Meta: What makes a hero? (Supernatural)
I was reading a very interesting take on Sam (via spn-heavymeta) earlier today. It was Sam Winchester vs The Heart of the Show: Why Sam Winchester is unsympathetic and it had some very interesting observations on how Dean is seen as the "heart" of the show and how Sam is often seen as attacking that emotional center which makes him a less sympathetic character.
It was, however, a comment on the post that caught my eye. In it, it was said: . . . is this what makes a hero? An over-developed (way over) sense of responsibility? Dean has repeated the refrain "...on my watch..." so often, it must make him the hero."
That (rhetorical, I'm fairly sure) question, really struck a nerve with me because, from an American cultural standpoint, "on my watch" does make you the hero. In American culture it's the person who acts, who takes the risk, who accepts responsibility for their actions and the responsibility for the well being of others that makes a hero. It's the doctor, police, the soldier, the paramedic, the teacher -- who are the heroes. The person that goes out and actively interacts with the world and fights to make people safe and the world better.
Internal strife, angst and personal/emotional conflict makes a character "tragic" but whether that character is a "tragic hero" or simply a "tragic figure" is determined by whether or not that person acts on EXTERNAL events. In American culture, Sam's desire to kill himself so that he doesn't potentially harm others (either to spare others or himself from pain and guilt) does not make him a tragic hero, it just makes him a tragic character. On the other hand, if he would die in an immediate act of attempting to save someone (wether he succeeds or not) he would be seen as a tragic hero. Case in point: When Sam said "yes" to Lucifer, he was basically killing himself in order to stop the assured destruction of the world. Heroic. When Sam wanted to die at the beginning of this season it was so that he would stop any possible future event where people were hurt because of him. Not heroic. Understandable, yes, but not heroic.
It's just how the American psyche is wired.
Just look at how the very first post was set up. It stated "Dean is the heart of the show". I've heard that a great deal: That Dean is "the heart" of the show or the character who is seen as the "main POV". While I don't necessarily disagree with that, I've recently begun to wonder why that is. It's not screen time, because there's not a huge difference in the amount of screen time the two characters get. (And, no, I haven't done a study on it. However, I'm sure if there was a big difference in amount of screen time given to the characters, it would have been a point in the SPN community already). It's not nobility, because both characters have been seen as willing to fight and sacrifice themselves for others. It's not looks (let's face it, in this pop-culture world the better looking person is always seen as the more important one), because they are both easy on the eyes. It's not storyline, because they've both been responsible for destroying/saving the world multiple times. So what makes so many people refer to Dean as "the heart"?
I think it comes down to the American fondness of the character who takes the action and the responsibility to act into his/her own hands. The character who seems to have to greatest ability to take action no matter what situation she/he is in. The ability to, even when in the most helpless of circumstances, find a way to act, to exert her/his own will. The term that is most often used to describe this is "agency". It's often used to explain why some characters who would be normally seen as powerless (say kidnapping victims or abused spouses) can instead be seen as heroic. We look at them and say: no matter how bad it got they still found some way to act. It's not even necessary for these characters to save themselves, they just have to find some way to have some control over their actions.
Americans love people who act, who do things. We don't take failure as a bad thing, because it signifies that a person at least tried something. It's better to try and fail than to do nothing. It's a very American view point but one that permeates our culture. We view brooding and isolation and uncertainty as things that have time limits. Behaviors that are acceptable in our heroic characters as long as that's not the defining characteristic of the character.
What we don't see as heroic is wanting not to act. Americans are ridiculously optimistic. The argument of "but if I live I could hurt people" is usually countered by the argument "but you could save people, too." It's Dean's unending belief that he needs to save everyone that makes him the hero, the "heart". It's why we see him as the POV. Even though he knows he can't always succeed -- in fact, even when he knows he's probably going to fail -- he still acts.
As I said, it's a very American thing. It's so ingrained in us, that even when we absolutely adore a person or character (say, Sam) we can't see him/her as the hero. No matter how much we love them, they can never be the heart of the show.
It was, however, a comment on the post that caught my eye. In it, it was said: . . . is this what makes a hero? An over-developed (way over) sense of responsibility? Dean has repeated the refrain "...on my watch..." so often, it must make him the hero."
That (rhetorical, I'm fairly sure) question, really struck a nerve with me because, from an American cultural standpoint, "on my watch" does make you the hero. In American culture it's the person who acts, who takes the risk, who accepts responsibility for their actions and the responsibility for the well being of others that makes a hero. It's the doctor, police, the soldier, the paramedic, the teacher -- who are the heroes. The person that goes out and actively interacts with the world and fights to make people safe and the world better.
Internal strife, angst and personal/emotional conflict makes a character "tragic" but whether that character is a "tragic hero" or simply a "tragic figure" is determined by whether or not that person acts on EXTERNAL events. In American culture, Sam's desire to kill himself so that he doesn't potentially harm others (either to spare others or himself from pain and guilt) does not make him a tragic hero, it just makes him a tragic character. On the other hand, if he would die in an immediate act of attempting to save someone (wether he succeeds or not) he would be seen as a tragic hero. Case in point: When Sam said "yes" to Lucifer, he was basically killing himself in order to stop the assured destruction of the world. Heroic. When Sam wanted to die at the beginning of this season it was so that he would stop any possible future event where people were hurt because of him. Not heroic. Understandable, yes, but not heroic.
It's just how the American psyche is wired.
Just look at how the very first post was set up. It stated "Dean is the heart of the show". I've heard that a great deal: That Dean is "the heart" of the show or the character who is seen as the "main POV". While I don't necessarily disagree with that, I've recently begun to wonder why that is. It's not screen time, because there's not a huge difference in the amount of screen time the two characters get. (And, no, I haven't done a study on it. However, I'm sure if there was a big difference in amount of screen time given to the characters, it would have been a point in the SPN community already). It's not nobility, because both characters have been seen as willing to fight and sacrifice themselves for others. It's not looks (let's face it, in this pop-culture world the better looking person is always seen as the more important one), because they are both easy on the eyes. It's not storyline, because they've both been responsible for destroying/saving the world multiple times. So what makes so many people refer to Dean as "the heart"?
I think it comes down to the American fondness of the character who takes the action and the responsibility to act into his/her own hands. The character who seems to have to greatest ability to take action no matter what situation she/he is in. The ability to, even when in the most helpless of circumstances, find a way to act, to exert her/his own will. The term that is most often used to describe this is "agency". It's often used to explain why some characters who would be normally seen as powerless (say kidnapping victims or abused spouses) can instead be seen as heroic. We look at them and say: no matter how bad it got they still found some way to act. It's not even necessary for these characters to save themselves, they just have to find some way to have some control over their actions.
Americans love people who act, who do things. We don't take failure as a bad thing, because it signifies that a person at least tried something. It's better to try and fail than to do nothing. It's a very American view point but one that permeates our culture. We view brooding and isolation and uncertainty as things that have time limits. Behaviors that are acceptable in our heroic characters as long as that's not the defining characteristic of the character.
What we don't see as heroic is wanting not to act. Americans are ridiculously optimistic. The argument of "but if I live I could hurt people" is usually countered by the argument "but you could save people, too." It's Dean's unending belief that he needs to save everyone that makes him the hero, the "heart". It's why we see him as the POV. Even though he knows he can't always succeed -- in fact, even when he knows he's probably going to fail -- he still acts.
As I said, it's a very American thing. It's so ingrained in us, that even when we absolutely adore a person or character (say, Sam) we can't see him/her as the hero. No matter how much we love them, they can never be the heart of the show.