Meta: Color on SPN
#1 -- Squee and *sob* and generally wringing my hands over last night's ep. It was marvelous and horrid (in a good way) and I LOVE this show and, Kerry -- by the time we get back from Seattle I will convert you. I swear on all that is holy...
And #2 -- Now I'm the last person to meta on SPN as I generally have nothing more insightful to say beyond "Dean is hot." And what I'm about to meta on is certainly not my area of expertise. But last night's ep got me thinking about the issue of race on this show. So behind the cut (because it's spoiled up to "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 1") are my musings on the issue:
Dude...what's up with black men wanting to kill Sam? Or more specifically, what's up with the SPN casting/writing team having black men wanting to kill Sam?
Case in Point 1: The Sergent in "Croatoan"
Case in Point 2: Gordon in "Hunted"
Case in Point 3: Army Guy Jake from "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 1" (Did we learn his name? I can't remember.) *edited because I found his name
As much as I love this show, SPN has done a marginal job at best with integrating different races into the mix. It is, in general, a lily-white experience. Yes, "Route 666" and "Crossroad Blues" had story lines wherein black characters were integral to the plot. Commendable-cakes...blah blah blah. And maybe that's better than other shows out there, which is kinda depressing. But I find it bizarre that the only times this season Dean has had to specifically protect Sam from another person who wants to kill him (not a demon or spirit or whatever), it's been from a black man.
What's up with that?
So on the up-side, no demon or purely evil character has been anything but white as far as I can remember. And none of the three men were explicitly, demonically evil. The Sergent being the least of these examples -- he was just a guy playing by the rules Dean and Sam had already set up in regard to people who were infected,and so him wanting to shoot Sam made sense. Gordon is a ruthless hunter who for all intents and purposes is fighting evil, even though its blinded him to any shades of gray at this point. And Jake is another victim of the demon who thinks he's only after self-preservation. But ultimately, they've all wanted to take out Sam and I just find that a weird casting/writing choice.
When Jake first walked into the house after the little girl/demon, I thought, "Oh good grief...they're gonna go the Horror Movie 101 route and off the black guy first." And when they didn't I was really pleased. I took it as a positive sign. So when he ended up being the one to stab Sam (notice, I didn't say "killed" because la-la-la-I'm-in-denial), I was half in the moment (cry-cry for Dean) and half thinking, "What the hell?
This is kinda where my meta ends since I simply don't have the grad school groundwork to go in-depth on multi-culturalism in pop culture. But maybe some of you on my f-list have thoughts or ideas...? Am I being too sensitive to this issue? Is my white liberal guilt making you all roll your eyes? Or is this something that made you wonder, too?
And up for discussion next: "Killing off the only gay character they've had on the show within 20 minutes of introducing her." Ya, I'm on a roll...
And #2 -- Now I'm the last person to meta on SPN as I generally have nothing more insightful to say beyond "Dean is hot." And what I'm about to meta on is certainly not my area of expertise. But last night's ep got me thinking about the issue of race on this show. So behind the cut (because it's spoiled up to "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 1") are my musings on the issue:
Dude...what's up with black men wanting to kill Sam? Or more specifically, what's up with the SPN casting/writing team having black men wanting to kill Sam?
Case in Point 1: The Sergent in "Croatoan"
Case in Point 2: Gordon in "Hunted"
Case in Point 3: Army Guy Jake from "All Hell Breaks Loose - Part 1" (Did we learn his name? I can't remember.) *edited because I found his name
As much as I love this show, SPN has done a marginal job at best with integrating different races into the mix. It is, in general, a lily-white experience. Yes, "Route 666" and "Crossroad Blues" had story lines wherein black characters were integral to the plot. Commendable-cakes...blah blah blah. And maybe that's better than other shows out there, which is kinda depressing. But I find it bizarre that the only times this season Dean has had to specifically protect Sam from another person who wants to kill him (not a demon or spirit or whatever), it's been from a black man.
What's up with that?
So on the up-side, no demon or purely evil character has been anything but white as far as I can remember. And none of the three men were explicitly, demonically evil. The Sergent being the least of these examples -- he was just a guy playing by the rules Dean and Sam had already set up in regard to people who were infected,and so him wanting to shoot Sam made sense. Gordon is a ruthless hunter who for all intents and purposes is fighting evil, even though its blinded him to any shades of gray at this point. And Jake is another victim of the demon who thinks he's only after self-preservation. But ultimately, they've all wanted to take out Sam and I just find that a weird casting/writing choice.
When Jake first walked into the house after the little girl/demon, I thought, "Oh good grief...they're gonna go the Horror Movie 101 route and off the black guy first." And when they didn't I was really pleased. I took it as a positive sign. So when he ended up being the one to stab Sam (notice, I didn't say "killed" because la-la-la-I'm-in-denial), I was half in the moment (cry-cry for Dean) and half thinking, "What the hell?
This is kinda where my meta ends since I simply don't have the grad school groundwork to go in-depth on multi-culturalism in pop culture. But maybe some of you on my f-list have thoughts or ideas...? Am I being too sensitive to this issue? Is my white liberal guilt making you all roll your eyes? Or is this something that made you wonder, too?
And up for discussion next: "Killing off the only gay character they've had on the show within 20 minutes of introducing her." Ya, I'm on a roll...