Meta on Supernatural vs. Sexism
A few weeks ago there was another, rather well-argued post on heavy meta that I couldn't bring myself to really agree with about sexism on Show. I've been dwelling on it, but this morning I tried to make a comment on a friend's journal about a related matter and my comment got way too long and here it is. :)
Let me just say? I have *credentials* in academic feminism. I studied this stuff for years. I wrote a feminist dissertation and published in academic journals. I'm not an apologist. I think these issues are really tricky, and I think it's always useful to point out where cultural assumptions are flying unchallenged. BCCSherlock for example is a TERRIBLY SEXIST show across the board (which is really sad for me because I adore Ben and Martin in those roles. whatevs, the fanfic rocks).
I think what critics miss is that SPN is actively engaged with sexist tropes. All the way back in the freaking pilot: "We were raised as WARRIORS!" and "I could do it alone but I don't want to." They went up against the freaking Woman in White, the patriarchy's own nightmare.
Okay. Now in a less self aware show the fridging of three women to spur two Men into motion would be sexism. Yes. It would. But this is not that show. And here's why.
Yes, the Show is about the Hero's Journey -- but one of the primary things Show is taking on is the cost of that journey to the Heroes' full humanity -- and, importantly, the cost to people around them. Supernatural is a broad cultural critique about our gender assumptions regarding what it mens to be a Hero. Supernatural, across eight seasons, has forced the Masculine Hero's Journey to the breaking point -- exposing all its weaknesses, flaws, sutures, and outright lies. (Will there be peace when you are done? What will that look like?)
Let's talk about the Hero through the lens of Romanticism for example. The Romantic Hero has a couple of choices -- he can be the brooding, superior, dark and reckless hero who undergoes eternal torment -- or the brooding, superior revolutionary lightbringer who still suffers eternal torment due to his sacrifice. *Either way,* the Romantic Hero is isolated from common humanity because of his genius. Often he breaks the laws of men and gods that were put into place to protect him and everyone, but always, he suffers incredible isolation. Women writers during the Romantic period, like Jane Austen and Mary Shelley, sought to point out the extremes of the Romantic Hero and to suggest that you know, it's good to have friends and a family and to work together to achieve stability (as per Austen) or social justice (as per Shelley). The Romantic Hero, noble and torn, remains deeply attractive to our culture.
So now, we have Sam and Dean. Right away, the trope of the Hero is put under tension -- because there are two brothers. They are never as isolated in their heroic sacrifice as they would *overtly prefer* to be, because they have this bond of family or love or whatever you may call it tying them irrevocably together. Secondly, they feel their freakishness acutely -- they see very clearly the society they've been excluded from, and yearn for it with every fiber of their being.
That society is called "civilian" -- but what it is, is the society where Women are the Norm. This is key, this is really key, so let me repeat: in civilian society, on Supernatural, WOMEN ARE THE NORM. In a sexist representation of society, Men are the norm. Men's decisions, men's live, men's pastimes are seen as legitimate and as the only things that matter. On Supernatural, Dean is practically as a parody of that idea: fast car, loud rock, booze, sexy women -- but (except for the Impala, because she's their home), Dean's fascinations ring hollow. Dean's core self is not sex, booze, rocknroll -- it's not even Hunting -- it's Saving People, and taking care of Sammy. Sam, of course, is an excellent Hunter but he wants to survive the Journey and take Dean with him. He refuses to deny like Dean does that the real world (the civilian world, the society of Women) matters. Sam's a SNAG and he won't let go of that dream even when Dean has feathered his nest in the batcave with memory foam and gun, still fairly suicidal when it comes to his picture of the future.
Main point -- Supernatural *is* the story of two Men Heroes -- but at the same time, it's the story of dozens and dozens of Women who are the everyday heroes that make life actually mean something. And that's not sexist in my book, not at all.
Mary and Jess did die on the ceiling, their wombs slashed open, in their nightclothes. No one can deny that. And that did set Sam and Dean off. If the story were less complicated, critics would be right to complain. Mary's backstory as a Hunter and the manipulation of the bloodlines by Angels is too complicated to go into here... but suffice it to say, she's not a passive victim, despite the generic image that's burned into our retinas. Jess's backstory may be a little less complicated I grant you! But eight years of SPN storytelling has given me confidence that Jessica Moore was more than a Hot Nurse and the baker of delicious cookies, even though we never got to know her. The great majority women on Show have lives of their own, disrupted by an intrusion of the Supernatural that require Sam and Dean's specialized skillset to properly address.
So no, my final analysis has to be that with a few missteps (some of them quite serious, I'll allow!) Supernatural is not a sexist show. To the contrary! And that's one of the reasons I love it so much.
So -- YAY SPN! EIGHT SEASONS AND COUNTING!!!
