Sexist Supernatural?
More than once, I've read Supernatural-reviews that point out that the show "treats women abysmally", and I've just as often wondered if the people writing that even watch the show.
Not that there aren't some really clichéd females, especially in the earlier seasons, or more specifically in the bars that Dean frequents. So yeah, that's not really nice (especially in the "oh, blond and sexy equals 'easy to get into bed'" kinda equation)
Still... I wonder.
So, this show is about two men who were raised by a revenge-driven single father in a world that is pretty testosterone-based.
In this context, isn't it only natural to be true to the world they grew up in? Biker-bars and law enforcement are still not exactly known for their gender-fairness, after all. Though I'm having hopes for the law enforcement especially ;-)
And yet, when I look at Supernatural, I don't just see macho-men. Sure, the show is based on machismo, but when I watch, I see strong female characters that apparently get overlooked by the "reviewers" or - worse - ignored. Not just the obvious. For me it starts with Mrs Rourke, Layla's mother, who tried everything she could think of to save her daughter, and I'm sure she'd have happily sold her own soul for her. We should also not discount Haley from Wendigo, though she isn't really the smartest spoon in the drawer. Doesn't make her a weak character, though!
And we continue with Cassie's Mother, Mrs Robinson, who married a black man in a time where that was certainly not taken too well. We have Cassie herself, being strong-willed and smart, fighting for what she sees as right. And not wilting into the arms of the strong hero, either, but rejecting him not once but twice, first out of disbelief and then because it was the right thing for her to do.
We get to meet two of my favorites, Deputy Kathleen Hudak from Hibbing, Minnesota, and Meg, lovely, deliciously evil Meg.
We get to meet smart and courageous Sarah Blake, and all the single mothers from the first season - the mom of Asher and Michael ("Something Wicket"), Andrea Barr ("Dead in the Water") and the mother from "Home" who moved into the Winchester's house. Not to forget Linda Tran, Kevin's mother. And maybe they aren't fleshed out fully, but they aren't wilting flowers - they keep on fighting even though their lives got knocked off track. The HAVE to, sure, with their kids, but isn't that what Supernatural is about? To keep fighting even though the world seems to be against you?
There's Diana Ballard, from "The Usual Suspects" and the doctor from "Croatoan". Professional and smart (and as far as I know, still alive)
Let's continue with Ellen and Jo, smart and strong, and with them we start meeting more female hunters (huntresses?). Like Tamara (from "The Magnificent Seven") and the Winchester's cousin (forgot her name) and Annie Hawkins.
We learn that good, beautiful, stay-at-home Mary Winchester was just as kick-ass as Buffy Summers, meet God-defying angels, wicked Bela Talbot and evilly twisty Ruby.
I can't really name them all, there are SO MANY. I just have to mention Sheriff Mills, because duh... such a great character! We have hunters and hackers, witches and demons, bankers and evil leviathans. Cops and thieves and barkeepers and yes, sometimes they wear really short shorts and get to be called "fun" by Dean Winchester.
But do WE know those barmaids aren't smart? No, we don't. Sam actually is the one who, in Tall Tales, remembers the girl Dean hung on to as a rather dumb bimbo, while for Dean she was a smart young student of... something.
Does the show typically pass the often-called-upon Bechdel-test? "Two women having a conversation with each other and the topic is not a man"?
I'd say: mostly not.
That's of course proof! ... It cannot possibly have something to do with the fact that most of the women we meet are witnesses to a murder/supernatural event or have horribly lost their family/significant other. And that in that moment, they are talking to Dean or Sam, who are male, so those scenes have to be disqualified for the Bechdel-test right from the start. Even if for instance the hunter Annie Hawkins talks very competently about hunting, that cannot be counted for that test because she talks to either Dean or Bobby.
As for the fact that seems to make those reviewers especially mad - "all the women die in the show"... well. Duh. Of course they do. EVERYONE dies. They don't all return, and some of them don't die (or rather: haven't died yet), but they get written out of the show, which in some cases (Ellen, Jo, Lisa) really makes me sad.
