Why I like Supernatural
This post has been kicking around in my head for quite awhile. See, I really love Supernatural. It’s far from my favorite show, or what I consider to be a quality piece of work, or a deep, multifaceted show, but it’s consistently mediocre and hits a lot of the buttons that need to be hit in order to keep me coming back for more. Yeah, Supernatural is horrible in a lot of ways; the women and black folk are consistently killed off, women who do show up are often objectified, and their track record with queer people is teeth-achingly awful. I don’t think you can avoid how horribly Supernatural treats minorities - I certainly don’t. But I enjoy the show anyway. And I guess this is my attempt to sort out why I like this show so much.
01. The nostalgia-inducing aesthetics of the show
I obviously didn’t grow up like the Winchester boys did, but the roadtrip-across-the-country eating-at-shitty-diners staying-at-shittier-hotels was, in a way, my childhood. My family has never been far from its white trash roots, and something in the show really speaks to me. Yes, even though it is filmed in Canada. I spent my summer vacations curled up in the back of my mom’s van, watching mountains and rivers and infinite fields of corn pass me by. Or, when I got older, I’d be in the passenger seat, with my feet on the dashboard, navigating my mom through shitty country roads. We’d stop and eat at restaurants that weren’t quite homey enough to be ma-and-pa restaurants, but weren’t chains either, and order food that was usually both cheaper and better than the stuff from Americana restaurants like Ruby Tuesday, or Max & Erma’s. Whatever. It wasn’t perfect, but it was how I grew up, and that’s the aesthetic you find in Supernatural. The perpetual roadtrip, the classic rock, the small, forgotten towns - there’s such a nostalgia value to it all, stupid as it sounds.
02. I am an indiscriminate adaptation fan
Last semester I took a course on Feminism & Fairytales. I loved it, but what I loved the most was seeing the modern adaptations and permutations of age-old stories. It’s, simply put, really really cool.
And really, I’ve always loved adaptations. I cut my literary eyeteeth on The Mists of Avalon, the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series is one of my favorite things ever, and I cannot properly articulate how much Neil Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples impacted me. I could write (and perhaps may write) an entire rec list on adaptations and how amazing they are, because, well, they are.
And in Supernatural they deliver on the adaptations. The entire series is, in itself, a construction of a mythology, which is a step cooler than adaptations. They’ve fit together werewolves and vampires with the wendigo and the shapeshifter and the tulpa along with Judeo-Christian mythology and it’s just. Really fascinating to watch. Also I am a total folklore geek so of course I get excited about each new interpretation of old myths and legends.
And, of course, “Bedtime Stories” takes the fairytale motif and runs with it which is just the icing on the cake.
03. Jim Beaver is my hero
No. Really. Jim Beaver is my fucking hero. First of all, he’s a good actor who makes the best faces in the world. Okay, maybe Michael Hogan beats him but whatever. Secondly, he’s playing the best character on the entire show. Thirdly, he has all the right opinions and he’s not afraid to share them.
Okay. So maybe my liberal bias was showing there, but really. It’s refreshing to see an actor actually go out and state these “controversial” opinions. he’s shown his support for planned parenthood, women’s rights, labor unions, gay marriage, and pretty much everything that’s been going foul domestically. He writes smart, intelligent posts, and he refuses to be cowed by angry tea-bagger fans.
He’s also unafraid to be emotional, which is a huge plus in my book, and he’s funny to boot. And yeah, I know maybe it shouldn’t matter, but finding a presumably straight, older white guy who’s a veteran to boot who actually aligns with my viewpoint means the world to me. It makes me feel like it’s not just me and my friends who’re fighting this battle alone. I don’t know. Maybe it’s not rational, and maybe it’s even a little anti-feminist, but it gives me hope.
So I guess, in part, I watch Supernatural because I love Jim Beaver so fucking much.
