I don`t watch for the plots
Dec. 10th, 2006 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astri13So, I read something that the second week of January will have a new episode? Wouldn`t be too bad a hiatus then. We`ll see.
Oh and apropos hiatus, I`ve now seen this summer referenced as the "summer of hell" or "summer of crazy" multiple times. And I don`t see what was so bad. So a few horses were beaten to death - cruelty to animals :) - and some Dean-, Sam- and John-feathers were ruffled. Well, that`s to be expected. Most people pick and argue for their favorites. As long as everybody is grown-up about it, it can be great. Or was it the Jo-thing? Sorry but blind aliens four galaxies away could have seen how that was gonna end with the "luw interest" annoucement. Come on.
And considering what I read about wanks in other fandoms: this is peanuts. Heck, the Spiiiiiiike-thing was more wanky than that. I honestly believe our little fandom is downright tame and peaceful. Incest seems to be relaxing. ;)
Heck not everybody gets along all the time. What do you know, it`s just like life. :-p
And while we`re at it, a little mini-meta about why I think Season 2 so far as a whole rocks because I read - and respect - the view that the show lost its sparkle.
I never have and never will watch for the plots. I`m not really a fan of horror movies and I hate road movies with a passion. If the show were either I`d...still watch it for Jensen but I`d watch it like I did Smallville Season 4. :)
From day one the relationship between the brothers drew me in and kept me hooked. Despite protestations to the contrary they had one chick flick after another and I love it. Sure it was painful sometimes with them stumbling around and over each other - Dean setting himself up for a fall with too much self-sacrifice and Sam projecting all over the map and occasionally being a bull in a china shop about it. It`s always painful to see people hurting each other not because lack of love or intent, then you could just say "jerk" and leave it, but because of misunderstanding and miscommunication.
But anyway I love the rich emotions, the psychological issues that would be any shrink`s wet dream. :)
And Season 2 brought that two-fold. Like Sera Gamble said: it IS a beautiful love story. Now the hurt is more external and we see one brother breaking and the other trying to fx him and just not knowing how. LOVE.
Yes, I can understand people being unhappy with all the focus on Dean`s grief, I myself wouldn`t mind a couple more "how Sam deals with Dad" scenes at all. I can even understand not liking the overabundance of angst. Though I can`t understand dismissing it with a pat "god, why doesn`t he get over it and becomes Season 1 Dean once more."
Uhm, because the human psyche is complicated and he has been in various stages of breaking all his life? Trauma, burn-out, hello? I don`t think most people with the "hardships" they suffered can even compete with the Winchesters. Lets be honest here. It sure is easy to think of oneself as so strong and "I would totally deal with it better than that". Maybe but I`m willing to bet lots of egos writes checks here that they couldn`t cash. Most of us live a relatively sheltered and comfortable life and still we whine and complain like crazy. Not to mention crash and burn under emotional distress.
Anyway I`m an only child. I never had the responsibility for a younger sibling, I never put my life on the line in the service of others and while I lost some family members at a young age, I didn`t lose them in circumstances Dean and Sam did. Yet I can heavily emphasize with them, with the context of their lifes. Yelling at them from the sidelines to "get over it" will not help. Coddling most probably wouldn`t either but understanding is vital.
I applaud the writers for portraying the ugliness of grief and heartbreak and flat-out tiredness of life in a realistic manner. Context is everything and the show has given me enough context to make it a believable reaction on both Dean`s and Sam`s part. Does anyone want to turn this into SV where the only constant emotion seems to be the Lana-worship?
It`s pretty much like Season 6 of Buffy where yes towards the end even I was drowning in the darkness of "too much" but for a good part of the Season it made sense to have Buffy such a former shell of herself seeing at what she went through. Dito here.
So for me Season 2 absolutely brings it at the core of things. Doesn`t mean I`m not annoyed of some of the heavier anvils they keep dropping on me. *g* Or characters that I see no use in whatsoever and who annoy me.
And well, better days will come and the boys will be so much sparklier and prettier when we finally get to see a (more)healed Dean snark and flirt out of the joy of his heart. Or when we see Sam happily geeking without a care in the world.
But watching shows and loving the characters is a bit like marriage: you have to stand with them in good days and in bad days. :-P And I do.
Oh and apropos hiatus, I`ve now seen this summer referenced as the "summer of hell" or "summer of crazy" multiple times. And I don`t see what was so bad. So a few horses were beaten to death - cruelty to animals :) - and some Dean-, Sam- and John-feathers were ruffled. Well, that`s to be expected. Most people pick and argue for their favorites. As long as everybody is grown-up about it, it can be great. Or was it the Jo-thing? Sorry but blind aliens four galaxies away could have seen how that was gonna end with the "luw interest" annoucement. Come on.
