Okay, so itās been awhile because Iāve been obsessed with two longfics Iām writing (one of which is a humorous and dark Dean/Spike crossover) but Iām finally ready to talk a little more about what SPN is actually showing us, wincest-dynamics wise, one episode at a time.
In my first post I wrote that:
1. I believe that SPN is the epic love story of Sam and Dean Winchester and that the boys are psychotically, erotically codependent. And I believe this is canon. This isnāt really something you can prove or disprove definitively but maybe in a future post I will start by defending this more staunchly. Maybe Iāll wait til I get to the siren episode (lol, bitch please, thereās no way youāre waiting that long). Please note that this doesnāt mean the boys are fucking. It could be latent. It just means itās there and that if you donāt understand this, you miss a LOT of the show.
2. When I talk about canon, Iām talking only about what we see on the screen, not about someoneās commentary on it. (more about this below)
3. There is a canon-compliant, non delusional way that you can read the boys as yep, actually fucking, off and on at points throughout the show and their lives. To try to get your head around this, you just gotta read my first post in this series.
4. The boys are dedicated to denial at every turn and neverāeven to each other when they are aloneāspeak directly about it. This is a normal rule that an abnormal family would make and adhere to in order to protect itself, and there is evidence for this in the text that I take time to explore in the first post.
5. Despite the fact that so many people seem to be married to the concept of the boysā dynamic being set in stone (Dean is only a top, Dean is only a bottom, etc), if you accept the above propositions and then watch the show to see what itās saying about their relationship, their dynamic appears to be malleable. What do I mean by malleable? I donāt mean that they are enlightened, egalitarian boys who take turns nicely and understand that itās misogynistic and homophobic to equate ābottomā with āweaknessā and ātopā with āstrength.ā I mean that their dynamic changes when acted upon by various forces.
So. Before I get to looking at what the next few episodes tell us about their dynamic, I want to spend a little more time on point 2.Ā
Yeah, I know that āthe epic love story of Sam and Dean Winchesterā is a quote from Kripke and that Sera Gamble so understood what time it was that she is frequently credited with the quote. Do I think itās interesting and telling that the showrunners from season 1-8 are true believers? Yes, of course. But I use the phrase only because I think it truly sums up what SPN (as we see on screen) is actually showing us.
āDeath of the authorā doesnāt mean that the text doesnāt matter. It just means that, once the work is out there, it has to stand on its own. If Rowling meant for Dumbledore to be gay, thatās cool, I guess, but she failed to show that in the text of the original Harry Potter series, so in my opinion it didnāt become canon until later works were added that made Dumbledore The Gay Wizard more explicit. The work has to stand on its own.
The text itself still has meaning, even as you are welcome to explore it in any direction you like. I got into this conversation on reddit recently and I used Beauty and the Beast as an example. There are many legitimate ways to understand that movie, and not all are what Disney intended. You could point out that the entire thing is happening pre-French revolution and that Beast is going to (very shortly) have his head removed from his shoulders, even though Disney probably didn't take that into account. You can talk at length about class and show how the servants are literally objects. You can apply a class analysis and say that Gaston was a worker and the Beast an oppressor. You can say that, based on what we know to be true about domestic violence, Beast is bound to seriously abuse Belle, because heās been an asshole on a power trip pretty much continuously and one encounter with the loving touch of a beautiful woman probably isn't going to change that, even though Disney didn't, in all likelihood, intend that reading.Ā
But if you said that Gaston was actually a good, gentle, loving man who was just trying to get Belle's father mental healthcare and that he would have been an amazing husband, you're ignoring the in-universe facts. That's totally okay, too. Itās fiction. Go ahead; write an AU fanfic where Gaston is a devoted and kind lover who fully supports Belle's passions. But please understand that Gaston, in the reality of the (fictional) Beauty and the Beast universe, hated Belleās reading, intentionally locked up her father to coerce her into signing her life over to him, and didn't respect any of her boundaries. Simply looking at the facts of the text, Gaston would have been an abusive husband.Ā
At the end of the day, when you look at what Beauty and the Beast is actually about, if you are media literate, you will understand that its the story of two outcasts finding each other and the power that love has to change us for the better. It may be problematic, it may be musically on point yet thematically tone deaf, it may be ill-advised ... and none of that changes the core of what it's about.
