rogueslayer452 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rogueslayer452) wrote2011-05-28 10:58 am
rogueslayer452) wrote2011-05-28 10:58 am
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SPN: Human Nature of Dean Winchester
I've been watching Battlestar Galactica lately, more specifically the DVD commentaries with Ron Moore because I'm utterly fascinated listening to him speak, as just sort of my way of distracting myself from some of the more distressing parts of fandom. While I was watching and listening, I couldn't help but let my mind wander and there are some things that Ron Moore discusses that made me pause and reflect on particular things.
Mostly, it had me reevaluate my thoughts and current feelings about Supernatural.
One of the fundamental themes of Battlestar Galactica is about humanity, what makes us human and how we identify ourselves as human beings and how we live with ourselves with the mistakes that we do. In the mini-series during his speech, Adama says that humanity is a flawed creation, and Ron Moore extends this statement within his commentaries and interviews saying that human beings are contradictorily complex creatures. Essentially, we're fucked up, we're extremely complicated and we often say one thing and then with a complete 180 we do the exact opposite of what we just said, and many times despite trying to overcome certain parts of those flaws they keep falling back again in some fashion or another.
This ultimately got me thinking about Dean Winchester.
Out of all the characters on Supernatural, he's the most contradictory character of them all. He's the Kara Thrace of the show, basically. We're all aware of the issues that keep rising up with him, between the trust issues and relationship problems that keep repeating over and over and how he has tried time and again to move forward however always ends up taking several steps backwards in the process. He just can't allow himself that kind of progression. It's just like with Kara Thrace herself, always trying to move onward however always remaining stuck in her own self-destructive behavior because she's familiar with it, she's used to that and she's afraid of something new, something different. Dean probably subconsciously feels the same way, after everything he's endured over the years. Despite all these flaws however that one thing that really struck a cord with me was how he treated Castiel all season, particularly when he found out that he was collaborating with Crowley. He accuses him and shunned him out, making threats and despite Castiel pleading for him to understand, Dean wouldn't give him anything. Wouldn't bother to listen to him, he doesn't even try to.
Why did Dean do this? Isn't he being a hypocrite because he did the exact same thing not too long ago? Why does he call Castiel family but then a second later turn around to not believe him, to not give him the benefit out the doubt and try to understand, like families should do?
Simple: human beings are irrational. We are walking, talking contradictions of ourselves. We're not always consistent in what we say and do in life, we judge, we're reactionary and say things out of pure emotion; we're stupid, illogical and irrational. This is part of our imperfect nature and it's what makes us fundamentally human.
Does this mean what Dean did was right? Absolutely not. There will be arguments defending his behavior, suggesting that because it's always been a part of his character that we can't expect him to be any different. However, in my opinion, that's just a bullshit excuse. Part of character development is understanding these flaws and if not attempting to change them, at least acknowledging them when it is called out and wanting to fix those issues that they have. Because we're all flawed and we have our own issues, sometimes we don't even want to deal with them directly because that means changing who we are. But ultimately, as part of character arcs in a fictional universe, we need to see the main characters learn and grow and mature to give a sense of satisfaction to their stories. In the finale we do see Dean trying to make amends with Castiel, realizing that he made a mistake with not trusting or listening to the angel and his cry for help, but it was too little, too late.
Another thing adding to the curses of humanity, sometimes we don't know what we had until it's gone. We push things away, we tend to not think about the overall consequences until the harsh reality slaps us in the face. Dean is the biggest sinner of this because he cannot face the truth, he turns away from it, he's constantly hurt from the painful truth and when he's faced with something he cannot deal, he reacts badly to it. There's no rationality to it, he just reacts, and sometimes it's violently and others it's passive-aggressively, pushing others away, just like he did with Castiel, and that came with a terrible price.
But what's interesting is how they highlight this in the last few episodes. Granted, I don't know if the show was covering their asses to try and make sense, but it was very important to show how irrational Dean was being and how much it was hurting Castiel and that's where things ended up the way they did.
Bottom line: In spite of being totally flawed, damaged and self-destructive person, Dean Winchester is merely human and all of that comes with the package. He has learned to live and deal with these pains, or sometimes avoid dealing with them in most cases. But that doesn't mean it's excusable, and in fact his behavior needs to be called out way more often and he needs to understand that he has to better himself as a person, which I'm sure he wants to achieve but simply keeps falling back into the same-old rhythm. Much like how we would to others in our real life, you know, those kinds of people who end up being assholes and we need to smack them upside the head for being stupid and going "look at your life, look at your choices."
Oh, would I give anything for Dean to have a sassy gay friend to really do this whenever he deserved it on the show.....
