Sam & Dean, leadership, control, obedience, and choice
Spinning this off into a new post because this got so long â I love this topic, so I have many Thoughts! (Most of this is focused on the psychological side of it as explored through fictional tropes â the mythological side of their chosen roles is also fascinating and deserving of its own post!)
I really do feel quite strongly about this, which makes those metas where people insist on calling Dean âcontrollingâ actually a bit infuriating to read. Sam makes decisions; Dean follows. Itâs not that way 100% of the time, but it is true way more often than the reverse. Itâs part of the deepest core of their naturesâwhich is explained by the archangels they were meant for. Dean is loyal, and Sam rebels.
I watched âThe Vesselâ a few nights ago and was struck so hard by how Dean announces that he shall be the one who goes back to the past. He will be the one who puts himself in danger, because heâs expendable. He states it as a fact, almost bullish⌠and then still waits for Samâs permission before he and âCastielâ actually go. Itâs just such a fascinating dynamic, made more so by the change-up of roles.
Again yes to all of this. Dean as âcontrollingâ I take as a misinterpretation (âalternative interpretation, though this is a case that I feel strongly enough about the characterizations that I struggle to see the alternatives) of their communication styles â and Deanâs style in particular is molded, not just by Johnâs militaristic upbringing, but by his relationship with Sam.
Dean can be controlling â especially with innocents in supernatural-emergency situations, itâs vital to give orders forcefully enough that you can expect them to be followed. But with Sam, thatâs rarely what itâs about. Dean gives statements of intent to Sam knowing theyâre not going to be blindly followed â since he was a little kid, Sam hasnât obeyed him without question. Moreover, Sam has always known that Dean wonât actually act without his say-so. (e.g. âAfter School Specialâ, in which at 14 Sam is fully capable of letting Dean know what he wants â Dean is raging âIâll rip his lungs outâ about the bully, but he doesnât actually do anything, lets Sam handle it on his own. And itâs not played as a âbig brother finally lets his little brother out on his ownâ moment â Sam is talking to Dean with confidence that he can handle it himself and that Dean wonât intervene. He knows Dean has his back if needed, but he doesnât expect Dean to do anything without his agreement.)
Some of the reason this can be misinterpreted is because of their differences in communication and thinking styles. Sam is the kind of person who likes to go into a discussion or argument informed, fully armed â he doesnât like to talk about anything until heâs had time to think it out, to come to a conclusion and come up with counter-arguments, etc. While as Dean is less of a thinker, more of a doer; he wants to talk about what heâs thinking/feeling because verbalizing it out loud is how he understands it himself. (Or by acting it, hence him being way more prone to expressing himself through physical violence than Sam.)
The reason this works is because they both understand this about each other.
germansingergirl
ellievsbear
vaporwave
stormborns
areudirty
janainaart
pixelskylines