But the reason why they die in my eyes isn't because they have no dick but rather because everyone the Winchesters touch and get help from is doomed.
John - dead
Pastor Jim - dead
Bobby - dead
Rufus - dead
Garth - not yet, we're still waiting
Benny - dead (double-dead)
Frank Devereaux - dead
the Campells - all dead
Kevin - dead
I'm not counting all the evil men we've met in the show. I'm pretty sure in total, there are more dead MALE baddies than female (though most female baddies were super-bad-baddies. Just sayin')
Now, so far we still hang on to Castiel. That and maybe Garth is it on the male-support-side. Oh, ok... maybe Crowley, though I wouldn't count him on the "support-side". Females? Jody Mills, and maybe whatshername, Krissy (is she support?).
So one "definitive" on either side and one "maybe", too, each.
Could we have more moments with female-female talks in the show? It certainly won't hurt. But as I said already, it's not easy when the fact that they will at one point talk to Sam and Dean (male) will discount any competent, smart statements for the test. Not to mention that we have a show that runs on 40 minute-episodes.
As for the dying: well, if they get touched by the Winchester's life, they are pretty much doomed. It's harsh, but it's a gender-unbiased reality.
I personally am not watching the show because I want to see women talking to each other about their jobs. I want to see "my" boys kicking evil demon-ass and meet interesting people (I'm using the term "people" in a very loose definition ;-) ). If I wanted something else, I'd WATCH something else.
It's not a show that demerits women, at least not in my eyes. I can easily admit that I'm probably not seeing everything correctly, and I'm probably already gender-brainwashed by my upbringing, but really... the women we see are mostly STRONG characters, and pretty much everyone who has a larger role could be an interesting person to explore further.
Yes, I'm getting a bit protective of my show, I'll admit it. And as I said - I probably don't realize every little bit. But it still pisses my off a bit when I read such "reviews" of people who probably never really looked further than Dean and Sam's sexy bottoms.
Not that there aren't some really clichéd females, especially in the earlier seasons, or more specifically in the bars that Dean frequents. So yeah, that's not really nice (especially in the "oh, blond and sexy equals 'easy to get into bed'" kinda equation)
Still... I wonder.
So, this show is about two men who were raised by a revenge-driven single father in a world that is pretty testosterone-based.
In this context, isn't it only natural to be true to the world they grew up in? Biker-bars and law enforcement are still not exactly known for their gender-fairness, after all. Though I'm having hopes for the law enforcement especially ;-)
And yet, when I look at Supernatural, I don't just see macho-men. Sure, the show is based on machismo, but when I watch, I see strong female characters that apparently get overlooked by the "reviewers" or - worse - ignored. Not just the obvious. For me it starts with Mrs Rourke, Layla's mother, who tried everything she could think of to save her daughter, and I'm sure she'd have happily sold her own soul for her. We should also not discount Haley from Wendigo, though she isn't really the smartest spoon in the drawer. Doesn't make her a weak character, though!
And we continue with Cassie's Mother, Mrs Robinson, who married a black man in a time where that was certainly not taken too well. We have Cassie herself, being strong-willed and smart, fighting for what she sees as right. And not wilting into the arms of the strong hero, either, but rejecting him not once but twice, first out of disbelief and then because it was the right thing for her to do.
We get to meet two of my favorites, Deputy Kathleen Hudak from Hibbing, Minnesota, and Meg, lovely, deliciously evil Meg.
We get to meet smart and courageous Sarah Blake, and all the single mothers from the first season - the mom of Asher and Michael ("Something Wicket"), Andrea Barr ("Dead in the Water") and the mother from "Home" who moved into the Winchester's house. Not to forget Linda Tran, Kevin's mother. And maybe they aren't fleshed out fully, but they aren't wilting flowers - they keep on fighting even though their lives got knocked off track. The HAVE to, sure, with their kids, but isn't that what Supernatural is about? To keep fighting even though the world seems to be against you?