04. Sam Winchester is exactly my cup of tea
And no, I’m not referring to Jared Padalecki’s relative attractiveness. I’m not sure I would even find him attractive if not for (a) my love of his character and (b) his completely gratuitous shirtless scene in season six (I mean shirtless pull-ups? Really?). No. Sam is, honestly, one of my favorite character types, i.e. the person who wants to be moral, but can’t afford to be. The utilitarian one. The decent person forced into a position of being ruthless or cruel or otherwise nasty. The one who’s human and pathetic and seems to fuck up left and right but manages anyway. My love for Sam Winchester is the same as my love for Katniss Everdeen, if that helps at all.
As an aside: I actually have an entire theoretical post I want to write on Dean as he epitomizes Kant’s deontological ethics versus Sam who functions more as an (imperfect) utilitarian ethicist (J.S. Mill utilitarianism, not Bentham). But yeah, another topic for another day.
Sam fucks up. He makes stupid decisions, and he pulls away from Dean when he really, really shouldn’t and doesn’t listen when he really, really should. He was willing to be selfish, and pursue a career outside hunting. He did it in a pretty shitty way too, just up and disappearing on his family who probably thought he died. And I love that he did that. I love that he was thinking only of himself, and I love that he went for what he wanted. Because even though the way he did it was wrong, he absolutely deserved a life away from hunting. And I’m glad he went for it.
I also like that Sam’s the one who tries to work with monsters he absolutely shouldn’t trust (case in point: Ruby). I like that Sam is the one who projects his concerns onto the monsters he fights (e.g. in season 2 where he desperately, desperately wants to believe that monsters can fight their monstrous nature because he worries he is one of those monsters). I like that Sam got addicted to demon blood, that he still sometimes backslides, and that he got addicted out of some misguided belief in the greater good. I like that Sam does what’s necessary. I like that Sam’s willing to compromise a lot in the way of morals. I like that Sam’s flawed and stupid.
And the thing is, the thing that I really love about Sam, is that he wishes he wasn’t that way. That he would’ve rather married Jess, that he would’ve rather lived a normal life. I like the Sam wants to be the good guy, but can’t. I like that Sam still can’t abandon that entirely. I like that Sam has this unwavering belief in that what he is doing is good, that he’s saving people. I like that Sam constructs these fictions he has to believe or else everything falls apart.
And, honestly, I love all the whump they send Sam through.
05. I actually find the show really funny
Supernatural caters to two types of humor I really enjoy: witty banter, and meta.
The witty banter aspect is pretty simple. Sam and Dean have a pretty great repartee. And the boys banter well with Bobby. And Dean and Cas have that wonderful verbal relationship where one person makes a reference and the other doesn’t get it at all and - well, it works out pretty well for the show. Add in bonus Mark Sheppard!Crowley who’s hilarious no matter what role he plays and Bela who’s downright amazing they’ve got all the bases covered. So yes. Funny dialogue is great.
The show also is filled with crack and meta, which to a more discerning viewer might become facetious but I enjoy in the most uncritical and simplistic way possible. “Monster Movie” is one of my favorites - not because I know much at all about classic horror films, but because it’s well shot, it has a great one-shot female character, and, of course, it’s funny. “Changing Channels” is probably the best of the meta-crack episodes, mostly because it parodies really accessible shows, like CSI: Miami and Gray’s Anatomy and ye old Japanese Game Show, whilst simultaneously moving the overarching season 5 plot forward. If Supernatural does anything well, it’s crack-meta. And hell, even if they don’t do it well it’s fun to watch.
06. And other miscellaneous things
The show has other high points as well - when Supernatural does have female characters, they’re usually awesome. My love for Anna and Jo knows no bounds, and Bela is a close runner up. It’s sort of a similar thing with the black characters - Rufus was amazing.
The show also has unexpected moments of really gorgeously shot scenes. Castiel’s initial entrance in season four is really kinda bad ass, though YMMV and I am easily impressed, and Supernatural almost managed artistry with the entrance of Death in “Two Minutes to Midnight.”
The show is also fantastic at horror - it usually shows just enough, but rarely too much in the way of gore. Of course it has it’s off days, but it more than makes up for it. Of course, the “good at horror” thing might be a pro or a con depending on who you are. To me it’s more of a con, as I am feeble-minded and rabbit-hearted and highly susceptible to the horror genre so. Yeah.
