This is about the emotional maturity I’d expect from Dean, especially given his obvious issues with gayness. It’s like he has a classic teenage crush on Castiel, and he’s been see-sawing madly ever since Castiel admitted to feeling it too: wanting Castiel to be there, then acting like an ass when he is. In fact, queerness-in-denial seems the only consistent way you can read Dean’s hot-and-cold weirdness around Castiel and have it make sense.įor example, take the look on Dean’s face when Castiel admitted to the profound bond – it was very like the expression he had during the Dr Sexy world, but much more subtle and toned down: hope, delight, terror at being called on it. At the moment, my slash reading of Supernatural has aligned with the hegemonic reading, and become the only reading I can really see, due to the homophobic jokes that have permeated this season (even more so than usual). Usually my slash reading exists alongside a recognition of the probable hegemonic reading intended by the show-runners. Yes, I mean gay feelings, and no, I didn’t forget to take my slasher goggles off. My take from fairly early on in the season has been that Dean is in denial about his feelings for Castiel, and that explains pretty much everything.
I’ve read a lot of fan reactions in which people say they don’t understand Dean’s motivation this season, or why he’s acted like such a douche. Intentional homophobia, or, why a joke about an angel’s hard-on is only funny if you’re straight My thoughts aren’t meant to be in any way definite, just, you know, my thoughts. Given that, it’s entirely likely that I’m about to be wrong on the internet. The following is based on spoilers, episode synopses, fan meta, watching scenes on YouTube, songvids, and reading fanfic.
I haven’t watched Supernatural season 6 yet, and won’t until my alpha watcher has vetted and passed it for me. There are two main issues I want to discuss: first, the way homophobia has been intentionally entwined into the season 6 story arc, and second, what that means for the characters.īut first, a disclaimer, just to get it out of the way. I’ve been thinking about the representation of male sexuality in Supernatural for a while now (and I don’t mean in a primarily slashy way), and especially the most recent season, which has had quite a lot to say about what’s acceptable for men to desire and what is not. NB: this post is not mine! What follows is the text of this post that I was unable to find a rebloggable version of: