four points of SPN spec-meta
I'm actually really bad at spec, but whatever. The last point is spoiler-cut for info from the promo for this week's episode; the rest are me reveling in my lack of information.
+Having seen just how conscientiously Carver uses parallels and framing, I’m wondering if we’re looking at some structural parallels to S8? In S8, we saw Castiel’s storyline play out from a very strange perspective. We certainly weren’t looking at things from Naomi’s POV, because we knew (still know) very little of her motivations, except that she seems to have been invested in keeping the celestial bureaucracy clicking along. But we weren’t quite working from Cas’ POV either, because we knew significantly more than Cas did. We could retain our memory from incident to incident; Castiel could not. Maybe we were Ion, maybe we were God. Regardless, Cas knew a great deal less about his own experiences than we did, and it was a full ten episodes before he caught up with us. That absolutely did not preclude us from understanding the horror of what was happening to Cas - dragging it out and letting us wonder what was happening to him made the whole thing that much scarier.
So I don’t think it’s a technical failure or a disservice to the character, that we haven’t yet gotten Sam’s POV on his exploitation. That is the scary thing, that we ARE getting Sam’s POV, and Sam’s POV is that nothing is wrong. If we don’t see and hear Sam’s perspective after the reveal, then I will be the first one on board with that criticism, but I don’t see any reason to jump the gun assuming it will be true. It’s actually really important that the show let this simmer for a couple of episodes, lulling Sam into a false sense of security so there’s some ground to pull out from under him. In terms of how viewer response plays out, it’s important for this to happen for a long time, because this absolutely cannot be allowed to be written off as “just” an emergency measure that got ironed out as soon as possible. I understand that’s what people want to see because it would be more consistent with fanon Dean, but it is not consistent at all with canon Dean. If it does follow the precedent set by S8 - about ten episodes between our introduction to the mind-controlling angel and the victim’s realization of what’s going on - then the mid-season finale is about the place we can anticipate Sam finding out.
I think these parallels are powerful and intentional. We got up close and personal with the horrors of mind control with Cas and Naomi last season from a detached, clinical perspective. This season, we’re watching an ethically similar situation play out with that fresh in our minds as we examine the self-justifying mindset of the perpetrator. Naomi sounded dictatorial and dismissive when she told Cas she had saved Cas from a fate with which he had made peace and fixed him - but this is Dean’s rationalization for his dealings with Ezekiel. There are those who would argue that the sibling relationship between Sam and Dean is a material difference between the two circumstances, but (a) if that relationship is so important, surely it necessitates a higher standard for respect and care, not a lower one, and (b) do the angels not identify as each other’s brothers and sisters? The fact that this is extremely uncomfortable to watch tells me that the show is doing it very, very right.
+I am really curious to see how Sam learns the truth. It has to be something undeniable, to break through all the cognitive dissonance. On top of that, it has to be a sequence of events that somehow prevents Zeke from erasing Sam’s memory of it all. I really think it’s going to have to be something like “Sam uses a banishing sigil and accidentally sends himself to some celestial waiting room, which weakens Ezekiel too much to wipe his memory properly.” It will be something ten times more inventive and exciting than that plot-wise, of course, but it’s going to have to be something with that kind of force.
+This went up first on Tumblr, but I like to have the longer posts here too.
I am on board with everything I’ve said before about why the lies about Zeke are continuing - I think Dean is lying to Sam about Ezekiel because he doesn’t want to face the music, because he doesn’t want to give Sam the opportunity to live or die on Sam’s own terms, because he doesn’t like the idea of Sam having power - but something else has just clicked into place:
DEAN: There’s no way in hell he’d say yes to being possessed by anything.
EZEKIEL: He would rather die.
[Dean nods] (9x1)
Is that really where Sam would draw the line, though? We don’t know. What Dean says here tells us what Dean thinks about Sam, not what Sam thinks. The idea that Dean is lying in order to keep Sam alive depends on this being true, that Sam would no-way no-how be on board with survival through angelic possession.
And I think this is a part of the reason he’s not coming clean. I think Dean is very invested in the idea that Sam would rather die than be ~contaminated by something other-than-human. And I think that’s down to two reasons:
(1) As an abstract principle, Dean is very invested in the idea of purity-from-otherness as a morally privileged state of being.
(2)
(a)
BOBBY: If-if he doesn’t get what he needs, soon, Sam’s not gonna last much longer.
DEAN: No. I’m not giving him demon blood. I won’t do it.
BOBBY: And if he dies?
DEAN: Then at least he dies human! (4x21)
(b)
SAM: I don’t think I want [my soul] back.
DEAN: You don’t even know what you’re saying.
SAM: No, I’m saying something you don’t like. You obviously care, a lot. But I think maybe I’m better off without it.
DEAN: You’re wrong. You don’t know how wrong you are.
SAM: I’m not sure about that. [He turns and starts to walk away.]
DEAN: Sam, don’t walk away. Sam! Sam! (6x10)
SAM: Playing pretty fast and loose with my life here, don’t you think, Dean?
DEAN: I’m trying to save your life!
SAM: Exactly, Dean! It’s my life! It’s my life, it’s my soul. And it sure as hell ain’t your head that’s gonna explode when this whole scheme of yours goes sideways! (6x11)
This isn’t about Dean not wanting to give Sam the opportunity to say “no.” This is about, Dean doesn’t want to give Sam the opportunity to say “yes.” He does not want to hear that Sam would prefer to live as a human-adjacent entity than die. If Sam can live with this, then that means Dean has to face what it meant when he locked Sam in a cage and left him to die if “at least he dies human.”
[9x8 promo spoilers]+I’m really looking forward to the examination of the virginity fetish, for reasons closely related to the “purity” concept. I think it’s good that we talk specifically about virgin/whore complexes as they apply to sexual policing of women, because that’s such a huge issue and it’s crucial that we have shorthand for it. But I think that the whole concept taps into larger anxieties about choice, and identity, and control, which don’t have to be directly tied to reproduction. The “virgin” archetype is about the cultural imperative to be defined by a lack of need, self-interest, or even desire (or, even better, the performance of an absence of those things), whereas the “whore” archetype ties into anxieties about people who knowingly trade in power and pleasure and just…feeling entitled to participate for one’s own sake in some or other corner of human society. If you dig down deep enough, you’ll see the same concepts of classical hubris at the root of the virgin/whore complex: it’s quite simply about, you’re not supposed to make a choice for yourself. This broader scope can still be explored through a gender lens - Cabin in the Woods got at this in an interesting way - but Supernatural is a context without those expectations, and I’m curious to see where it goes.
This relates to the above point about Dean withholding from Sam not only the opportunity to revoke Zeke’s all-access pass, but also the opportunity to give informed consent. Part of what Dean’s protecting here is Sam’s ~virtue. If Sam is being exploited, it’s not his fault he’s tarnished and less than - the conventional positioning of the “virgin” - but if he accepts Zeke’s help because he wants to survive, that becomes a somewhat self-interested tradeoff, the prerogative of the archetypal “whore.” Sam’s lack of consent is a feature, not a bug.
This entry was originally posted at http://pocochina.dreamwidth.org/317319.html. Leave a comment here, or there using OpenID.
+Having seen just how conscientiously Carver uses parallels and framing, I’m wondering if we’re looking at some structural parallels to S8? In S8, we saw Castiel’s storyline play out from a very strange perspective. We certainly weren’t looking at things from Naomi’s POV, because we knew (still know) very little of her motivations, except that she seems to have been invested in keeping the celestial bureaucracy clicking along. But we weren’t quite working from Cas’ POV either, because we knew significantly more than Cas did. We could retain our memory from incident to incident; Castiel could not. Maybe we were Ion, maybe we were God. Regardless, Cas knew a great deal less about his own experiences than we did, and it was a full ten episodes before he caught up with us. That absolutely did not preclude us from understanding the horror of what was happening to Cas - dragging it out and letting us wonder what was happening to him made the whole thing that much scarier.
So I don’t think it’s a technical failure or a disservice to the character, that we haven’t yet gotten Sam’s POV on his exploitation. That is the scary thing, that we ARE getting Sam’s POV, and Sam’s POV is that nothing is wrong. If we don’t see and hear Sam’s perspective after the reveal, then I will be the first one on board with that criticism, but I don’t see any reason to jump the gun assuming it will be true. It’s actually really important that the show let this simmer for a couple of episodes, lulling Sam into a false sense of security so there’s some ground to pull out from under him. In terms of how viewer response plays out, it’s important for this to happen for a long time, because this absolutely cannot be allowed to be written off as “just” an emergency measure that got ironed out as soon as possible. I understand that’s what people want to see because it would be more consistent with fanon Dean, but it is not consistent at all with canon Dean. If it does follow the precedent set by S8 - about ten episodes between our introduction to the mind-controlling angel and the victim’s realization of what’s going on - then the mid-season finale is about the place we can anticipate Sam finding out.
I think these parallels are powerful and intentional. We got up close and personal with the horrors of mind control with Cas and Naomi last season from a detached, clinical perspective. This season, we’re watching an ethically similar situation play out with that fresh in our minds as we examine the self-justifying mindset of the perpetrator. Naomi sounded dictatorial and dismissive when she told Cas she had saved Cas from a fate with which he had made peace and fixed him - but this is Dean’s rationalization for his dealings with Ezekiel. There are those who would argue that the sibling relationship between Sam and Dean is a material difference between the two circumstances, but (a) if that relationship is so important, surely it necessitates a higher standard for respect and care, not a lower one, and (b) do the angels not identify as each other’s brothers and sisters? The fact that this is extremely uncomfortable to watch tells me that the show is doing it very, very right.
