#jared on sam

[peanutbutterandbananasandwichs]

Ok, I'm alive (barely) so Jared question storytime !

So I'm including this as context because it's why I feel a little 😧 about the answer he ended up giving (not in a bad way just like I was a little shocked re his answer).

So the person 2 questions before me (I think they were the 2nd question overall) asked a REALLY inappropriate question to both of them that was "which of your childhood traumas left the deepest scar" which I'm sure you can imagine pretty much everyone in the hall was little jesus christ when they heard that. Anyways Jared and Misha handled it very well, much better than I ever could, but for obvious reasons basically didn't answer the question.

THEN they started screening questions beforehand and I was like 😬 idk if I can ask mine now but I can't think on my feet enough to ask a different one and I assured the steward that I was asking purely about Jared's acting approach.

Anyways so I went and asked my question, I did slip in a kinda jokey apology that I didn't know someone would ask that right before me lol.

So I started my question by saying how wonderful his portrayal of Sam as a trauma survivor was and I thanked him for how much care he put into it and said it was very important to me and to so many people and then just said thank you again.

And I barely remember what he looked like what I was speaking during this bit because I was blacking out hahaha but I'm 90% certain he did that really sweet sincere face and clutched his hands over his heart and ahfgchfghbb.

Anyways then I asked him specifically about how when Sam flinches at sudden noises/violence he often looks embarrassed/ashamed about his reaction and I said that obviously he shouldn't have to feel that way but that it rang very true to life/to Sam in specific. And I asked if that was something that was in the script or if it was something he thought was how Sam would react/was that something he'd intentionally brought to his portrayal of Sam's trauma.

And he said it was a great question. And was like yes, it was absolutely intentional, and I think he said a little bit about his thought behind it which I do not remember cause again, blacking out, lmao.

Anyways, then he kinda referenced the terrible childhood trauma question, and then said that when he was a kid there was a drive-by shooting outside of his house, and that even though everyone in his family was ok it had really affected him, and that he was hyper vigilant, super reactive to noise, really jumpy etc and had had to have therapy to help with it. And basically kinda said that he'd used that a bit with Sam.

And he thanked me for the question again and for sharing that that aspect of Sam was important to me.

So yeah I was a bit like idk if he would have gone that direction if the other question hadn't been asked and it made me feel a little bit like oh I hope he didn't think I expected him to give such a personal answer. But on the other hand he didn't answer that other question, but then did tell that story in answer to my question so I have to assume that my question made him feel more comfortable than the previous one did.

[marginofthought]

Jared said in interviews that he wasn't flexing his chest whenever he's shirtless he admitted he has a nervous chest twitch because he's self-conscious during shirtless scenes, so my headcanon made from that is Sam twitches adorabley under Dean's gaze and Dean loves it when just from his look alone Sam's chest scrunched

Dean would start ogling him after he goes back on the road with him and he is very unsubtle about it. He knows that Sam knows but it doesn't matter and he just keep staring, making Sam feel even more self-conscious and twitchy but he won't stop Dean either

[fandom-hoarder]

Hey fandom, help us out? Related to this post:

I've been trying to scour through my tags, but I can't remember if it was on twitter or at a con. Anybody have dates or links?

[fadeoutstreet]

this is just . hilarious

[themegalosaurus]

Jared: “You know what's funny?... I think if you were in a session with Sam independently or Dean independently, you'd probably get a lot more done at first. You might need a few of those before getting into past family dramas.” (Chicon 2022)

[semirahrose]

Can I just. Freaking. YES. So, during his interview, Jared got a question about whether Sam knows that Dean was “a mother and a father” to him, and how he feels about that. 

And I was wincing in wait for the grossly idealized parentification some portions of fandom like to embrace, but Jared is a true hero, and he, of course,  treated the issue with the gravity it deserves.

He acknowledged that “Sam and Dean love each other as much as two human beings can love each other,” but they are capable not only of loving each other but of hating each other/pissing each other off in some situations. He says that things are completely forgiven between the two of them, but, "It doesn’t mean that there aren’t things [where] Sam wouldn’t say, like, ‘Man, that was not okay. That wasn’t cool.’”

Which is important, I think, because Dean is a fascinating and complex character. The fandom likes to sell this idea that Dean was some flawless saint of a parental figure in Sam’s life, but their lives were messed up, and Dean, as he himself admitted in 12.22 in that wrenching scene, sometimes failed. It’s impossible for a young boy to fill the roles of both parents. It just is. I appreciate that Jared was willing to acknowledge the complexity of that particular relationship.

Jared also returns with this: While Dean did his best to be what Sam needed even when he was only a child himself, Sam has done the very same, and been what Dean needed.

Such a lovely, well-thought-out answer. I am overjoyed. As expected from Jared Padalecki.

[samndeans]

(x)

[fandom-hoarder]

Hey, random SPN question from someone who hasn't seen the whole show... I know Dean is explicitly stated to be straight... is Sam's sexuality ever explicitly stated? By Sam himself I mean, not Dean's "we don't swing that way"

Sam's sexuality is never explicitly stated by himself, despite that one time Dean said "we don't swing that way". (We all know Dean using we/us pronouns to speak for himself and Sam doesn't necessarily mean Sam agrees lol.) Sam never even fights against all the gay jokes made about him in early seasons, he just lets them lay and sticks to the topic, leaving his character wide open for pretty much any queer headcanon just as much as it does for a cishet guy who is secure in his sexuality/manhood.

And there's fandom lore that Sam has a tendency to use gender neutral terms when talking about relationships, though I keep forgetting to do my own fact check on this. I think in season one he does a bit of "I lost somone" when talking about Jess.

IIRC the gender neutral phrases were brought up at a con once and Jared agreed or was at least open to a possible queer reading of Sam. (I'm not sure if it was the same instance, or at a different con, when Jared said he could get behind a he/they Sam headcanon.) Not that we need the actor's opinion on it to enjoy a headcanon, but it's kinda cool to me when he's open to it.