How Scoobynatural was Problematic - and no one seems to care.
It’s been a week now since Scoobynatural came out. To be honest, I was originally super excited because I was an 80s kid. I grew up with Scooby Doo. I had the bed set, the action figures, the t-shirts and toys. I faithfully watched it every Saturday morning like clockwork. As an adult, Supernatural has been my passion every since I discovered it back in 2012. I got the T-shirts, the Funko Pops, posters, backpack - I even got my first tattoos ever, that were SPN related.
Over the years, I have met several wonderful friends because of the show. I got introduced to fanfic, and conventions. My collection of SPN stuff grew, and so did my love for the cast. In recent years, there have been some problematic things happening in the SPN world, but none more so than the Scoobynatural episode.(Well, that, and killing off Charlie. But that’s a ranty post for another day.)
Like I said, I was really excited at first and had high hopes and expectations for it. Here was my two favorite shows of all time, coming together in one epic crossover! It was a dream come true for me - but in the back of my mind, I worried. Knowing the track record with the writers as they do, forcing Dean to flirt with anything that moves even though he’s a man about to reach 40, I was concerned that they would do something terrible, and make him flirt with a 16 year old girl.
“No”, I said to myself. “Surely they wouldn't go to that length just to promote Dean’s staggering heterosexual-ness.”
Not only did they have Dean flirt with Daphne, an underage girl, but they made him repeatedly do it, to the point where I was incredibly uncomfortable by the end of the episode. I couldn't even enjoy it anymore, if I’m being honest. I mean, look at this GIF alone. He has this creepy, predatory look on his face and Daphne looks more scared of him, than of whatever is chasing them.
Yes, this is Dean Winchester we’re talking about - a guy who has random hookups and one night stands. But he is also a man who is nearing 40 - who is trying to woo a teenager. Yet no one is talking about that. They think it’s “amusing” or “hilarious”, and that nothing is wrong with it because it’s just a cartoon. By that logic, you are saying that he could flirt with Dora the Explorer or Lisa Simpson, and it would be perfectly okay because she’s not real. Even Sam, at one point, reminds his brother that she is with Fred, because she just isn’t interested. Yet Dean persists.
Even more problematic, at the end of the episode, Dean grabs Daphne’s arm when she is trying to walk away from him.
This is predatory behavior, and no one seems to care because they would rather ignore it and be caught up in the afterglow of that episode. Yes, other than this issue, it was a fairly decent episode. But you can’t ignore the problem just because you want to see Supernatural with rose-colored glasses. This isn’t behavior that anyone would except from any guy towards a woman, especially an underage one.
Canonically, Daphne is 16 years old.
Canonically, Dean is 39 years old.
Now, keep in mind, all the blame does not rest on J2, though they could have said something about this before it was allowed to air. This is the fault of the writers who think that this is okay.
I’m not saying I want Supernatural to be canceled. I’m just saying that everyone needs to stop sticking their heads in the sand and be more aware of problems like this. Someone like Dean gets a free pass from fans because he is “hot”, while other men are raked across the coals for actively pursing a woman. You can’t condemn one without the other.
I love supernatural. i probably always will. That’s why this whole thing makes me so sad. Especially that no one seems to care about how wrong it was for him to do that.
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