Compared to a book series like Harry Potter, with one writer driving it and plotting it and connecting the dots, or a singular movie with a coherent vision like Beauty and the Beast, SPN canāt be said to have one or even five creative visions. Itās a 15 season show from back in the day when TV had 22 episodes a year to play around with.Ā
If Belle didnāt have exactly the right facial expression, theyād redraw her. But Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles spent 15 years of their lives carefully portraying their characters as they saw them. Costume designers helped decide whether or not Samās plaid shirts in later seasons would be the same exact style or slightly different than Deanās. Someone decided to hang Deanās shirts from prior episodes in the background of Samās room, and I doubt it was J2. Someone watched a hundred different versions of the same scene and carefully selected the one that had the most chemistry between the boys.Ā
Dean and Sam are walking down the hallway of an abandoned insane asylum and Dean asks Sam whoās the hotter psychic, him or Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Sam gets this beautiful *aww shucks* look and grins like a school girl. Who knows which take that was? Who knows what snarky remark Jensen may have said off screen to get that reaction? Who knows what the director told Jared to do? None of that matters in my analysis. Behind-the-scenes facts may be interesting, but Iām not taking them into consideration when deciding what the show is saying about the boysā relationship. Iām looking at the end result and trying to understand whatās actually happening.Ā
And when you look at the end result, the entire kit and caboodleāincluding Castiel being in love with Dean, Dean running away with Crowley, Sam running away with Amelia, Benny pointedly calling Dean āBrotherāāfrom the moment Dean carries baby Sammy out of the house to the moment they reunite in Heavenāis the epic love story of Sam and Dean Winchester.Ā
āBut the authors didnāt have a united visionā ā¦ āBut Jensen played Dean as a straight manā ā¦ āBut there were Destiel writersā ā¦ I know, and I donāt care. A whole bunch of people put different ingredients into a bowl, mixed it up, and popped it into the oven, and when they pulled it out, it had risen into a fluffy incest cake for us depraved fanfic writers to enjoy.Ā
Okay, so, now that Iāve defended my complete disregard for any one individualās commentary, back to my episode-by-episode analysis of the boysā dynamic.Ā
When I first started reading wincest, I gotta say, I was shocked, shocked, that some people think all the desire belongs to Sam. Considering Sam was the younger brother, and thus the child-figure in their inappropriately parent/child-i-fied dynamic, and considering that Sam spends half the series desperately trying to escape their fucked up relationship, it feels victim blamey. Like, this idea that the younger sibling is the one that holds all of the desire, that heās the aggressive top, and that the parent-figure is the poor, abused, agency-less object of his desire ā¦ where did that come from??Ā
Weāre talking about the Sam who begs Dean to talk about his feelings in couplesā counseling, right? The Sam who insists he doesn't want Deanās meat (but heās okay with Eileenās meat), while Dean tricks him into putting his meat into his mouth while announcing heās the āmeat manā?Ā
I still donāt like the āSam holds all the desireā analysis, like at all, but after paying more attention, I understand it a bit better.
Because, at least in the beginning, the show does in fact position Sam as holding more of the cards. I donāt know how I missed it my first couple watches, honestly.Ā
As I pointed out in my last post, the show starts with Sam resolutely declaring heās going to be faithful to Jessica. By the end of Wendigo, he agrees to reenter the fucked up situation he had going with Dean, but with changed dynamicsāhe announces that heāll be driving now. And Dean has no real choice but to comply. Not if he wants to keep Sam around.Ā
In both fictional and real-world relationships, the one who has one foot out the door is often more āmasculineā or āfuckboyā coded. In a cis het relationship, if itās a girl who canāt commit or whoās only half-invested, sheās often considered cold and inaccessible, and the guy is considered pussy whipped. Is it true? Is having one foot out the door more butch? Not necessarily, but itās often read and coded that way.Ā
One reason for this is that we associate masculinity with power, and the person whoās about to walk away from a negotiation inherently has more of it. When teenage Deanās refusing to meet with his girlfriendās parents and making out with her friend in a closet, heās clearly a badass fuckboy. When much-younger-than him Sam stares at his big brother with jealousy and sorrow, in that moment, Sam views himself as a weak, pathetic nerd who canāt ever have his brotherās full affection and will never be out of his shadow.