+I am really curious to see how Sam learns the truth. It has to be something undeniable, to break through all the cognitive dissonance. On top of that, it has to be a sequence of events that somehow prevents Zeke from erasing Sam’s memory of it all. I really think it’s going to have to be something like “Sam uses a banishing sigil and accidentally sends himself to some celestial waiting room, which weakens Ezekiel too much to wipe his memory properly.” It will be something ten times more inventive and exciting than that plot-wise, of course, but it’s going to have to be something with that kind of force.
+This went up first on Tumblr, but I like to have the longer posts here too.
I am on board with everything I’ve said before about why the lies about Zeke are continuing - I think Dean is lying to Sam about Ezekiel because he doesn’t want to face the music, because he doesn’t want to give Sam the opportunity to live or die on Sam’s own terms, because he doesn’t like the idea of Sam having power - but something else has just clicked into place:
DEAN: There’s no way in hell he’d say yes to being possessed by anything.
EZEKIEL: He would rather die.
[Dean nods] (9x1)
Is that really where Sam would draw the line, though? We don’t know. What Dean says here tells us what Dean thinks about Sam, not what Sam thinks. The idea that Dean is lying in order to keep Sam alive depends on this being true, that Sam would no-way no-how be on board with survival through angelic possession.
And I think this is a part of the reason he’s not coming clean. I think Dean is very invested in the idea that Sam would rather die than be ~contaminated by something other-than-human. And I think that’s down to two reasons:
(1) As an abstract principle, Dean is very invested in the idea of purity-from-otherness as a morally privileged state of being.
(2)
(a)
BOBBY: If-if he doesn’t get what he needs, soon, Sam’s not gonna last much longer.
DEAN: No. I’m not giving him demon blood. I won’t do it.
BOBBY: And if he dies?
DEAN: Then at least he dies human! (4x21)
(b)
SAM: I don’t think I want [my soul] back.
DEAN: You don’t even know what you’re saying.
SAM: No, I’m saying something you don’t like. You obviously care, a lot. But I think maybe I’m better off without it.
DEAN: You’re wrong. You don’t know how wrong you are.
SAM: I’m not sure about that. [He turns and starts to walk away.]
DEAN: Sam, don’t walk away. Sam! Sam! (6x10)
SAM: Playing pretty fast and loose with my life here, don’t you think, Dean?
DEAN: I’m trying to save your life!
SAM: Exactly, Dean! It’s my life! It’s my life, it’s my soul. And it sure as hell ain’t your head that’s gonna explode when this whole scheme of yours goes sideways! (6x11)
This isn’t about Dean not wanting to give Sam the opportunity to say “no.” This is about, Dean doesn’t want to give Sam the opportunity to say “yes.” He does not want to hear that Sam would prefer to live as a human-adjacent entity than die. If Sam can live with this, then that means Dean has to face what it meant when he locked Sam in a cage and left him to die if “at least he dies human.”
[9x8 promo spoilers]+I’m really looking forward to the examination of the virginity fetish, for reasons closely related to the “purity” concept. I think it’s good that we talk specifically about virgin/whore complexes as they apply to sexual policing of women, because that’s such a huge issue and it’s crucial that we have shorthand for it. But I think that the whole concept taps into larger anxieties about choice, and identity, and control, which don’t have to be directly tied to reproduction. The “virgin” archetype is about the cultural imperative to be defined by a lack of need, self-interest, or even desire (or, even better, the performance of an absence of those things), whereas the “whore” archetype ties into anxieties about people who knowingly trade in power and pleasure and just…feeling entitled to participate for one’s own sake in some or other corner of human society. If you dig down deep enough, you’ll see the same concepts of classical hubris at the root of the virgin/whore complex: it’s quite simply about, you’re not supposed to make a choice for yourself. This broader scope can still be explored through a gender lens - Cabin in the Woods got at this in an interesting way - but Supernatural is a context without those expectations, and I’m curious to see where it goes.
This relates to the above point about Dean withholding from Sam not only the opportunity to revoke Zeke’s all-access pass, but also the opportunity to give informed consent. Part of what Dean’s protecting here is Sam’s ~virtue. If Sam is being exploited, it’s not his fault he’s tarnished and less than - the conventional positioning of the “virgin” - but if he accepts Zeke’s help because he wants to survive, that becomes a somewhat self-interested tradeoff, the prerogative of the archetypal “whore.” Sam’s lack of consent is a feature, not a bug.
This entry was originally posted at http://pocochina.dreamwidth.org/317319.html. Leave a comment here, or there using OpenID.