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apocalypsos) wrote2006-01-27 02:27 pm
apocalypsos) wrote2006-01-27 02:27 pm
In which I get hopelessly meta ... (Well, by my standards, anyway)
So the other day when I was working on one of the Supernatural fics I have on my to-do list, I started thinking about the brothers and their relationship, and the way we view them because of it.
I think it's pretty obvious that the strongest thing about Supernatural is the relationship between Dean and Sam. I mean, take a look at the fanfic. Most of the fanfic isn't about the creatures they fight -- hell, try to find a plot-heavy, fighting-the-big-bad fic in which the brothers and their relationship is secondary. It's really hard. Not impossible, mind you, but still pretty damn difficult. Personally, I prefer the fact that the writers care more about developing Sam and Dean than developing the plot -- I'm a character junkie anyway, so if the Winchesters and their mission is more intricately detailed than, say, the giant bog monster with gills they're fighting this week, I'm a happy camper.
Now, anybody who reads me regularly knows I have a little brother. Bryan's nineteen, and he's awesome, and we never fight. That sounds like an exaggeration, but ... nope, never. At his high school graduation party, a cousin of my dad's had two little kids who were running around torturing each other (the brother torturing his little sister, more aptly), and their mom was apologizing for their behavior to our mother, telling her that her kids hardly ever fight. My mom kind of looked at the two of us standing a few feet away talking like she was realizing something for the first time and said, "Huh. I don't think my kids have ever had a fight."
My brother and I looked at each other and shook our heads. The other mom proceeded to look at us like we were Stepford children. Heh. We're evil. ;)
Anyway, I tell you that because I know for a fact that my close relationship with my brother colors the way I look at Sam and Dean individually. I tend to identify with Dean and his behavior a lot, even though I don't have that much in common with him as a person. (Let's not even get into the fact that yesterday when I was at Wal-mart I nearly bought a pair of black shitkicker boots for twenty bucks that I couldn't afford because I loved them to pieces, only to realize later when I thought about it they were probably more feminine versions of what Dean would wear. But, still.) It's why inevitably when the two of them do argue, I'm almost always on Dean's side. It's not because he's always right, because sometimes he's making a dumb move and I don't agree with him, but I can't help it. It's because Sam does a LOT of that little-brother selfishness that drives me nuts sometimes.
Okay, I probably shouldn't call it selfishness. But it's like this. When I was a teenager and I hadn't cleaned my room, my mother would have fits until I cleaned my room. She'd take things away and cut off my phone until I mostly just cleaned out of boredom. Cut to when my brother was a teenager, when she'd yell and yell and finally go in and clean his room for him while yelling that she has to do it. I've been telling her for years, "Mom, he's learned that if he can put up with your voice for a few hours, you'll do it for him," and yet she keeps doing it.
It's that older-sibling, younger-sibling difference to the way you get treated that sometimes throws me when it comes to Sam. I can't side with Sam a lot of the time because as much as the Libra in me tries to see both sides, I'm seeing it more from Dean's point of view regardless, which is, "You have to take care of this person," which can easily be translated to other people. Seeing it from the little brother perspective, which is, "Someone will always be there to take care of you," is more difficult. And for the record, I'm not saying that the younger-sibling mentality is a bad thing. It's just something you get used to. Occasionally, I'll see the difference in my own parents, because my dad was the oldest of three kids growing up -- and later found out he had two other younger siblings -- and my mom was the youngest until my twin uncles were born. You can see it a lot in the fact that my mother was always the more stubborn of my parents, while my dad was always a little more reasonable.
Getting back to the Winchesters, I think that's a lot of reason why I can't really see an alternate world where Sam is the one who stays and Dean is the one who goes. As an older sibling, I've simply gotten into the habit of taking care of rather than being taken care of, and it's the same way with Dean. I think that's why for the most part Dean has shown an attraction for women who either take care of others or can take care of themselves. He's more apt to be attracted to a woman who's more of an equal to him in regards to how they treat others.
Meanwhile, you've got Sam, who's more used to being taken care of by others and likes it. Hell, who wouldn't? But again, not a bad thing, since because of the younger-sibling mentality and the fact that he's the more sensitive of the two, he leans more towards women he can protect in turn -- Jessica, Lori, Meg (seemingly ... she certainly appears to be playing that 'I'm too stupid and simpering to live without protection!' angle).
The birth-order thing is why I can always find Dean attractive regardless of what he's doing, but as attractive as I find Sam (and would in real life -- I love Dean, but Sam's my brainy-beanpole type), it's when he's interacting with Dean that there are times his behavior completely jars me out of any hotness I might see in him. He just acts so much like a little brother -- and sometimes more specifically like MY little brother -- that it's just ... NO. And the need to protect a girl coming from him would drive me nuts, which to a lesser extent is the same sort of taste in girls my own brother has. The girls he dates are sweet and well-meaning, but if zombies invade town, these are not the sort of girls you can hand baseball bats and guns to and send to the front lines. These are the girls you send to the back to babysit the pets. Meanwhile, if I could find a guy like Sam who, when zombies attack, would hand me a sawed-off shotgun like Dean would, he would be perfect. :)
The older-sibling thing is also why I have an easier time writing Sam than I do Dean. I love Dean to bits and pieces, but I've lived with Sam. I've talked with Sam. I've shared a bathroom with Sam for eighteen years. Change a few details about Sam, and I know him personally.