Soulmates, in Supernatural, can barely stand to be apart. At one point, soulmates who had been abstaining til marriage finally give in and literally consume each other until theyāre both dead. Dean goes to hell to get one more year on Earth with his soulmate. Mary gives up her future son up to a demon in order to save her soulmateās life. Amelia Novak abandons her daughter to wander the Earth to find her lost soulmate, Jimmy.Ā
In this context, Sam is probably the strongest, manliest-coded soulmate we see in the entire series. He flat out leaves his soulmate for ā¦ a cabin in the woods with pizza and a dog ā¦ then for college ā¦ then for ā¦ *checks notes* ā¦ an alcoholic bitch whose husband has gone MIA? ā¦ and in retelling, Sam makes it clear it was actually, again, for the dog?Ā
(Make no mistake. I think Sam is a complete badass for this. Heās trying to escape a codependent relationship and I donāt hold any of this against him.)
Anyways, once Sam leaves their childhood dynamic to go off to Stanford, everything changes for Dean. From Deanās perspective, Sam has shown that he has the ability to singlehandedly destroy Deanās entire world and, worse yet, heās never shown a single drop of remorse. The kid actually thinks heās entitled to grow up and differentiate. Moreover, heās completely unafraid to do it again. Heād love to jump ship, any time, and find a normal life, away from the danger and psychotic codependency, with a pretty girl and a 9 to 5 job.Ā
The episodes in the first season definitely highlight this power shift in all sorts of ways. Dead in the Water starts out with an unspoken negotiation between Dean and Sam:
Dean, ever the fuckboy, is about to take an incredibly hot, huge-tittied waitress with a cherry crop top to pound town when Sam intentionally intervenes. His jealousy is palpable (and honestly quite weird if you donāt understand that the show is about incest).Ā
Dean tries to advocate for himselfāhe wants āto have fun, once in a while.ā Like a strict father, Sam doesnāt even have to say the word āno.ā Dean gets the memo from Samās stern, *absolutely not* face.Ā
So Dean suggests a hunt instead. Samās still got an unimpressed, almost John-like expression. It takes him a beat to go from ājealousā to āpaying attention to the details of the hunt.āĀ
Then Sam tries to advocate against itāheās not that interested in hunting. Heās interested in finding Dad, because Dad has the info he needs to get vengeance for Jessicaās death. So it becomes Deanās turn to play the John-character. Sam might be able to keep him from fucking this lady, but he doesnāt get to choose the mission. Deanās not willing to cede all the authority.Ā
Sam glares, about to consider arguing, when the massive-tittied, Daisy-duke wearing waitress walks by. If they stay, even one more hour, Deanās definitely fucking her, and Sam knows it.Ā
āAll right,ā says Sam. āLake Manitoc.ā For now, Dean will control the hunt and Sam will control their sexual options. Again, this comes down to who is willing to walk away, and from what.Ā
Phantom Traveler starts out with a very interesting bedroom shot. Deanās lying on the bed, ass in the air, vulnerable, when Sam approaches, awake, fully clothed, standing over him. Am I saying that the people who created the shot intended to show that Sam was fucking Dean in the ass? No, absolutely not. But I do think the scene shows us something about whoās holding which cards. Samās a looming figure in Deanās life and heās currently more in charge than Dean would probably like, especially considering that he raised the damn kid.
There are other signs in Phantom Traveler that point in this direction. Just honestly, their whole dynamic. Sam tells Dean to ājust relaxā when theyāre on the plane. No, itās probably not intended to have that double entendre and, again, I donāt care. Samās not only being toppyāheās being paternal, again, John-like. He has to lecture Dean to get his weaknesses, his emotions, under control, or Dean risks being possessed.
Sam also plays the straight man in the episode, and in many other episodes in the future. Heās always the one whoās looking down on Deanās antics while Deanās behavior is played for a laugh. I always feel bad for Dean. Iād hate to have a life person who never thought any of my jokes were funny.Ā
One of my partners noticed that, throughout the series, Sam almost comes across like Deanās his out-of-touch father whoās embarrassing him in public. That absolutely makes sense to me. Dean is one of his dads, in a very real way. Little children think their dads are funny and cool, but teenagers, who are coming into their power as their own people, start to cringe. This dynamic is often played in the media as a sign dads are losing control over their childrenās lives.
