*I am kind of off-kilter and very thrown and somehow DEEPLY affected by this interpretation, especially fresh from the S9 episode that is going to TOTALLY blow you away from the view point of this meta, because, damn lady, SHIT HAPPENS.*
I don't even think I can say anything coherent. Dean is a shadow of Sam, chasing this ever-more-mythical, smarter, stronger, taller, nicer, deeper, BETTER (in Dean’s view) ‘brother’ who slips from his grasp over and over, his psyche would want to give him some small consolations ...
This kind of hurts my soul, really, and somehow I started thinking of Sam, how he is the archetypal 'hero' in the arc who is not only set up to have that arc by external forces most of the time but also comes a little short somehow of actually coming through the trials unscathed and heroic. The basic foundation of the show, I think, is in this that Sam is the one that pulls away from the strange and the supernatural, Sam is the one that tries to be his own person and build up his own life, Sam is the one who constantly fails. Dean is the one who worries, the one who carries, the one who is there for the fallout of all of Sam's 'hero' arcs. I think that's one reason why Sam always gets the heroic arcs: we see Sam through Dean. What Dean wants him to be versus what he is, what Sam wants to do versus what he does for/because of his brother. After 8 years of this, imagine Dean having a supernatural arc. It would pull away from convention and will require Sam's intimate perspective, and what Sam's intimate perspective is something that's not really ever been given to us. Without the 'hero' arc in every season, Sam is more likely to fade out, become this quiet kind of ghost in the background, because most of what we know of Sam comes from Dean. Do we know what music he likes or what stuff he'll put in his own room if he even has one in the bunker? Is it ever stressed what he feels about the whole Dean/Purgatory thing, or how he feels post Cas healing him in S7?
While this is the twisted-up thing that's at the heart of the show, it is a little dogged and over-the-top, but as of today, I'm convinced that in S8 it gets dogged and over-the-top on purpose. (As I said, SHIT HAPPENS!)I think the relationship is there, but it's becoming more and more toxically co-dependent, and Sam's becoming muter and faded as a result of pulling away and then being pulled back. *and I love it because it is all so psychologically haunting but also it is saaaad*
I'm sorry you didn't like S8! Maybe the last few episodes might work a little. I did like the last few episodes a lot more than the rest of S8 combined. It's true about the cliches and the loss of SPN's early season aesthetic, and sometimes I wonder why I still watch, but then when I think I'm done there's brightness, there's a spark, there's the Sam and Dean I know again, and I can't quit.
*I swear Show and I are co-dependent*
Also, I read this before I read the fic, and now I'm going to go read the fic. Also, shipper giggles :D
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I don't even think I can say anything coherent. Dean is a shadow of Sam, chasing this ever-more-mythical, smarter, stronger, taller, nicer, deeper, BETTER (in Dean’s view) ‘brother’ who slips from his grasp over and over, his psyche would want to give him some small consolations ...
This kind of hurts my soul, really, and somehow I started thinking of Sam, how he is the archetypal 'hero' in the arc who is not only set up to have that arc by external forces most of the time but also comes a little short somehow of actually coming through the trials unscathed and heroic. The basic foundation of the show, I think, is in this that Sam is the one that pulls away from the strange and the supernatural, Sam is the one that tries to be his own person and build up his own life, Sam is the one who constantly fails. Dean is the one who worries, the one who carries, the one who is there for the fallout of all of Sam's 'hero' arcs. I think that's one reason why Sam always gets the heroic arcs: we see Sam through Dean. What Dean wants him to be versus what he is, what Sam wants to do versus what he does for/because of his brother. After 8 years of this, imagine Dean having a supernatural arc. It would pull away from convention and will require Sam's intimate perspective, and what Sam's intimate perspective is something that's not really ever been given to us. Without the 'hero' arc in every season, Sam is more likely to fade out, become this quiet kind of ghost in the background, because most of what we know of Sam comes from Dean. Do we know what music he likes or what stuff he'll put in his own room if he even has one in the bunker? Is it ever stressed what he feels about the whole Dean/Purgatory thing, or how he feels post Cas healing him in S7?
While this is the twisted-up thing that's at the heart of the show, it is a little dogged and over-the-top, but as of today, I'm convinced that in S8 it gets dogged and over-the-top on purpose. (As I said, SHIT HAPPENS!)I think the relationship is there, but it's becoming more and more toxically co-dependent, and Sam's becoming muter and faded as a result of pulling away and then being pulled back. *and I love it because it is all so psychologically haunting but also it is saaaad*
I'm sorry you didn't like S8! Maybe the last few episodes might work a little. I did like the last few episodes a lot more than the rest of S8 combined. It's true about the cliches and the loss of SPN's early season aesthetic, and sometimes I wonder why I still watch, but then when I think I'm done there's brightness, there's a spark, there's the Sam and Dean I know again, and I can't quit.
*I swear Show and I are co-dependent*
Also, I read this before I read the fic, and now I'm going to go read the fic. Also, shipper giggles :D