Forgive if this is all over the place, I'm just vomiting my thoughts. I've just been trying to make sense out of things I've been confused and angered by with this show. And of course, BSG always comes to the rescue whenever I need to step back and think about those kinds of things. Leave it to a gritty political opera in space to settle my mind on something like this, lol.
Mostly, it had me reevaluate my thoughts and current feelings about Supernatural.
One of the fundamental themes of Battlestar Galactica is about humanity, what makes us human and how we identify ourselves as human beings and how we live with ourselves with the mistakes that we do. In the mini-series during his speech, Adama says that humanity is a flawed creation, and Ron Moore extends this statement within his commentaries and interviews saying that human beings are contradictorily complex creatures. Essentially, we're fucked up, we're extremely complicated and we often say one thing and then with a complete 180 we do the exact opposite of what we just said, and many times despite trying to overcome certain parts of those flaws they keep falling back again in some fashion or another.
This ultimately got me thinking about Dean Winchester.
Out of all the characters on Supernatural, he's the most contradictory character of them all. He's the Kara Thrace of the show, basically. We're all aware of the issues that keep rising up with him, between the trust issues and relationship problems that keep repeating over and over and how he has tried time and again to move forward however always ends up taking several steps backwards in the process. He just can't allow himself that kind of progression. It's just like with Kara Thrace herself, always trying to move onward however always remaining stuck in her own self-destructive behavior because she's familiar with it, she's used to that and she's afraid of something new, something different. Dean probably subconsciously feels the same way, after everything he's endured over the years. Despite all these flaws however that one thing that really struck a cord with me was how he treated Castiel all season, particularly when he found out that he was collaborating with Crowley. He accuses him and shunned him out, making threats and despite Castiel pleading for him to understand, Dean wouldn't give him anything. Wouldn't bother to listen to him, he doesn't even try to.
Why did Dean do this? Isn't he being a hypocrite because he did the exact same thing not too long ago? Why does he call Castiel family but then a second later turn around to not believe him, to not give him the benefit out the doubt and try to understand, like families should do?
Simple: human beings are irrational. We are walking, talking contradictions of ourselves. We're not always consistent in what we say and do in life, we judge, we're reactionary and say things out of pure emotion; we're stupid, illogical and irrational. This is part of our imperfect nature and it's what makes us fundamentally human.
Does this mean what Dean did was right? Absolutely not. There will be arguments defending his behavior, suggesting that because it's always been a part of his character that we can't expect him to be any different. However, in my opinion, that's just a bullshit excuse. Part of character development is understanding these flaws and if not attempting to change them, at least acknowledging them when it is called out and wanting to fix those issues that they have. Because we're all flawed and we have our own issues, sometimes we don't even want to deal with them directly because that means changing who we are. But ultimately, as part of character arcs in a fictional universe, we need to see the main characters learn and grow and mature to give a sense of satisfaction to their stories. In the finale we do see Dean trying to make amends with Castiel, realizing that he made a mistake with not trusting or listening to the angel and his cry for help, but it was too little, too late.
Another thing adding to the curses of humanity, sometimes we don't know what we had until it's gone. We push things away, we tend to not think about the overall consequences until the harsh reality slaps us in the face. Dean is the biggest sinner of this because he cannot face the truth, he turns away from it, he's constantly hurt from the painful truth and when he's faced with something he cannot deal, he reacts badly to it. There's no rationality to it, he just reacts, and sometimes it's violently and others it's passive-aggressively, pushing others away, just like he did with Castiel, and that came with a terrible price.
But what's interesting is how they highlight this in the last few episodes. Granted, I don't know if the show was covering their asses to try and make sense, but it was very important to show how irrational Dean was being and how much it was hurting Castiel and that's where things ended up the way they did.
Bottom line: In spite of being totally flawed, damaged and self-destructive person, Dean Winchester is merely human and all of that comes with the package. He has learned to live and deal with these pains, or sometimes avoid dealing with them in most cases. But that doesn't mean it's excusable, and in fact his behavior needs to be called out way more often and he needs to understand that he has to better himself as a person, which I'm sure he wants to achieve but simply keeps falling back into the same-old rhythm. Much like how we would to others in our real life, you know, those kinds of people who end up being assholes and we need to smack them upside the head for being stupid and going "look at your life, look at your choices."
Oh, would I give anything for Dean to have a sassy gay friend to really do this whenever he deserved it on the show.....
Forgive if this is all over the place, I'm just vomiting my thoughts. I've just been trying to make sense out of things I've been confused and angered by with this show. And of course, BSG always comes to the rescue whenever I need to step back and think about those kinds of things. Leave it to a gritty political opera in space to settle my mind on something like this, lol.