And considering what I read about wanks in other fandoms: this is peanuts. Heck, the Spiiiiiiike-thing was more wanky than that. I honestly believe our little fandom is downright tame and peaceful. Incest seems to be relaxing. ;)
Heck not everybody gets along all the time. What do you know, it`s just like life. :-p
And while we`re at it, a little mini-meta about why I think Season 2 so far as a whole rocks because I read - and respect - the view that the show lost its sparkle.
I never have and never will watch for the plots. I`m not really a fan of horror movies and I hate road movies with a passion. If the show were either I`d...still watch it for Jensen but I`d watch it like I did Smallville Season 4. :)
From day one the relationship between the brothers drew me in and kept me hooked. Despite protestations to the contrary they had one chick flick after another and I love it. Sure it was painful sometimes with them stumbling around and over each other - Dean setting himself up for a fall with too much self-sacrifice and Sam projecting all over the map and occasionally being a bull in a china shop about it. It`s always painful to see people hurting each other not because lack of love or intent, then you could just say "jerk" and leave it, but because of misunderstanding and miscommunication.
But anyway I love the rich emotions, the psychological issues that would be any shrink`s wet dream. :)
And Season 2 brought that two-fold. Like Sera Gamble said: it IS a beautiful love story. Now the hurt is more external and we see one brother breaking and the other trying to fx him and just not knowing how. LOVE.
Yes, I can understand people being unhappy with all the focus on Dean`s grief, I myself wouldn`t mind a couple more "how Sam deals with Dad" scenes at all. I can even understand not liking the overabundance of angst. Though I can`t understand dismissing it with a pat "god, why doesn`t he get over it and becomes Season 1 Dean once more."
Uhm, because the human psyche is complicated and he has been in various stages of breaking all his life? Trauma, burn-out, hello? I don`t think most people with the "hardships" they suffered can even compete with the Winchesters. Lets be honest here. It sure is easy to think of oneself as so strong and "I would totally deal with it better than that". Maybe but I`m willing to bet lots of egos writes checks here that they couldn`t cash. Most of us live a relatively sheltered and comfortable life and still we whine and complain like crazy. Not to mention crash and burn under emotional distress.
Anyway I`m an only child. I never had the responsibility for a younger sibling, I never put my life on the line in the service of others and while I lost some family members at a young age, I didn`t lose them in circumstances Dean and Sam did. Yet I can heavily emphasize with them, with the context of their lifes. Yelling at them from the sidelines to "get over it" will not help. Coddling most probably wouldn`t either but understanding is vital.
I applaud the writers for portraying the ugliness of grief and heartbreak and flat-out tiredness of life in a realistic manner. Context is everything and the show has given me enough context to make it a believable reaction on both Dean`s and Sam`s part. Does anyone want to turn this into SV where the only constant emotion seems to be the Lana-worship?
It`s pretty much like Season 6 of Buffy where yes towards the end even I was drowning in the darkness of "too much" but for a good part of the Season it made sense to have Buffy such a former shell of herself seeing at what she went through. Dito here.
So for me Season 2 absolutely brings it at the core of things. Doesn`t mean I`m not annoyed of some of the heavier anvils they keep dropping on me. *g* Or characters that I see no use in whatsoever and who annoy me.
And well, better days will come and the boys will be so much sparklier and prettier when we finally get to see a (more)healed Dean snark and flirt out of the joy of his heart. Or when we see Sam happily geeking without a care in the world.
But watching shows and loving the characters is a bit like marriage: you have to stand with them in good days and in bad days. :-P And I do.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-15 06:21 am (UTC)I agree. The show has a few problems, but what show doesn't? As for the fandom, I've barely seen any kerfluffles other than the one over Jo...mostly Jo, anyway, and *that* was caused mainly by people who didn't want other people to criticize her or the show or Kripke and made insulting remarks about people who did. IMHO, what's the point of discussion if everyone has to think exactly alike? *g* But maybe that's just me. hehe
The fun of it all to me is to squee over the good parts, rant about things that bug me, and then squee some more. *g* I love reading all the meta and love all the analytical posts and all the stuff with pie charts and counting how many times Dean says "Sammy" and all of that sort of thing.
Still, all the Jo/Roadhouse kerfluffle was all pretty mild and mellow, really--at least here on LJ. I've been in other fandoms where fans were yelling at each other on the streets and had major, personal "wars" with other fans and held grudges for years and years. *g* In the Stargate fandom, there were huge divides in fandom, though by the time I joined, the divides were firmly in place and there wasn't a lot of meeting in the middle except in a few rare places which was nice.
I don't watch this show for the plots either. :-)
From day one the relationship between the brothers drew me in and kept me hooked. Despite protestations to the contrary they had one chick flick after another and I love it.
