Supernatural wank (tl;dr)
So, the other night, as SPN was airing, some guy named Chad who apparently works with the WB mad some very ill-advised tweets (that account is now deleted, apparently) starting by saying that neither Cas nor Dean were bisexual and Destiel would never happen, followed by a whole bunch of other ridiculous comments that were things like "well, I wouldn't say no if it crossed my desk". I have to admit, if it wasn't queerbaiting, it came awfully close. Basically, it was tacky and fandom (particularly Destiel shippers) exploded.
For me, though, aside from the tweets being unnecessarily obnoxious (I'm pretty sure the two Ben's pulled bullshit like this too, back in S6 and S7 - man I hated those writers), the news of it didn't surprise me. 9 seasons now, and I've never expected or assumed that a slash ship would become canon or even that Dean at some point would actually come out as bi or gay. They give little tidbits (that are actually intended to be done for humor, not to actually hint that Dean is anything beyond straight), and I'm perfectly content with that. So, below, I have some more in depth thoughts on this whole situation. Mainly about how I don't understand when fandom decided it wasn't happy with fanfic anymore and how all ships must now be canon.
(Also posted on tumblr, so feel free to skip or whatever if you've read it.)
All this Supernatural wank makes me feel like a fandom dinosaur. While I get and fully support the idea of canonically queer (gay, bi, pan, trans*, etc) characters, Supernatural is not the show that’s going to have that happen. We are lucky to have a few Charlies who are awesome - and that is how the show listens to the fans and represents a broader (non straight) audience. But you also have to remember, this is the show that made a mockery of Wincest. And yes, some Destiel fans seem to think that’s great, just because they don’t ship Wincest, but it’s the same thing. Two main male characters who have always asserted their straightness except to get laughs (see: Aaron in Everybody Hates Hitler) aren’t suddenly going to develop same-sex relationships. The show isn’t about that type of drama (i.e. a soap opera where I wouldn’t at all be surprised if a character went through a sexual identity crisis). It’s on the CW. It’s a show that’s always tried to cater to the rare male demographic (think how the convention scene was dominated by men other than Becky). Whether its out of sheer naivete of the actual audience or because in the TV world males=ad money (despite the fact that it’s women who do the shopping, that’s a rant for another time), it’s not going to happen. You know what else isn’t going to happen? We’re never going to see canon Oliver/Diggle, either. That pairing could get the biggest fanbase ever, and it wouldn’t matter. This isn’t HBO and it isn’t a show that set out to explore sexuality.
I am very upset over the tweets of that Chad guy. I was very upset over the tweets from the two Bens a few years ago, too, who felt the need to mock the fans.
But at what point did we decide our headcanons and our ships should be the show? It’s not like the fandom is united. And TV isn’t a democracy, the majority doesn’t win. Or else we’d have had Wincest through S4 and then Destiel. And no one would be happy. When did fans decide to leave fandom? Why isn’t fanfic and subtext good enough any more? Yes, it’d be great to see Dean/Cas as canon. But when did fandom at large decide its ships need to be canon? I am truly confused. It’s not just SPN. It’s Teen Wolf. It’s Rizzoli&Isles. It seems* to be a portion of Sherlock fandom. I have to say, if anyone thought and demanded that Mulder/Krycek be canon, it was probably two people in all of fandom and they kept it to themselves. Did M/K fans always want more scenes of them together? Of course. Every ship (particularly the rarepairs!) want more screentime. But there’s a difference between saying to yourself and your friends “I hope Dean and Cas get another moment that shows their “profound bond!” and actively campaigning for it to become canon. What’s the response you expect from a bunch of mostly cis, white, straight, middle-aged to old men? Is it fair? No. But maybe there are other ways to educate these people on presenting a broader spectrum of people that more accurately reflects real life, than tweeting about how Dean and Cas should have sex.
It’s not about representation. It’s about your ship. If it were about representation, we’d all care more about the actual out sexual minority characters (like Danny in Teen Wolf). We’d ask the writers for more stories involving them, for more representation, generally. We’d create letter campaigns to show Elementary how much we appreciate their take on Ms Hudson. But this push for Destiel isn’t about representation, it’s, quite frankly, about fan entitlement. And maybe that’s what happens when people are born into fandom at 12 instead of even 18, much less later years in life. Maybe that’s what happens with the creation of twitter which allows fans direct access to the elites, the TPTB, that didn’t exist when TOS or X-Files or hell, even Heroes (I don’t recall a whole lot of demand for Petrellicest to become canon! We took our feels and ran with the fanfic) was around. The internet and media is ever evolving, but in this case, I’m beginning to see more and more of a fandom monster than fandom growth.
So, I’ll continue to be the old(ish) fandom dinosaur, content with my subtext. If a show in the future surprises me (like Once Upon A Time - I did not ever expect them to make Mulora explicit!), then I will be happily surprised and please with the representation being shown, as well as my ship becoming canon. But I’d much rather campaign for more representation (of racial minorities, sexual minorities, physical shape minorities, etc) on the whole and tell a show how pleased I am with characters they’ve made to represent, and bring about change as a whole to TV - then just campaign for Dean and Cas to kiss. For that need, I have fanfic. Fans write the characters a hell of a lot better, anyway.
