Meta-llicar: a muscle car meta
Meta-llicar: a muscle car meta
The Impala, the Metallicar, is such a central character in Supernatural that it is not an exaggeration to say there was as much anguish of its fate at the end of Season One as there was for the Winchesters (coz lets face it we sorta knew at least and Sam were going to make it).
After Season One
anteka, in a wonderful pic-meta, illustrated beautifully how the Impala could be seen as a metaphor for Dean’s emotions and she has expanded on this in another meta after S02E02. A mirror for his emotional state as she eloquently puts it.
I think Sam, and the audience (because we are Sam - what you haven’t read
dodger_winslow' s meta on this?!) do see the Impala this way. But I want to propose that to Dean the Impala represents John. (spoilers for S02 ep 1 and 2 follws)
John owned the Impala at least as far back as 1983, and the night Mary was killed. He was a mechanic, we can assume he restored it. We know John gave Dean the Impala, and while we don’t know exactly when, it must’ve been a significant occasion - an anointing, if you will of his oldest son. To Dean that car would’ve represented John and in accepting it, Dean was also acknowledging that he wanted to be just like his father.
When we first see the Impala in the Pilot, we see it’s trunk decked out with the weapons and tolls of what Dean calls “the family business”(Wendigo) and “my father’s work” (Route 666). Dean might be doing jobs on his own, but I see the car as the part of John he always has with him.
In Wendigo, in the immediate aftermath of Jess’ murder, Dean offers Sam a chance to drive, something acknowledged by Sam as having never happened before. Obviously this is a Dean trying to support Sam in his grief, but what is he offering? Driving as a distraction from grief? A show of trust and support by offering something that is of value to Dean?. Both of these things. But what does Sam really want? He wants his Dad, he wants John. They are on a mission to find him, but until then Dean can offer his connection, his symbol, of John to Sam. Interestingly Sam at first refuses. It is only after it is obvious John is not at Blackwater Ridge, that Sam accepts the Papa-substitute.
In Scarecrow, Sam leaving the Impala (Papa!subsitute) can be seen as symbolic of him defying John. Dean is happy - he has a Dad-endorsed mission and so he, symbolically, stays with John - and the Impala.
Late in the season, in Dead Man’s Blood, John makes a crack to Dean about the state of the car “Dean, why don't you touch up your car, before you get rust? I wouldn't have given you the damn thing if I thought you were going to ruin it.” I think you can read this as John reasserting his authority of Dean - treating him as a child, reminding him where the car came from. Who the car represents. Respect the car; respect me.
In In My Time of Dying Sam obviously relates to the Impala as a symbol for Dean (and god luv you Bobby for seeing this).
In Everybody Loves a Clown we first see Dean under the Impala (and then our brains esplode and our panties melt). He’s in a t-shirt and he’s all greasy and sweaty. (goes to her happy place). Also Dean has a red rag in his back right hand pocket. In certain circles this would indicate that he likes to be fisted. I’m. Just. Saying.
Sorry. So John is dead. And they have no leads on the Demon. As Dean says to Sam
We’ve got nothing Sam. And the only thing I can do? Is work on the car.
A metaphor for trying to fix things for John, to make John better.
We then have Dean driving the replacement car. A family van with The Captain and Tennille playing (Do that to me one more time - and yes I knew that without looking it up. *is ashamed*) And - he feels emasculated. I feel like a freaking soccer mom.
In Freudian terms, he experiences the loss of his father (the phallus-owner) as castration. (Beyond the purely Oedipal, this can more broadly be seen as Dean having lost power to act). We see this emphasised when he doesn't/can't try and hit on Jo.(small mercies)
And at the end of the episode? Sam has just revealed how broken he is and Dean smashes into the Impala with a tire iron. This? I think it’s his anger at John. Everything else aside, John left Sam with that feeling. Whatever The Secret may be adding to this anger at John, if for no other reason than Dean has something he has to keep from Sam - possibly something that could help Sam feel better.Or maybe the anger is because Dean knows John's sarcifice was for him?
I also wonder this symbolic destruction of the father, of the thing which John used to anoint his son as his successor, also suggest that Dean is going follow a different path than John’s. Something I think is hinted at by his continued questioning of Sam’s desire to do what Dad would have wanted. In questioning Sam, Dean is really asking that question of himself.
The Impala - different things to different people.