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from the very beginning i realized, along with the rest of y'all, that the philosophy of this show wasn't centered on redemption or victory or living in a world where evil could be overcome if you tried long and hard. that it wasn't about winning, but about going on, persevering? with someone you love and would die for and live for at your side.
at first i wasn't sure if this lovely pessimistic outlook was just bleed from Dean's bravado. a dystopian pov as fake and superficial as big bro's tough guy, idgaf macho persona, but soon enough the little Kripkean fatalistic streaks started to surface. i could recognize it because my grandmother was the same way. whenever things went well she'd be primly and patiently waiting for the Universe to right itself, sure that horrid shit was waiting in the bushes like crouching tiger, hidden dragon getting ready to jump and hit the fan.
found some ComicCon vids on youtube where Jensen talked about how the two brothers were like two cowboys (which made the fangirls go crazy and (SOME) fanboys yearn for a simpler time when "cowboy" wasn't synonymous with "gay"). going in i thought about how SPN's more like "A Fist Full of Dollars" than "Unforgiven." the type of cowboy film where the protag is the one the audience roots for because the other men around him are less badass and more assholistic than him. i, like Samn'Dean when they were looking at the speck of dust in the other one's eye, was critical of the Winchester's methods (even while i adored them, because unconditional love doesn't mean blind love in my part of the woods). shooting the shit, just waiting for the awkward moment when the difference between the good guys and the bad guys is the good guy's names are on the marquee.
a somewhat softer version of: There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys. -Blakes 7
i'm not saying that Samn'Dean weren't basically decent people, just that they lived in a dystopian world where morality was a moving target, and corruption was only a question of time. Gordon showed me the good hunter is not always the good guy and the good guy (air quotes) doesn't always win. just ask John.
cowboy movies tend to be about morally flawed individuals who are out for revenge or out to correct some injustice where injustice is the status quo. noir (to me) is the story of how that (metaphorical) cowboy turns into the kind of guy who can avenge and correct. not there to show you how he fucks people up, saves the wenches, drinks the saloon and rides into the sunset, but to show the audience what kind of dude can find a job like that and actually fucking marry it. so though SPN started out as a cowboy journey, the relationship btw the boys, the focus on the characters made it much noirish.
in SPN, Sam starts out as the ingenue, Jess's fiery death kickdropping him on his road toward revenge. in their world normal meant love, hope, a family born of affection and nurturing. ya know, not sacrifice, blood, sweat, tears and death. Dean? dude was set up as a foil, the jaded cynical soul who knew better than to expect well of a world that was a great black pit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it, and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit. and yet, looking back, i could see that he too went on a journey and he also had plenty of innocence to lose.
for me, noir was the name of the game until s6, funnily enough when Sera Gamble became conscious of just how film noirish the show was and decided to bite off more than she could chew. reminds me of "Dorian Gray" who loses his inner beauty the second Basil (or Henry?) makes him conscious of how gorgeous he is. Jensen's views about Dean's characterization would apply here too, Dean is cool because he is, but if he tried to be, consciously, it would turn into the Borat-worthy cringe fest that was his acting scene during "The French Mistake."
like i've said before (find noir meta here), s6 had all of the trappings of noir (trappings found in other successful versions of noir) and sprinkled them throughout the season all the while not realizing that the hero of the season, the Bud White, Veronica, Sam Spade was not Sam or Dean, but Castiel. not realizing who was slowly losing his soul in order to save everyone else's (the Cain's mark of the central character in any noir endeavor) was Castiel made the season feel so jumbled, boring, faily and disconnected. i'm not saying there weren't amazing episodes this season, episodes that made me cry with what could have been...but this is the first season i've ever felt bored with SPN and i never thought that could ever happen.
why? because the action was in hell, in purgatory and in heaven. why? because the most interesting journey took place off-screen. why? because the hero got just one episode. what a missed opportunity s6, was. here's hoping for the next one.
in conclusion?
at first i wasn't sure if this lovely pessimistic outlook was just bleed from Dean's bravado. a dystopian pov as fake and superficial as big bro's tough guy, idgaf macho persona, but soon enough the little Kripkean fatalistic streaks started to surface. i could recognize it because my grandmother was the same way. whenever things went well she'd be primly and patiently waiting for the Universe to right itself, sure that horrid shit was waiting in the bushes like crouching tiger, hidden dragon getting ready to jump and hit the fan.
found some ComicCon vids on youtube where Jensen talked about how the two brothers were like two cowboys (which made the fangirls go crazy and (SOME) fanboys yearn for a simpler time when "cowboy" wasn't synonymous with "gay"). going in i thought about how SPN's more like "A Fist Full of Dollars" than "Unforgiven." the type of cowboy film where the protag is the one the audience roots for because the other men around him are less badass and more assholistic than him. i, like Samn'Dean when they were looking at the speck of dust in the other one's eye, was critical of the Winchester's methods (even while i adored them, because unconditional love doesn't mean blind love in my part of the woods). shooting the shit, just waiting for the awkward moment when the difference between the good guys and the bad guys is the good guy's names are on the marquee.
a somewhat softer version of: There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys. -Blakes 7
i'm not saying that Samn'Dean weren't basically decent people, just that they lived in a dystopian world where morality was a moving target, and corruption was only a question of time. Gordon showed me the good hunter is not always the good guy and the good guy (air quotes) doesn't always win. just ask John.
cowboy movies tend to be about morally flawed individuals who are out for revenge or out to correct some injustice where injustice is the status quo. noir (to me) is the story of how that (metaphorical) cowboy turns into the kind of guy who can avenge and correct. not there to show you how he fucks people up, saves the wenches, drinks the saloon and rides into the sunset, but to show the audience what kind of dude can find a job like that and actually fucking marry it. so though SPN started out as a cowboy journey, the relationship btw the boys, the focus on the characters made it much noirish.
in SPN, Sam starts out as the ingenue, Jess's fiery death kickdropping him on his road toward revenge. in their world normal meant love, hope, a family born of affection and nurturing. ya know, not sacrifice, blood, sweat, tears and death. Dean? dude was set up as a foil, the jaded cynical soul who knew better than to expect well of a world that was a great black pit, and the vermin of the world inhabit it, and its morals aren't worth what a pig could spit. and yet, looking back, i could see that he too went on a journey and he also had plenty of innocence to lose.
for me, noir was the name of the game until s6, funnily enough when Sera Gamble became conscious of just how film noirish the show was and decided to bite off more than she could chew. reminds me of "Dorian Gray" who loses his inner beauty the second Basil (or Henry?) makes him conscious of how gorgeous he is. Jensen's views about Dean's characterization would apply here too, Dean is cool because he is, but if he tried to be, consciously, it would turn into the Borat-worthy cringe fest that was his acting scene during "The French Mistake."
like i've said before (find noir meta here), s6 had all of the trappings of noir (trappings found in other successful versions of noir) and sprinkled them throughout the season all the while not realizing that the hero of the season, the Bud White, Veronica, Sam Spade was not Sam or Dean, but Castiel. not realizing who was slowly losing his soul in order to save everyone else's (the Cain's mark of the central character in any noir endeavor) was Castiel made the season feel so jumbled, boring, faily and disconnected. i'm not saying there weren't amazing episodes this season, episodes that made me cry with what could have been...but this is the first season i've ever felt bored with SPN and i never thought that could ever happen.
why? because the action was in hell, in purgatory and in heaven. why? because the most interesting journey took place off-screen. why? because the hero got just one episode. what a missed opportunity s6, was. here's hoping for the next one.
in conclusion?
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