So, I was wondering as a Supernatural fan with a younger brother how your relationship with your siblings colors your views of Supernatural as you watch.
I think it's pretty obvious that the strongest thing about Supernatural is the relationship between Dean and Sam. I mean, take a look at the fanfic. Most of the fanfic isn't about the creatures they fight -- hell, try to find a plot-heavy, fighting-the-big-bad fic in which the brothers and their relationship is secondary. It's really hard. Not impossible, mind you, but still pretty damn difficult. Personally, I prefer the fact that the writers care more about developing Sam and Dean than developing the plot -- I'm a character junkie anyway, so if the Winchesters and their mission is more intricately detailed than, say, the giant bog monster with gills they're fighting this week, I'm a happy camper.
Now, anybody who reads me regularly knows I have a little brother. Bryan's nineteen, and he's awesome, and we never fight. That sounds like an exaggeration, but ... nope, never. At his high school graduation party, a cousin of my dad's had two little kids who were running around torturing each other (the brother torturing his little sister, more aptly), and their mom was apologizing for their behavior to our mother, telling her that her kids hardly ever fight. My mom kind of looked at the two of us standing a few feet away talking like she was realizing something for the first time and said, "Huh. I don't think my kids have ever had a fight."
My brother and I looked at each other and shook our heads. The other mom proceeded to look at us like we were Stepford children. Heh. We're evil. ;)
Anyway, I tell you that because I know for a fact that my close relationship with my brother colors the way I look at Sam and Dean individually. I tend to identify with Dean and his behavior a lot, even though I don't have that much in common with him as a person. (Let's not even get into the fact that yesterday when I was at Wal-mart I nearly bought a pair of black shitkicker boots for twenty bucks that I couldn't afford because I loved them to pieces, only to realize later when I thought about it they were probably more feminine versions of what Dean would wear. But, still.) It's why inevitably when the two of them do argue, I'm almost always on Dean's side. It's not because he's always right, because sometimes he's making a dumb move and I don't agree with him, but I can't help it. It's because Sam does a LOT of that little-brother selfishness that drives me nuts sometimes.
Okay, I probably shouldn't call it selfishness. But it's like this. When I was a teenager and I hadn't cleaned my room, my mother would have fits until I cleaned my room. She'd take things away and cut off my phone until I mostly just cleaned out of boredom. Cut to when my brother was a teenager, when she'd yell and yell and finally go in and clean his room for him while yelling that she has to do it. I've been telling her for years, "Mom, he's learned that if he can put up with your voice for a few hours, you'll do it for him," and yet she keeps doing it.
It's that older-sibling, younger-sibling difference to the way you get treated that sometimes throws me when it comes to Sam. I can't side with Sam a lot of the time because as much as the Libra in me tries to see both sides, I'm seeing it more from Dean's point of view regardless, which is, "You have to take care of this person," which can easily be translated to other people. Seeing it from the little brother perspective, which is, "Someone will always be there to take care of you," is more difficult. And for the record, I'm not saying that the younger-sibling mentality is a bad thing. It's just something you get used to. Occasionally, I'll see the difference in my own parents, because my dad was the oldest of three kids growing up -- and later found out he had two other younger siblings -- and my mom was the youngest until my twin uncles were born. You can see it a lot in the fact that my mother was always the more stubborn of my parents, while my dad was always a little more reasonable.
Getting back to the Winchesters, I think that's a lot of reason why I can't really see an alternate world where Sam is the one who stays and Dean is the one who goes. As an older sibling, I've simply gotten into the habit of taking care of rather than being taken care of, and it's the same way with Dean. I think that's why for the most part Dean has shown an attraction for women who either take care of others or can take care of themselves. He's more apt to be attracted to a woman who's more of an equal to him in regards to how they treat others.
Meanwhile, you've got Sam, who's more used to being taken care of by others and likes it. Hell, who wouldn't? But again, not a bad thing, since because of the younger-sibling mentality and the fact that he's the more sensitive of the two, he leans more towards women he can protect in turn -- Jessica, Lori, Meg (seemingly ... she certainly appears to be playing that 'I'm too stupid and simpering to live without protection!' angle).
The birth-order thing is why I can always find Dean attractive regardless of what he's doing, but as attractive as I find Sam (and would in real life -- I love Dean, but Sam's my brainy-beanpole type), it's when he's interacting with Dean that there are times his behavior completely jars me out of any hotness I might see in him. He just acts so much like a little brother -- and sometimes more specifically like MY little brother -- that it's just ... NO. And the need to protect a girl coming from him would drive me nuts, which to a lesser extent is the same sort of taste in girls my own brother has. The girls he dates are sweet and well-meaning, but if zombies invade town, these are not the sort of girls you can hand baseball bats and guns to and send to the front lines. These are the girls you send to the back to babysit the pets. Meanwhile, if I could find a guy like Sam who, when zombies attack, would hand me a sawed-off shotgun like Dean would, he would be perfect. :)
The older-sibling thing is also why I have an easier time writing Sam than I do Dean. I love Dean to bits and pieces, but I've lived with Sam. I've talked with Sam. I've shared a bathroom with Sam for eighteen years. Change a few details about Sam, and I know him personally.
So, I was wondering as a Supernatural fan with a younger brother how your relationship with your siblings colors your views of Supernatural as you watch.