Thereās another dynamic in Phantom Traveler, and it's not necessarily about who is in charge but it is interesting and itās something we see again and again throughout the showāSam gets on the plane to save the passengers while Dean gets on the plane to save Sam.Ā
And finally, Bloody Mary. As in almost every episode, there are at least a few interesting wincest moments. Thereās the har har, they both snuck up to a bathroom together at a party momentāitās weird that the show barely acknowledges how awkward it was for the girl to find them walking out together. Straight men don't do that.
Another interesting moment: Sam bribes a guy with Deanās hard earned money. Sam doesnāt consider the money legitimately earned, as Dean ostensibly earned it hustling pool. Itās played as a joke but thereās something deeper there. Sam doesnāt view the hustles and credit card fraud as legitimate or acceptable ways to earn money. From his point of view, the money wasnāt truly āearned,ā not the way a lawyer earns his money. But earning money that way? Turning $20 a week into enough to feed two kids? Thatās how Dean kept Sam alive. Sam isnāt just rejecting Deanās lifestyle and value system. Heās belittling the labor and sorrow and fear that kept Sam fed for their entire childhood. And if you are one of the people who think that Dean did unspeakable, feminine-coded things that Sam will never know about to contribute to those funds, then it hits even harder. Dean looks crestfallen here. (If I ever make it to the Plucky Pennywhistleās Magical Menagerie episode, Iāll expand on that, because to me, itās pretty clear that Dean wasnāt on dates with girls but was actually doing some kind of secret work he will never disclose to Sam in order to keep his brother alive while Sam sulked miserably about being left behind. Yes, Iām talking about sex work.)Ā
As far as Bloody Mary goes, itās interesting that, again, Samās the summoner, the one who puts himself on the line to save the people, and Deanās the one who saves Sam. I want to talk about this in a later postāSam is the one on the Heroās Journey here, even if the series is more about Dean. I feel like, in some ways, Sam is Jesus, Dean is Brian, and the show is the Life of Brian. I donāt think this says much about whoās topping, but I want to talk about it anyway since I think itās something you need to grasp to fully understand the show.Ā
Anyway, letās not act like Deanās some completely agencyless victim of Samās masculine dominance. The show does not demonstrate that in any way, shape, or form, and itās wild to say so. Dean *raised* Sam. Throughout the show, heās the main one who drives, leads in hunts, and makes decisions. Heās obsessed with controlling Samāhis hair, what he eats, what music he listens to.Ā
And along these lines, one big theme, that we see over and over, is that Sam isnāt allowed to have secrets while Dean is. In this episode, Sam has a secret that is tied to someone being killed and he isnāt willing to share it with Dean. Sam says they're Brothers (and here I think he's using the capital B, that he's referencing their specific and unique relationship, another topic I touched on in the first post and will touch on later), but that he gets to keep some secrets. Dean silently finds this completely unacceptable. But Bloody Mary wouldnāt have been able to attack Dean if he didnāt have one too!
I think this secret-keeping hypocrisy makes sense. When Dean was a kid, it was his job to keep secrets. Donāt tell Sam Dad is in danger, donāt tell Sam monsters are real, donāt show Sam how the sausages are made. At the same time, it was Deanās job to know all of Samās secrets. Kids arenāt allowed to lie to parental figures for good reason, and Dean would likely be punished if Sam had been up to no good on his watch. It just makes sense that this would carry over into their adulthood, even if Dean wasnāt particularly controlling (and he is).Ā
Anyway, you can see these glimpses into the longer-standing pattern of their dynamic, and you know that Dean wore the pants their entire childhood, and you can tell that Deanās not just going to cede power forever. Samās not allowed to have secrets. Deanās still calling Sam āSammyā and Samās still saying āitās Samā and we all know whoās going to win this one. By the end, Sam will be the one defending Deanās sole right to call him that.Ā
Also, off topic, but I really miss how kind they were to each other and how intelligent they both are as they put the puzzles together. Even when they were being obnoxious, controlling, or jealous, thereās a gentleness and love here thatās nearly gone by the time Deanās āroided out on the Mark of Cain. Whyād they have to do that? WHYYYYYY?