There's Diana Ballard, from "The Usual Suspects" and the doctor from "Croatoan". Professional and smart (and as far as I know, still alive)
Let's continue with Ellen and Jo, smart and strong, and with them we start meeting more female hunters (huntresses?). Like Tamara (from "The Magnificent Seven") and the Winchester's cousin (forgot her name) and Annie Hawkins.
We learn that good, beautiful, stay-at-home Mary Winchester was just as kick-ass as Buffy Summers, meet God-defying angels, wicked Bela Talbot and evilly twisty Ruby.
I can't really name them all, there are SO MANY. I just have to mention Sheriff Mills, because duh... such a great character! We have hunters and hackers, witches and demons, bankers and evil leviathans. Cops and thieves and barkeepers and yes, sometimes they wear really short shorts and get to be called "fun" by Dean Winchester.
But do WE know those barmaids aren't smart? No, we don't. Sam actually is the one who, in Tall Tales, remembers the girl Dean hung on to as a rather dumb bimbo, while for Dean she was a smart young student of... something.
Does the show typically pass the often-called-upon Bechdel-test? "Two women having a conversation with each other and the topic is not a man"?
I'd say: mostly not.
That's of course proof! ... It cannot possibly have something to do with the fact that most of the women we meet are witnesses to a murder/supernatural event or have horribly lost their family/significant other. And that in that moment, they are talking to Dean or Sam, who are male, so those scenes have to be disqualified for the Bechdel-test right from the start. Even if for instance the hunter Annie Hawkins talks very competently about hunting, that cannot be counted for that test because she talks to either Dean or Bobby.
As for the fact that seems to make those reviewers especially mad - "all the women die in the show"... well. Duh. Of course they do. EVERYONE dies. They don't all return, and some of them don't die (or rather: haven't died yet), but they get written out of the show, which in some cases (Ellen, Jo, Lisa) really makes me sad.
But the reason why they die in my eyes isn't because they have no dick but rather because everyone the Winchesters touch and get help from is doomed.
John - dead
Pastor Jim - dead
Bobby - dead
Rufus - dead
Garth - not yet, we're still waiting
Benny - dead (double-dead)
Frank Devereaux - dead
the Campells - all dead
Kevin - dead
I'm not counting all the evil men we've met in the show. I'm pretty sure in total, there are more dead MALE baddies than female (though most female baddies were super-bad-baddies. Just sayin')
Now, so far we still hang on to Castiel. That and maybe Garth is it on the male-support-side. Oh, ok... maybe Crowley, though I wouldn't count him on the "support-side". Females? Jody Mills, and maybe whatshername, Krissy (is she support?).
So one "definitive" on either side and one "maybe", too, each.
Could we have more moments with female-female talks in the show? It certainly won't hurt. But as I said already, it's not easy when the fact that they will at one point talk to Sam and Dean (male) will discount any competent, smart statements for the test. Not to mention that we have a show that runs on 40 minute-episodes.
As for the dying: well, if they get touched by the Winchester's life, they are pretty much doomed. It's harsh, but it's a gender-unbiased reality.
I personally am not watching the show because I want to see women talking to each other about their jobs. I want to see "my" boys kicking evil demon-ass and meet interesting people (I'm using the term "people" in a very loose definition ;-) ). If I wanted something else, I'd WATCH something else.
It's not a show that demerits women, at least not in my eyes. I can easily admit that I'm probably not seeing everything correctly, and I'm probably already gender-brainwashed by my upbringing, but really... the women we see are mostly STRONG characters, and pretty much everyone who has a larger role could be an interesting person to explore further.
Yes, I'm getting a bit protective of my show, I'll admit it. And as I said - I probably don't realize every little bit. But it still pisses my off a bit when I read such "reviews" of people who probably never really looked further than Dean and Sam's sexy bottoms.