See, I always think that if there is a writers' pet (though there doesn't seem to me to be one on SPN), it's the character whose flaws they're unafraid of exploring. With Dean, I feel like the narrative will only go so far into his worst qualities before breaking into a chorus and two versus of how NOBODY KNOWS THE TROUBLE HE'S SEEEEEEN - ie, attempting to distract and manipulate the audience, because it doesn't have the confidence that he could keep our sympathy on his own. To put a character's flaws under the microscope the way the show has with Sam takes a huge amount of trust that a character is stay-with-able
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Alexis Denisof is the bomb. I knew I liked Jared as an actor when I found him comparable to Alexis as Wesley. Once in awhile I trawl through Youtube hoping to find the scene where Wes is talking to his Father on the phone (Season 2), so I can show people an example of excellent acting, and all I find are song thingies, not actual scenes. Sigh
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I feel with Sam on SPN, that we don't have access to his emotional life the way we do with Dean, to the point where I feel I am sometimes starved of knowing Sam, because I am overfull of Dean's blubbery EMO in nearly every episode.
I lean toward an author-is-dead approach to fiction, I guess? But I think that's a difference in characterization, not a writing issue. I think Dean wears his heart on his sleeve, and Sam works much harder to keep his real self under wraps. I don't think his emotional makeup is any less consistent than Dean's. I didn't feel like I had a handle on Sam until...possibly S3-ish, but since then he's been very transparent to me.
I do think there's a critical mass of viewers that take both guys at face value, but that's how people respond to introverts/extraverts generally. The show only really dropped the ball in S5, IMO.
I have a more neutral-viewer friend who watches SPN and she likes Dean best when he's funny and she finds Sam's dips into darkness (the demon blood) make him more interestingYeah. I think
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I find what I've wanted with Sam is the Full Portrait, and I feel we do not get it. We get hints, we get partials, we get Jared's beautifully subtle acting, but we tend to get Mystery over a Full Bodied Characterization with Sam. Or what we could get anyway, in terms of untapped potential. That potential is never wrung out and used, it is left to die on the vine. Meanwhile, Dean stubs his toe in the Premiere Episode, and they cover this for Dean, for nearly the whole season. Dean gets a fuller Portrait for the audience to relate to and understand. Dean comes to the Audience, but the Audience has to come to Sam, and if people are too lazy or disinterested, they just write Sam off in various ways
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I lean toward an author-is-dead approach to fiction, I guess? But I think that's a difference in characterization, not a writing issue. I think Dean wears his heart on his sleeve, and Sam works much harder to keep his real self under wraps. I don't think his emotional makeup is any less consistent than Dean's. I didn't feel like I had a handle on Sam until...possibly S3-ish, but since then he's been very transparent to me.
I do think there's a critical mass of viewers that take both guys at face value, but that's how people respond to introverts/extraverts generally. The show only really dropped the ball in S5, IMO.
I have a more neutral-viewer friend who watches SPN and she likes Dean best when he's funny and she finds Sam's dips into darkness (the demon blood) make him more interestingYeah. I think ( ... )
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