Supernatural

[mothwing]

The fight between good and evil as told from the refreshing POV of two angsty built white dudes in their twenties. So. Um. Who is this show for?

It's as though they marinated an eighties cop show in current slash fandom for a while and this is what came up. There are these two angsty brothers in their tweens who fight demons, and angst about the (dead) women in their lives, go to hell, and angst, and get tortured, and angst, and torture others, and angst, and kill boatloads of innocent people, and angst. Later on, they acquire an angelic side-kick, and the show seems to be fully aware of the slash potential, at least I find it hard to explain away the way scenes between these three are filmed otherwise.

Much like in most corners of manslash fandom, there just are no female main characters in the show, and if there are women, they are used as bait, as window dressing, as a cause, as a reward, and usually to scream because they can scream at a higher pitch. Every female character is a "bitch" or a "whore", and they all come between the brothers and therefore ultimately need to be destroyed. But they are demons, so that is fine.

The series seems to be aware of the fact that it has a fandom, but also seems to think that they're a bunch of overexcited morons. So... is this aimed at self-loathing or ~self-ironic~ white female slash fandom or really misogynistic white gay men (and neither seems unlikely, given that the series seems to imply that one of the male leads is bisexual)?

Internet, please explain. 

Comments

[mothwing.livejournal.com]

Also, I think the show took the single manly tear up to perfection.
Heh, now you mention it, BOY did they!

Because she was a pretty positive character so far (and she is a stand-in for a part of the fandom).
Not so sure about the positive. Her projection of her feelings for Sam has clearly reached astral Snapewive-levels even before she does that. It also makes me wonder about how the show sees its fandom.
It's obvious that there would be fans like Becky because they're in every fandom, but she's shown as so deranged and over the top and treated with contempt, which is a weird thing to do for a fandom-stand-in. The gay LARPers in 5.09 are far better off than she is and even get to save the day, after a fashion. Becky does tell them about the colt, but she seems to be astral-dating Sam at the end of that episode.

The actors and writers are actually rather sweet to the fans, though, and have a lot of humour.
Yes, I'd heard about that! It seems to me as though they're bringing the fandom appreciation and respect that the show doesn't have.

Season 8 is better, though, since Tiger Mommy and Charlie are probably the first genuinely likeable female characters in the series with multiple episodes (more or less, at least).
Oh, I'm not that far yet, I'll be curious. :)

[rinkafushi.livejournal.com]

Aah, I see what you mean, yes. I don't think she was meant to represent the entire female fanbase, but a sarcastic (and yes, rather harmful) poke at the, uhm, over-enthusiastic fans. As I said, the actors are pretty cool with the fans, but they do sometimes get uncomfortable at the audacity of some fans. Especially Jensen and Misha have do deal with the extreme Destiel fans nowadays, and they also have the problem that some do IRL-shipping (J² as in Jared/Jensen was a big thing, too, I don't know if it still is). I think Becky was mocking that especially - fans who aren't able to seperate fiction from reality. In a way Sam and Dean are at that Con in the same position as the actors IRL.
Given how the cosplay couple was handled, I don't think the show writers really disdain their fanbase, but yes, it would have been nice to have a nice (and normal) female fan around, too.