*(Saying seems as I am not actively in that fandom myself)
ETA: Fandom debunker uploaded all the tweets here.
This is the one that I saw pop up predominently and seemed to send fandom into a tizzy.
For me, though, aside from the tweets being unnecessarily obnoxious (I'm pretty sure the two Ben's pulled bullshit like this too, back in S6 and S7 - man I hated those writers), the news of it didn't surprise me. 9 seasons now, and I've never expected or assumed that a slash ship would become canon or even that Dean at some point would actually come out as bi or gay. They give little tidbits (that are actually intended to be done for humor, not to actually hint that Dean is anything beyond straight), and I'm perfectly content with that. So, below, I have some more in depth thoughts on this whole situation. Mainly about how I don't understand when fandom decided it wasn't happy with fanfic anymore and how all ships must now be canon.
(Also posted on tumblr, so feel free to skip or whatever if you've read it.)
All this Supernatural wank makes me feel like a fandom dinosaur. While I get and fully support the idea of canonically queer (gay, bi, pan, trans*, etc) characters, Supernatural is not the show that’s going to have that happen. We are lucky to have a few Charlies who are awesome - and that is how the show listens to the fans and represents a broader (non straight) audience. But you also have to remember, this is the show that made a mockery of Wincest. And yes, some Destiel fans seem to think that’s great, just because they don’t ship Wincest, but it’s the same thing. Two main male characters who have always asserted their straightness except to get laughs (see: Aaron in Everybody Hates Hitler) aren’t suddenly going to develop same-sex relationships. The show isn’t about that type of drama (i.e. a soap opera where I wouldn’t at all be surprised if a character went through a sexual identity crisis). It’s on the CW. It’s a show that’s always tried to cater to the rare male demographic (think how the convention scene was dominated by men other than Becky). Whether its out of sheer naivete of the actual audience or because in the TV world males=ad money (despite the fact that it’s women who do the shopping, that’s a rant for another time), it’s not going to happen. You know what else isn’t going to happen? We’re never going to see canon Oliver/Diggle, either. That pairing could get the biggest fanbase ever, and it wouldn’t matter. This isn’t HBO and it isn’t a show that set out to explore sexuality.
I am very upset over the tweets of that Chad guy. I was very upset over the tweets from the two Bens a few years ago, too, who felt the need to mock the fans.
But at what point did we decide our headcanons and our ships should be the show? It’s not like the fandom is united. And TV isn’t a democracy, the majority doesn’t win. Or else we’d have had Wincest through S4 and then Destiel. And no one would be happy. When did fans decide to leave fandom? Why isn’t fanfic and subtext good enough any more? Yes, it’d be great to see Dean/Cas as canon. But when did fandom at large decide its ships need to be canon? I am truly confused. It’s not just SPN. It’s Teen Wolf. It’s Rizzoli&Isles. It seems* to be a portion of Sherlock fandom. I have to say, if anyone thought and demanded that Mulder/Krycek be canon, it was probably two people in all of fandom and they kept it to themselves. Did M/K fans always want more scenes of them together? Of course. Every ship (particularly the rarepairs!) want more screentime. But there’s a difference between saying to yourself and your friends “I hope Dean and Cas get another moment that shows their “profound bond!” and actively campaigning for it to become canon. What’s the response you expect from a bunch of mostly cis, white, straight, middle-aged to old men? Is it fair? No. But maybe there are other ways to educate these people on presenting a broader spectrum of people that more accurately reflects real life, than tweeting about how Dean and Cas should have sex.
It’s not about representation. It’s about your ship. If it were about representation, we’d all care more about the actual out sexual minority characters (like Danny in Teen Wolf). We’d ask the writers for more stories involving them, for more representation, generally. We’d create letter campaigns to show Elementary how much we appreciate their take on Ms Hudson. But this push for Destiel isn’t about representation, it’s, quite frankly, about fan entitlement. And maybe that’s what happens when people are born into fandom at 12 instead of even 18, much less later years in life. Maybe that’s what happens with the creation of twitter which allows fans direct access to the elites, the TPTB, that didn’t exist when TOS or X-Files or hell, even Heroes (I don’t recall a whole lot of demand for Petrellicest to become canon! We took our feels and ran with the fanfic) was around. The internet and media is ever evolving, but in this case, I’m beginning to see more and more of a fandom monster than fandom growth.
So, I’ll continue to be the old(ish) fandom dinosaur, content with my subtext. If a show in the future surprises me (like Once Upon A Time - I did not ever expect them to make Mulora explicit!), then I will be happily surprised and please with the representation being shown, as well as my ship becoming canon. But I’d much rather campaign for more representation (of racial minorities, sexual minorities, physical shape minorities, etc) on the whole and tell a show how pleased I am with characters they’ve made to represent, and bring about change as a whole to TV - then just campaign for Dean and Cas to kiss. For that need, I have fanfic. Fans write the characters a hell of a lot better, anyway.
*(Saying seems as I am not actively in that fandom myself)
ETA: Fandom debunker uploaded all the tweets here.
This is the one that I saw pop up predominently and seemed to send fandom into a tizzy.