Paradox in Supernatural Swan Song

[alcibiades]

So here's the paradox in the series finale:


On the one hand, we have been told for years that Dean has no self, that he needs to get a life other than Sam, that he and his love are overbearing, that he needs his own core and can't just glom onto Sam, that he has no self esteem or self respect, that this is all wrong, yada, yada, yawn.

Sam even wants him to go out and live a normal life after his sacrifice, so Dean can finally have a sense of self, live for himself, not for and through Sam.

And then it turns out that this overbearing, selfless love is what arrests Lucifer in mid kill, that allows Sam to re-emerge from lurkdom and strengthen him enough to overcome Lucifer and jump into the hole. In particular, Samifer lingers on the image of Dean hugging him after he sacrifices himself with one year to live and Sam returns to life, and that's the thing that causes the change that accelerates into full on control by Sam.

So this very quality of Dean which is so often ridiculed and is brought up again and again to give Dean incentive to move beyond it is the very thing that Sam needs to connect to in order to play the role he wants to and end the apocalypse, as opposed to jump starting it into further havoc by remaining Lucifer.

Talk about a conflicting message.

Comments

[axelrod]

Wait, are you saying this conflict is a *bad* thing? I think it makes for interesting storytelling. I mean, there's been this tension from the get-go between "normal" families and the Winchesters. In running away from the Winchester family, Sam ran to "normal" family; Dean's fantasy is a "normal" family life; and so on. Dean's intense devotion to his family i.e. Sam (whether that devotion is literally incestuous or not) is a Winchester sort of thing.

we have been told for years that Dean has no self, that he needs to get a life other than Sam, that he and his love are overbearing, that he needs his own core and can't just glom onto Sam, that he has no self esteem or self respect, that this is all wrong, yada, yada, yawn.

"We have been told"? Well, other characters may have said so; it may be a popular fannish opinion or interpretation (I wouldn't know, since I don't pay much attention to the rest of SPN fandom, bc of the size of the fandom, the wank, and not having the time). And I've only just started rewatching SPN from the start so I don't remember some of the earlier stuff. But I'm pretty sure you could interpret Dean's loyalty to his family in both positive and negative ways, probably at the same time. I mean, if Dean Winchester decides you're family he will do *anything* for you. No, it's not balanced and it may not be "healthy" in the sense taht healthy=normal, but it's a good adaptation to the life he's been raised to lead and it can be seen as admirable. Sometimes the consequences aren't so great, like when he sold his soul. Another thing "we've been told" is that Dean is selfish in that he doesn't want to be alive if Sam isn't - so it's not just self-sacrifice. So ... I'm rambling a bit. But it's complicated, and I think it can be up to us to decide whether Dean's loyalty and the lengths he's willing to go to are virtues or not.

Also, in going to Lisa instead of killing himself or trying to raise Sam from Hell, Dean is once again expressing his love for Sam - Sam made him promise, so Dean is doing it.

***

Another interesting paradox is Dean's bravado (taking on angels and demons, negotiating with ffs Death and btw that's one of my favorite SPN scenes ever) and his sense that he himself isn't worth much. Except then those two aspects of himself come together every time he's willing to sacrifice himself - his life, his soul, his body - for someone else. He really thinks he can save people, and very often he can.