This isn’t a defense of Supernatural. It, frankly, isn’t all the defensible. There are things it does well, and things it does horribly. It’s not as bad in the social justice arena as certain other shows, but it’s hardly good. I just - I find something immensely enjoyable about Supernatural. Cool story, right?
01. The nostalgia-inducing aesthetics of the show
I obviously didn’t grow up like the Winchester boys did, but the roadtrip-across-the-country eating-at-shitty-diners staying-at-shittier-hotels was, in a way, my childhood. My family has never been far from its white trash roots, and something in the show really speaks to me. Yes, even though it is filmed in Canada. I spent my summer vacations curled up in the back of my mom’s van, watching mountains and rivers and infinite fields of corn pass me by. Or, when I got older, I’d be in the passenger seat, with my feet on the dashboard, navigating my mom through shitty country roads. We’d stop and eat at restaurants that weren’t quite homey enough to be ma-and-pa restaurants, but weren’t chains either, and order food that was usually both cheaper and better than the stuff from Americana restaurants like Ruby Tuesday, or Max & Erma’s. Whatever. It wasn’t perfect, but it was how I grew up, and that’s the aesthetic you find in Supernatural. The perpetual roadtrip, the classic rock, the small, forgotten towns - there’s such a nostalgia value to it all, stupid as it sounds.
02. I am an indiscriminate adaptation fan
Last semester I took a course on Feminism & Fairytales. I loved it, but what I loved the most was seeing the modern adaptations and permutations of age-old stories. It’s, simply put, really really cool.
And really, I’ve always loved adaptations. I cut my literary eyeteeth on The Mists of Avalon, the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series is one of my favorite things ever, and I cannot properly articulate how much Neil Gaiman’s Snow, Glass, Apples impacted me. I could write (and perhaps may write) an entire rec list on adaptations and how amazing they are, because, well, they are.
And in Supernatural they deliver on the adaptations. The entire series is, in itself, a construction of a mythology, which is a step cooler than adaptations. They’ve fit together werewolves and vampires with the wendigo and the shapeshifter and the tulpa along with Judeo-Christian mythology and it’s just. Really fascinating to watch. Also I am a total folklore geek so of course I get excited about each new interpretation of old myths and legends.
And, of course, “Bedtime Stories” takes the fairytale motif and runs with it which is just the icing on the cake.
03. Jim Beaver is my hero
No. Really. Jim Beaver is my fucking hero. First of all, he’s a good actor who makes the best faces in the world. Okay, maybe Michael Hogan beats him but whatever. Secondly, he’s playing the best character on the entire show. Thirdly, he has all the right opinions and he’s not afraid to share them.
Okay. So maybe my liberal bias was showing there, but really. It’s refreshing to see an actor actually go out and state these “controversial” opinions. he’s shown his support for planned parenthood, women’s rights, labor unions, gay marriage, and pretty much everything that’s been going foul domestically. He writes smart, intelligent posts, and he refuses to be cowed by angry tea-bagger fans.
He’s also unafraid to be emotional, which is a huge plus in my book, and he’s funny to boot. And yeah, I know maybe it shouldn’t matter, but finding a presumably straight, older white guy who’s a veteran to boot who actually aligns with my viewpoint means the world to me. It makes me feel like it’s not just me and my friends who’re fighting this battle alone. I don’t know. Maybe it’s not rational, and maybe it’s even a little anti-feminist, but it gives me hope.
So I guess, in part, I watch Supernatural because I love Jim Beaver so fucking much.
04. Sam Winchester is exactly my cup of tea
And no, I’m not referring to Jared Padalecki’s relative attractiveness. I’m not sure I would even find him attractive if not for (a) my love of his character and (b) his completely gratuitous shirtless scene in season six (I mean shirtless pull-ups? Really?). No. Sam is, honestly, one of my favorite character types, i.e. the person who wants to be moral, but can’t afford to be. The utilitarian one. The decent person forced into a position of being ruthless or cruel or otherwise nasty. The one who’s human and pathetic and seems to fuck up left and right but manages anyway. My love for Sam Winchester is the same as my love for Katniss Everdeen, if that helps at all.