And really-- it's no accident that Felicia Day is in my icon, right?
All serious comments will be taken seriously. I'm happy to engage! :)
Let me just say? I have *credentials* in academic feminism. I studied this stuff for years. I wrote a feminist dissertation and published in academic journals. I'm not an apologist. I think these issues are really tricky, and I think it's always useful to point out where cultural assumptions are flying unchallenged. BCCSherlock for example is a TERRIBLY SEXIST show across the board (which is really sad for me because I adore Ben and Martin in those roles. whatevs, the fanfic rocks).
I think what critics miss is that SPN is actively engaged with sexist tropes. All the way back in the freaking pilot: "We were raised as WARRIORS!" and "I could do it alone but I don't want to." They went up against the freaking Woman in White, the patriarchy's own nightmare.
Okay. Now in a less self aware show the fridging of three women to spur two Men into motion would be sexism. Yes. It would. But this is not that show. And here's why.
Yes, the Show is about the Hero's Journey -- but one of the primary things Show is taking on is the cost of that journey to the Heroes' full humanity -- and, importantly, the cost to people around them. Supernatural is a broad cultural critique about our gender assumptions regarding what it mens to be a Hero. Supernatural, across eight seasons, has forced the Masculine Hero's Journey to the breaking point -- exposing all its weaknesses, flaws, sutures, and outright lies. (Will there be peace when you are done? What will that look like?)
Let's talk about the Hero through the lens of Romanticism for example. The Romantic Hero has a couple of choices -- he can be the brooding, superior, dark and reckless hero who undergoes eternal torment -- or the brooding, superior revolutionary lightbringer who still suffers eternal torment due to his sacrifice. *Either way,* the Romantic Hero is isolated from common humanity because of his genius. Often he breaks the laws of men and gods that were put into place to protect him and everyone, but always, he suffers incredible isolation. Women writers during the Romantic period, like Jane Austen and Mary Shelley, sought to point out the extremes of the Romantic Hero and to suggest that you know, it's good to have friends and a family and to work together to achieve stability (as per Austen) or social justice (as per Shelley). The Romantic Hero, noble and torn, remains deeply attractive to our culture.
So now, we have Sam and Dean. Right away, the trope of the Hero is put under tension -- because there are two brothers. They are never as isolated in their heroic sacrifice as they would *overtly prefer* to be, because they have this bond of family or love or whatever you may call it tying them irrevocably together. Secondly, they feel their freakishness acutely -- they see very clearly the society they've been excluded from, and yearn for it with every fiber of their being.
That society is called "civilian" -- but what it is, is the society where Women are the Norm. This is key, this is really key, so let me repeat: in civilian society, on Supernatural, WOMEN ARE THE NORM. In a sexist representation of society, Men are the norm. Men's decisions, men's live, men's pastimes are seen as legitimate and as the only things that matter. On Supernatural, Dean is practically as a parody of that idea: fast car, loud rock, booze, sexy women -- but (except for the Impala, because she's their home), Dean's fascinations ring hollow. Dean's core self is not sex, booze, rocknroll -- it's not even Hunting -- it's Saving People, and taking care of Sammy. Sam, of course, is an excellent Hunter but he wants to survive the Journey and take Dean with him. He refuses to deny like Dean does that the real world (the civilian world, the society of Women) matters. Sam's a SNAG and he won't let go of that dream even when Dean has feathered his nest in the batcave with memory foam and gun, still fairly suicidal when it comes to his picture of the future.
Main point -- Supernatural *is* the story of two Men Heroes -- but at the same time, it's the story of dozens and dozens of Women who are the everyday heroes that make life actually mean something. And that's not sexist in my book, not at all.
Mary and Jess did die on the ceiling, their wombs slashed open, in their nightclothes. No one can deny that. And that did set Sam and Dean off. If the story were less complicated, critics would be right to complain. Mary's backstory as a Hunter and the manipulation of the bloodlines by Angels is too complicated to go into here... but suffice it to say, she's not a passive victim, despite the generic image that's burned into our retinas. Jess's backstory may be a little less complicated I grant you! But eight years of SPN storytelling has given me confidence that Jessica Moore was more than a Hot Nurse and the baker of delicious cookies, even though we never got to know her. The great majority women on Show have lives of their own, disrupted by an intrusion of the Supernatural that require Sam and Dean's specialized skillset to properly address.
So no, my final analysis has to be that with a few missteps (some of them quite serious, I'll allow!) Supernatural is not a sexist show. To the contrary! And that's one of the reasons I love it so much.
So -- YAY SPN! EIGHT SEASONS AND COUNTING!!!
And really-- it's no accident that Felicia Day is in my icon, right?
All serious comments will be taken seriously. I'm happy to engage! :)