Snowflake Day 3 & 4

[amberdreams]

Looks like I'll be doing this out of order, but not to worry.

Day 3
In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.

When I first saw this prompt, I didn't see the part in parenthesis, so that left me musing about what aspects of canon SPN have the strongest appeal for me, rather than something as specific as an episode or song. Added to which, recently I've spent far too much time clashing heads with a small but vocal and nasty group of fans on Twitter, who seem hell bent on remoulding SPN into an anodyne, clean and unrecognisable show. Their antagonism to Wincest in particular got me thinking about what constitutes the heart of SPN for me. What was it that pulled me in and what is it that keeps me watching today, even when the quallity of the storytelling is so diminished?

My answer to this question is actually easy. It's the brothers Winchester. It's the fact that canon has given us these two handsome heroes who may have saved the world several times over, but whose whole focus is saving each other. I love that it's canon that they will sacrifice anything for each other, and have done so, many times over. I love that canon said they are soulmates. I love their codependency, because it's a beautiful thing to have someone in your life who loves that hard and that fierce, with that kind of singular focus. It might be a scary thing in real life, but in drama and fiction, it's glorious.

The Winchester brothers encapsulate something I've always been drawn to - strong bonds between two male characters. When I look back at my favourite shows/films, there are very few that don't fit that genre or contain something along those lines. But SPN is the pinacle of that trope for me.

Day 4 is about reaching out to someone new, so I'm off to check out the responses on the snowflake_challenge page.

Comments

[stripytights.livejournal.com]

The way that you've phrased this is so lovely, and it's exactly how I feel.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

♥
I'm just concerned that Dabb, though he keeps paying lip service to J2's chemistry and Sam and Dean's place at the core of SPN, is too concerned with expanding the show into some sort of ensemble cast.

[fufaraw]

Yes, exactly this. Thank you for stating it so elegantly. Short, to the point, and gracefully.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! My boys. I love them a stupid amount.

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Snap!!! I came here for our boys, and they're the reason I'm still here.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

To the (hopefully not bitter) end!

[amypond45.livejournal.com]

I've been feeling discouraged by the direction of the current season and the fan responses that you mention. Then last night I watched "99 Problems" randomly and I was shocked and heart-broken by the way the boys treated each other and it hit me: this relationship is totally what keeps me watching. Without it, I wouldn't even be interested in SPN. I strongly suspect I'm not alone. I don't want my Winchesters happy and healthy. I want them achy and desperate and always ready to die for each other, no matter how the world tries to separate them and make them hate and distrust each other. I need the way they love each other.

Thanks for the reminder :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

yes, yes, exactly this. Without the pain and conflict and discomfort, the good times AND the bad, the show becomes anodyne and meaningless.

But the good thing is - we will always have the earlier seasons to treasure, no matter where they eventually take the show, and we will also always have the fabulous imaginations of our amazing cadre of fanfic writers and artists.

So yah boo sucks to the people who seek 'safe' and 'clean' and boring.

[kelios.livejournal.com]

Yes, this. I've been so discouraged by the way the show is going, more and more since S8 if I'm honest. I love Sam and Dean and every beautiful, codependent thing between them, and I see it all being flushed away under Dabb's influence.

I just want my boys back.

[laughablelament]

Everything, EVERYTHING! in that 3rd paragraph. I've been a fangirl my whole life, but Sam and Dean were the first characters to pull me in a writerly direction. Irresistible. Cheers to this! <3

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

I feel partially guilty, because I kinda pointed you towards that aforementioned small, vocal and nasty group of fans. They're a strange gaggle, no question. I mean, I totally understand why they preach the way they do, but it really doesn't make for a very interesting story. Like, ever. And it simply doesn't sync well with the vibe of SPN, even now, in the show's current incarnation as some sort of shallow, ensemble cast creation.

The intensity, the chemistry is quickly leeching out of the show, in no small part due to the fact Sam and Dean have been spending quite a bit of time apart, playing some sort of Yoda figure to a rotating cast of one-off or barely reoccurring characters. Wow am I getting bored. But this is my only fandom, so. I'll see it through. But the mighty have really fallen.

[novakev.livejournal.com]

So beautifully stated! This is why I continue to watch as well.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I feel we're living off scraps these days - but as long as the Winchesters brothers are on SPN I'll be watching.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Me too - I used to run little stories in my head, mostly childish self inserts into an episode of Star Trek or Alias Smith and Jones, but the whole idea of writing imaginative new stories for my favourite characters never even occurred to me before SPN. I'll never not love it and the Fandom for that.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

The intensity - that's exactly it. It's less intense partly because the hazard is mostly gone - we know that 80% of the characters will never actually die, and that takes a lot of the tension out of any storyline - but also this dilution of focus means the interest is being leached out.

The annoying thing is that this shift could have been done in a way that was exciting and more subtle, Sam and Dean could have been given pivotal roles and still have reduced screen time, but this current crew of writers are either incapable of creating dramatic tension or not being allowed to do so.

And yes, I blame you for discovering the purity brigade ha ha ha!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Till the very end! *hugs*

[spikedluv]

I haven't watched SPN in a few years, but the relationship between the brothers is definitely what drew me in. Thanks for sharing this.

[aerynsun5.livejournal.com]

The boys, for sure. All I need to say.