etc etc. They can't possibly be gay if they're brothers. And then the word "brother" becomes the way of explaining all these things they do for each other, all the sacrifices they make, everything they are willing to do for each other. And then, to me, the word "brother" becomes code. The show says these two are deeply committed to each other and love each other, because they're brothers. The show says they do this thing for each other (whatever it is at the time: kill something, sacrifice something, do something heroic to save each other) because they're brothers. And each time it says "because they're brothers", as an viewer, you're meant to nod and say 'a-ha' as though that explains it. Except it doesn't explain it! What brothers do that kind of stuff? Have that kind of relationship with each other? Have that level of intensity and understanding between each other? Not many that I know of. But maybe I'm wrong. Who knows? The shows say it's "because they're brothers" and because of that, you're not meant to question it.
I think these shows invent an idea of "brothers" or "brotherhood" to fit in to their idea of what they want the character's relationship to be. As a way to show that two men can be close like this, can be interdependent, can love each other - but it's ok, it's not gay, because they are brothers. A-ha.
Does this sound like I'm trying to convince myself it's ok to slash brothers? That is, in fact, not what I'm trying to do. I write and read fanfic about the relationship between these two sets of brothers because it is so intense, so compelling, so interesting. I like the Weasley twins but (despite my icon) I haven't ever felt the need to read/write about them. I don't know whether it's homophobia that means shows like these can't portray such relationships between men who aren't brothers, or men who's relationship isn't legitimised in some form or another (ie. by being cops, etc). It is, I guess, what Peter Jackson was interested in exploring in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and of course, no one thought that any of that lot were shagging each other. No one. At all.
So, why is it difficult? Why aren't men allowed to be close, just men, no qualifiers? Why is this so problematic? Are men not "real men" if they show they care about each other? Are men not "real men" if they love each other and sleep together? Or love each other and don't sleep together? Can we, the audience, only understand male caring if it is through the prism them either being related or being lovers? Why do they have to be brothers? Why isn't it ok for men to do all those things for each other without being gay or being related? You know, just because they actually do care, end of story, that's it?
While writing this a couple of male-male non-sibling relationships have come to mind. Caring, loving relationships - maybe not as complicated those in SPN and BDS. The first is the relationship/s of various (rather similar) characters depicted by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. I'm thinking particularly of Spaced, but of their films as well (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz). They obviously care about it each other quite a lot and are very close - and are just friends - not brothers, not colleagues, but friends. And then they send this up, this "just friendsness". ("Your boyfriend's on the phone!" "He's not my boyfriend! ... [picks up phone] Hi sweetie!"). The other relationship I was thinking about was that between Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson, of Top Gear. Though they do work together, they are obviously very close and care a lot about each other. And they have wives. And they have a fandom that writes slash about them together as lovers. As do Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, I'm sure.
Ok, I don't know where I'm going with this. I'm just exploring these ideas and I'm interested in your thoughts. Can you think of any shows/films that break out of this mold? That depict men who care about each other in a different way? (Flight of the Conchords perhaps? Or The Mighty Boosh?) It does frustrate me, the lack of same-sex attracted people in TV and film. And for a film to feature a main character or characters who are queer, it suddenly becomes "a queer film". (Another film that comes to mind is By Hook or By Crook.) Not that there's anything wrong with so-called "queer films", but why can't we just have same-sex attracted people as main characters of any TV show or film? (Oh yeah, Torchwood. Hi there.) Also where are the same-sex attracted women in all of this?
In conclusion: brothers. Or not? You tell me.
*ok, I know Boondock Saints is a film, but I'm gonna call it a show for the sake of... er, space? laziness? Because I can't be bothered saying "show and film" when I'm talking about both BDS and SPN, ok?
**Ok, I know Sam whines about it in Season 1 - Dean coming to get him out of school and all that. And he does try to walk away, but in the end, he can't. He chooses to stay. With Dean. Because of Dean.