Azzled and Padazzled

I know I recently wrote about character Dean Winchester from Supernatural but seriously the man (and his brother Sam) deserve a post all to themselves. Really they deserve a whole blog EACH – ten blogs each – nay, the whole internet­ – but I have neither time nor skills to implement this.

Jared and Jensen

The two fictional fighters of fantastical crime (otherwise known as Jensen “Robobabe” Ackles and Jared “Too Chiseled To Be True” Padalecki) are actually the sole selling point of the show. It’s almost embarrassing at times, with the occasional (and superfluous) topless shot, manly rescuing and action, and the mandatory 5-minute bromance scene at the end of each episode where the boys share some emotional issue with each other, pat each other on the back, crack open a beer and then drive away in their (gorgeous) Impala. Sometimes I get the impression that the producers tripped over some screenplay that was on the floor (because it had fallen out of the trash) but saw the cost-benefit ratio in hiring ridiculously good-looking actors to attract a large female audience, and saving money by not having to hire a writer.

And really, apart from the boys’ appearance, I’m not sure how the CW Network gets away with such a show - even though I also was totally sucked in (and DVDs are really cheaps in the UK, got a whole season for less that 10 quid! whoo!). The premise of the show is two brothers fight all sorts of evil, ostensibly to protect the world. But really, the evil-fighting bit is just a backdrop to a hopelessly male-centric narrative, about men in all sorts of personal crises resolving their issues with and through other men. This in itself is not a bad thing, by the way. But rather than focusing on solving mysteries or using their wit to get out of tricky situations (like MacGyver) Supernatural is about two pretty Hollywood boys pretending to be hardcore (they drive an old impala, listen to Metallica and Black Sabbath, and drink beer all the time) having some sort of brotherly argument about family, self-esteem or their future together as a family, and then resolving it at the end in aforementioned bromance moment (and these moments are totally endearing and mostly very well acted). They have male role-models only: at first, their father, who they spend the first season searching for, and later Bobby, another hunter of evil who helps them along the way. (And even later, Castiel, an angel). For 5 seasons that’s pretty much what you get.

Sam and Dean have a man-to-man in the graveyard

While this male-centricity is sometimes interesting and develops (sort of) over the seasons, the women are not portrayed so favorably. Female characters are pretty much absent – unless they are evil (like the demon Ruby) being rescued (like a girl in nearly every episode) or being kissed/slept with (like a girl in nearly every other episode). It’s quite difficult to articulate female roles in this show without positioning them as passive – ie girls were rescued; girls were killed; girls were kissed. It’s troubling that women have so little agency in this world. Even Ruby, the demon, is not really a girl – the demon just possesses girls’ bodies, so the female body becomes a shell to be inhabited and used by some evil external force. Seriously: didn’t we get over these kinds of narratives in like the 19^th century??!?

Despite all this – here’s the stumper: the viewers are mostly teen and adult females (though, to be fair, the stats show lots of guys watch it too). Of course, this is because the good-lookingness of Dean and Sam is so great it outweighs any desire to analyse the gendered power structure presented by the destabilised sons, absent fathers, substitute male role-models and passive women in the show. Furthermore, their brotherly love is so exclusive that it almost repudiates female voyeurs even as it draws them in, making girl viewers believe that if they were the one to meet Dean and Sam, they really could win the heart of a Winchester.

So in a way…Supernatural provides something quite special for women which isn’t seen very often. They to feel an attachment to the brothers (you really do feel you know them like sooooo intimately after all the bromance moments) they get to experience foreclosed desire – and the unattainability of the boys, due to their brotherly exclusiveness, makes the desire all the sweeter (or something like that). Plus the eye candy, I guess. Anyway, it’s a show for women, much like the trashy 18^th and 19^th century gothic novels which were primarily read by women and contained an abundance of male characters, sexy demons, evil woman, etc. And while I may disagree with the objectifying aspects (of men AND women) of the show, I can't devalue the fact that at least it works for women in a way some other shows don't.

This all kind of freaks me out a bit - not because of its gender representation in the show but because I like it in spite of its gender representation.  Furthermore, I liked a show that in some ways objectifies men; and as someone always ranting about how bad it is to objectify women, this troubles me of course! So much so that I'm having a little break in the middle of season 4 till I get over it all and the desire to find out what happens outweighs my moral obligation to the advocacy of gender equality. You know what I'm sayin'?? (So NO SPOILERS PLEASE I will watch it again someday! I hear the show becomes more self-reflexive and aware of it's hilarity in the later seasons...)

the deaths of Dean Winchester et al

So whilst procrastinating I am watching Supernatural season 4. As much as everyone knows that Dean Winchester is the best thing that ever happened to sci fi TV (in fact, the best thing that ever happened to television in general, and potentially the best thing that ever happened to the entire world) what's with him dying, going to hell and being brought back to  life? The storyline shamelessly replicates Buffy seasons 3 AND 6, where Angel comes back from hell and Buffy comes back from heaven respectively. I'm getting tired of shows killing off main characters for dramatic effect and then bringing them back to life under mysterious circumstances so that the next 20 episodes can be spent determining "why they got brought back" which, inevitably, is because some cosmic superpower "has more work for them to do."

In Supernatural's defense, they had to bring Dean back because even the fictional death of the actor that plays him, Jensen Ackles, is a travesty to humankind that should never have to be faced by any living soul. The producers of cyber-punk sci-fi series Dark Angel obviously knew this too, because after Ackle's death as character Ben in Season 1, they brought him back as new character Alec in Season 2 (conveniently, Ben and Alec are genetically enhanced superhumans who share the same DNA, so were plausibly identical).

And of course EVERYONE who has watched any Buffy at all knows that Dawn should've died instead of Buffy at the end of Season 5 (anyone who says otherwise should have their TV taken away from them NOW). Angel coming back was alright, because I liked him. And his death really was moving, I still cry every time.

Some more acceptable instances of characters being ostensibly killed off and then brought back are
       - Han Solo coming out of his carbon freeze (Star Wars)
       - Westly revealing himself as the Dread Pirate Roberts (Princess Bride)
       - Aladdin nearly drowning and the Genie turning into a giant submarine and bothering to make
         siren noises before rescuing him (how hilarious is this by the way).

       - Jeremy having his neck broken by Damon but being protected by his magic ring (whoo
         hooo!!! Vampire Diaries s2 episode 1! Just started screeing in UK!)

Now I have to back to real study and write about Cormac McCarthy's '79 novel Suttree, in which lots of people die but no-one comes back. It's a bit more depressing really.

Dean Winchester, human extrodinaire

Buffy sacrificing herself for her sister Dawn, Buffy s5

Submarine Genie rescues Al.