As an aside: I actually have an entire theoretical post I want to write on Dean as he epitomizes Kant’s deontological ethics versus Sam who functions more as an (imperfect) utilitarian ethicist (J.S. Mill utilitarianism, not Bentham). But yeah, another topic for another day.
Sam fucks up. He makes stupid decisions, and he pulls away from Dean when he really, really shouldn’t and doesn’t listen when he really, really should. He was willing to be selfish, and pursue a career outside hunting. He did it in a pretty shitty way too, just up and disappearing on his family who probably thought he died. And I love that he did that. I love that he was thinking only of himself, and I love that he went for what he wanted. Because even though the way he did it was wrong, he absolutely deserved a life away from hunting. And I’m glad he went for it.
I also like that Sam’s the one who tries to work with monsters he absolutely shouldn’t trust (case in point: Ruby). I like that Sam is the one who projects his concerns onto the monsters he fights (e.g. in season 2 where he desperately, desperately wants to believe that monsters can fight their monstrous nature because he worries he is one of those monsters). I like that Sam got addicted to demon blood, that he still sometimes backslides, and that he got addicted out of some misguided belief in the greater good. I like that Sam does what’s necessary. I like that Sam’s willing to compromise a lot in the way of morals. I like that Sam’s flawed and stupid.
And the thing is, the thing that I really love about Sam, is that he wishes he wasn’t that way. That he would’ve rather married Jess, that he would’ve rather lived a normal life. I like the Sam wants to be the good guy, but can’t. I like that Sam still can’t abandon that entirely. I like that Sam has this unwavering belief in that what he is doing is good, that he’s saving people. I like that Sam constructs these fictions he has to believe or else everything falls apart.
And, honestly, I love all the whump they send Sam through.
05. I actually find the show really funny
Supernatural caters to two types of humor I really enjoy: witty banter, and meta.
The witty banter aspect is pretty simple. Sam and Dean have a pretty great repartee. And the boys banter well with Bobby. And Dean and Cas have that wonderful verbal relationship where one person makes a reference and the other doesn’t get it at all and - well, it works out pretty well for the show. Add in bonus Mark Sheppard!Crowley who’s hilarious no matter what role he plays and Bela who’s downright amazing they’ve got all the bases covered. So yes. Funny dialogue is great.
The show also is filled with crack and meta, which to a more discerning viewer might become facetious but I enjoy in the most uncritical and simplistic way possible. “Monster Movie” is one of my favorites - not because I know much at all about classic horror films, but because it’s well shot, it has a great one-shot female character, and, of course, it’s funny. “Changing Channels” is probably the best of the meta-crack episodes, mostly because it parodies really accessible shows, like CSI: Miami and Gray’s Anatomy and ye old Japanese Game Show, whilst simultaneously moving the overarching season 5 plot forward. If Supernatural does anything well, it’s crack-meta. And hell, even if they don’t do it well it’s fun to watch.
06. And other miscellaneous things
The show has other high points as well - when Supernatural does have female characters, they’re usually awesome. My love for Anna and Jo knows no bounds, and Bela is a close runner up. It’s sort of a similar thing with the black characters - Rufus was amazing.
The show also has unexpected moments of really gorgeously shot scenes. Castiel’s initial entrance in season four is really kinda bad ass, though YMMV and I am easily impressed, and Supernatural almost managed artistry with the entrance of Death in “Two Minutes to Midnight.”
The show is also fantastic at horror - it usually shows just enough, but rarely too much in the way of gore. Of course it has it’s off days, but it more than makes up for it. Of course, the “good at horror” thing might be a pro or a con depending on who you are. To me it’s more of a con, as I am feeble-minded and rabbit-hearted and highly susceptible to the horror genre so. Yeah.
This isn’t a defense of Supernatural. It, frankly, isn’t all the defensible. There are things it does well, and things it does horribly. It’s not as bad in the social justice arena as certain other shows, but it’s hardly good. I just - I find something immensely enjoyable about Supernatural. Cool story, right?