Not-meta on Supernatural as Western
I have this vague, free-floating idea in my head of the "on the road" genre (and thus Supernatural) as an extension of the Western, men traveling a long, hard road with no set destination, just nomads going where the work takes them. The men in Westerns have few to no possessions, but they care deeply for what they do have--their horse and saddle, their gun(s), their boots. They're bound to no fixed social structure, they wander fighting evil according to their own code of honor, often rescuing damsels in distress but never staying to marry them, simply riding away. In Westerns, the fight is often bigger than it looks at first--it's a fight between those who value human life and those who don't, and the heroes are often reluctant heroes and/or men who would otherwise seem irredeemable.
And if I could meta to save my life, I'd say something about how nearly the entire world sees Dean as psychotic killer (definitely irredeemable in their eyes), and the boys live by honor, not law (which makes Sam's intention of going to law school even more interesting), and how they don't have anything except what they can carry in the Impala (their steed), but I can't meta, so I won't, but if anybody wants to run with the idea, they're welcome to it.
And if I could meta to save my life, I'd say something about how nearly the entire world sees Dean as psychotic killer (definitely irredeemable in their eyes), and the boys live by honor, not law (which makes Sam's intention of going to law school even more interesting), and how they don't have anything except what they can carry in the Impala (their steed), but I can't meta, so I won't, but if anybody wants to run with the idea, they're welcome to it.