Exactly. That's exactly why I love this show--from the first episode that I saw until now--I'm in it for the brother-love. :-)
Though I can`t understand dismissing it with a pat "god, why doesn`t he get over it and becomes Season 1 Dean once more."
I don't understand that either, other than maybe it's just too painful to watch if you are in a raw place yourself. I am. I lost my mother-in-law just a few months ago. For me, though, I find it cathartic. Maybe that says something terrible about me *g*, but it's easier for me to cry over Dean and John and Sam than RL stuff--and to write about that and even rant about it sometimes, because I haven't been able to really talk about the real-life stuff yet (other than to my husband and my kids a bit).
But...I do worry about when we get to IMTOD when watching with my husband (we're only up to Route 666), because it might just be too hard for him to watch. I'm not sure. So I could understand it from that perspective, but I don't think it would be very realistic for the show to have Dean suddenly turn back into Season 1 Dean any more than I could turn back into my 20-year-old self or even go back a year.
I honestly don't want Dean to just get over it any time soon. I'd like to see some of this resolved, but honestly? I like how this show has mirrored what I know real-life grief to be like, although, admittedly most of us are not out hunting demons and in such extremely stressful situations just piling on the problems, but I've liked seeing Dean go through all of this and I love him all the more for it.
I've also liked seeing Sam's reactions to all of this, and I look forward to more Sam angst, too. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-15 06:21 am (UTC)Anyway I`m an only child. I never had the responsibility for a younger sibling, I never put my life on the line in the service of others and while I lost some family members at a young age, I didn`t lose them in circumstances Dean and Sam did. Yet I can heavily emphasize with them, with the context of their lifes.
I have an older sister who was similar to Dean with me in some ways, but I was also 8 years older than my younger sister and I was as much a parent to her as a sibling and, later, a friend. She was my pal and I took her with me everywhere when I was a teen and even later. I invited all my best friends to her first birthday and we baked her a cake and let her squish it and make a big mess.
I wasn't in a similar situation to Dean as I had two loving parents at home, but I felt that responsibility strongly, and my young mind was filled with scenarios like, "If the house catches fire, I'll grab Denise and take her outside..." or "If the car falls over the cliff, I'll grab her and jump out..." (Never mind everyone else. I was going to save my baby sister! *g*) And, really, once my bedroom actually did catch fire and I *did* grab her out of her room and run out the front door while my dad put out the fire! lol
Anyway, I empathize very, very strongly with both Sam and Dean, because I've been in both positions and because I'm a parent myself with two grown kids. I know what that's like, too--to have to redefine one's relationship as the kids need more autonomy and to have to do this many times as they need you less and yet still need you more for support--but the right kind of support.
I think this show is doing that part of it all very, very well.
So for me Season 2 absolutely brings it at the core of things. Doesn`t mean I`m not annoyed of some of the heavier anvils they keep dropping on me. *g* Or characters that I see no use in whatsoever and who annoy me.
Exactly. It doesn't mean I don't love the show. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-15 06:07 pm (UTC)Exactly. I mean there will always be some "black sheep" on every side of the discussion who take things too far. Dismissing the people because they did not like the concept or execution of Jo as jellus, rabid fangirls and - my favorite - antifeminist is just as bad as making it personal and claiming the actress ist stupid and ugly.
I don`t find her acting impressive or her to be exceptionally pretty but personal attacks on real people are really low blows.
Most fans offered legitimate criticism and yes a few rants. Again, welcome to real life. :)
I can even understand some fans who felt positive about that being overwhelmed by the sheer mass of anti-statements but heck, neither minority nor majority has any real baring on right or wrong. I may have a couple of opinions about things I find myself alone with, doesn`t mean the world at large is stoopid for not seeing things my way.
And really I had worse in Buffy-Fandom with the shipper-wars.
I don't understand that either, other than maybe it's just too painful to watch if you are in a raw place yourself.
That I could understand but I have seen some really dismissive remarks that make Dean out to be a whiny cry-baby who should just get over it because life is tough. Woah, that would be like me - being raised in a pretty comfortable middle-class environment - condescending someone who grew up in a war-zone. My "hardships" can`t even begin to compare.
I really hate to make leaps and assumptions but I don`t believe these people have ever experienced true trauma. Or if they did of course it was different and they had every reason to be all "wah, wah, woe is me". Frankly that fills me with disdain.
I've also liked seeing Sam's reactions to all of this, and I look forward to more Sam angst, too. *g*
And please not passive victim-angst of "oh, what`s the demon gonna do to me" but more "OMG, what AM I doing here" type of angst. That`s the one I wanna see.
And hopefully an end of the moral sermonizing. Never an endearing quality.