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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.
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When will he learn everything he needs to learn? Like the fact that he needs to take a long look in the mirror and that he is a righteous human being, worthy of love and all that jazz. It's like, he's so used to being in pain and suffering that he doesn't even know what to do if he were happy for once.
No excuse for being a little hypocritical bitch towards Cas, though.
Is it weird to say that despite him being a fictional thirty-something male character, I understand where he's coming from in so many ways.
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And even when he attempts to move on with himself, with his issues, something happens that makes he take two steps back. And it's a destructive cycle for him and he needs to get to a point where he needs to move forward and continue moving forward.
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Dean is stuck in a pattern of self destructive behavior and no matter how many times he's been told, he just can't believe in himself like others do.
I think that's the most frustrating part about his character to me.
Here's hoping that in trying to redeem Castiel, he can also change and redeem himself in the process and learn that forgiveness is a vital part about being human as well.
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Despite my pessimism towards the show now, I also want to hope for this because Ben Edlund gave a quote saying that "you have to love something to feel its loss," and I think that's what's happening right now with Dean. He's lost so much, and it wasn't until that very moment in the finale when he truly realized how much he fucked up with his relationship with Castiel that it went this far.
In attempting to redeem Castiel, he needs to redeem himself and I sincerely hope this will be the last season because after everything, redemption seems to be on everyone's plates and that's something we need to see so all these characters can move on.
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I feel like I should explain more about where I was going with this post.
I'm more examining the patterns with see with Dean's character, and how this has ultimately allowed him to not see things clearly in front of him half the time before it's too late. He's behavior is based off many issues he's always had but has never really dealt with, and he is slowly, ever so slowly, overcoming some of it. But again, it's not enough because he keeps going back into the same rhythm. This doesn't excuse his behavior and attitude towards others of course, because I felt like they were intentionally making him an asshole this season to show that. And really, I've always liked Dean but he was more of a jerkface this season than I would have wanted him to be, and perhaps we were meant to see him like that. Perhaps we were meant to view him as being hypocritical and go, "hey, Dean, that's not cool" since otherwise, why else would they have us care more about Castiel than about Dean in these last few episodes? Unless that was changed at the last minute since they originally wanted to kill off his character (which wtf) but, when you look back at the episodes he's appeared in over the season, I don't think it was meant to justify him turning at the end. But rather seeing the unjust way and the lack of communication happening between everyone.
Which that is the biggest problem with these characters. They don't communicate with each other. I wish the show would get over the machoness of Dean and Sam and Bobby and give us those "chick flick" moments. It's long overdue for them. Then again you're right, they are addicted to the manpain and it's getting tiring.
As for Sam and Bobby however, I can't explain those. Out of everyone I would have thought Bobby would have at least tried to be the voice of reason instead of outright accuse Castiel and be against him as well. :/
Basically I think a TON of the problems on the show and with the characters have more to do with the writer's refusal to let the universe and scope of the show expand because they want so much for it to be just ~the epic love story of Sam'n'Dean~ than anything else. (Which is a shame because Supernatural has one of the most fascinating universes (not to mention 'minor' characters) I've seen in any show.)
Yeah, this is the HUGE flaw with this show overall. I think many fans find themselves drawn more to the universe and supporting characters than the Winchesters lately, since those are the more fascinating aspects these days than dealing with the manpain of the two brothers. I think it's ridiculous.
The two can't care the show by themselves anymore. Their story is kinda done with, it's time to move on to other things with other characters. Contrary to what people tend to believe, this isn't about Sam and Dean anymore, we've grown wayyyy passed that when S4 premiered. This is bigger than them, and the show should use that accordingly.
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I do think that whatever happened to Castiel, all the betrayals and backstabbings and being pushed away, broke something inside of him and he just went into this space. But I don't think that's him doing a 180 himself, I think this is just his own coping mechanism, even if it's a weird one.
(I'm not defending the show in going in this direction, I still think it's stupid and I am still very upset over it, but I don't like the implications that this is him going "bad" since I think he just wants to be loved, above anything else; he's never gotten respect or love from anyone, he is always underestimated and I think he wants to prove himself to be something better than what others think he is --- and it's weird and not a good thing, but idk
This is what happens when I try to assess the show after so many explosive emotions happened post-finale, heh.)
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Really? Wow... just wow. Do you know why they changed their minds?
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I want to keep this as brief as possible, but I have to confess to being somewhat taken aback by the Castiel hatred and the rather dog-in-the-manger attitude re the Dean/Castiel relationship (in whatever way one views that) throughout the fandom. WTF? The show gets so much wrong (god even when it was just the Sam/Dean show) that I don't get that overt or undercover blame being directed at Castiel and the Angels (sounds like a band - a bad one! :D )rather than acepting that the PTB simply will NOT get it right all of the time. I'm getting this weird vibe that people believe that all will be rosy in the Garden of Samdean once season 7 gets under way and we've rid ourselves of that pesky angel. Again, I find this a really rather infantile way of seeing the show, but then I'm not that invested in it. Yeah, I've been watching it since day 1 and really feel that it has some wonderful ideas, but have always had issues - philosophical issues - with the worldview it espouses (another post for another day)
IF (and it's a biggie) the SPN PTB actually saw Dean the way you see him (and I see him)and are doing this with intent (to add juice and weight to make an even richer Dean/Castiel storyline for season 7) then season 6 was pure brilliance! But I don't think either of us give them that much credit, right?
I think they seem not to understand just how important it is for Dean to have someone OTHER than Sammy or Bobby to love him - and, more importantly, to love. They seem not to comprehend that it's possible to love more than one person at a time, that no, it probably can't be a standard wife and kiddie thing, but hey come on LOOK who else is there! If there's anyone Dean can't put in danger with his lifestyle, his history then it would be Castiel; Castiel has surely seen this guy at his very worst - no need to hide who and what he is |(Dean I mean) and Dean bloody NEEDS that.
But it seems to me that neither the showrunner nor a huge portion of the fandom can see beyond the Sam/Dean relationship, see that it's pretty much played itself out and needs something added in to help it retain its flavour. I personally love that relationship, but I also know damn well that it can't be threatened by anything else that's there - isn't that the point, though, that it's that strong that there can be other relationships that actually won't take away from it? Growth is coming to know that, to understand that there are people who will love you who aren't your family; that you can feel enough for someone who isn't your brother, your surrogate dad to put yourself on the line for them and even more importantly extend them the same grace that you do your family. Now that's growth (IMO) and it can't be Ben and Lisa because thats too simple, too easy, too damn obvious.
Bit longer than planned, but again thank you for sharing your thoughts and for making so much sense not only on this post but on the finale reaction posts also.