about Dean, caregiving and perception
Belatedly cross-posting this from tumblr.Okay. This is not a thinky post. I tried, it became emotional, I tried to curb it, it remained emotional, and then I said to hell with it because I'm not writing about it out of an intellectual interest in Dean's role as caregiver but because his story has resonated with me emotionally. I'm not going to
( Read more... )
Comments 14
...Who needs to worry about caregiver burnout when it's who you are?
...There are no excuses, no walls between the audience and Dean. Dean is just Dean. His relationships with the other characters have been the most complex, the least cheaply sentimental, the hardest worn, the most carefully built, and the most consistently characterized. Because, for better (and others might say for worse), he has always been their Dean. He could stop soldiering up and he could stop being there.
But he won't. 'Cause he didn't. Because that's just not him, is it? I love all the members of Team Free Will. I really do. I really work at looking at all the viewpoints and not playing favorites with characters. They all have their good points and their flaws, right? But this post? This moves ( ... )
Reply
Dean has been shoved into the position of having to accept Castiel's damage while also having to take responsibility for fixing the damage Castiel caused.I really think this is the cycle that Dean is perpetually kept in by the show, not just by his own personality as I read around fandom sometimes ( ... )
Reply
Reply
This is (another) beautiful analysis. And it underlines why Dean - to me -, plot or no plot, is the single most heartbreaking character in the show. Like you said, Dean is just Dean. And even if there are times when he acts like a dick (like some people say), it's only him. No demon blood, no soullessness, no wall-breaking problems. Always just Dean.
Right from the beginnning this was his selling-point. I remember when I started to get into the show I was kind of pissed off that my "hero" didn't have any special powers or somesuch. Until I saw a post where somebody pointed out that this is exactly what it's about. Dean is just Dean.And this is exactly what makes it so hard to see him suffer. He is constantly taking care of others at his own expense. And like you pointed out, he has no support group. Nobody taking care of him. And yes, it's amazing how the very real symptoms of caregiver burnout apply to him. Makes you wonder if they have psychologists working on the writing team. (Same as they ( ... )
Reply
Right from the beginnning this was his selling-point.
I really think that this is true, and why i mentioned somewhere else to a friend that the most tragic end to Supernatural wouldn't be for the brothers to die because, hello, been there, done that, gone everywhere and came back. There's no emotional punch to that anymore. BUT, if Dean were ever to become a monster--say in purgatory--and be irreparably so... that would devastate me.
p.s. Thank you. <333
p.p.s. Thank you for linking. I dropped by and read it. :)
Reply
I have found myself guilty of thinking I want to see that jovial Dean back, but that's selfish and isn't giving the character the credit that his long and detailed journey has entailed. I can completely see how he is suffering from caregiver burnout - it makes perfect sense. I think Jensen sees that too and is playing Dean with an underlying subtly.
You have covered so many reasons why I love Dean. Not least:
Whatever he has been, whatever he has done or said, has always been him; there are no fingers to point at external causes. There are no excuses, no walls between the audience and Dean. Dean is just Dean.
<33
Reply
Jensen's performance has made such a difference in Dean's evolution as a character and in how invested I feel in his story. <333
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment