30 Days of Supernatural challenge: Day 01

[seeing_ghosts]

The Season 8 premiere is nearing and (HOLY SHIT, THAT PROMO ALMOST KILLED ME!) despite all the anxiousness, I'm basically bored out of my mind. And when I'm bored and not in the mood to be productive, I do weird shit.

I saw this on Tumblr and thought, what the hell, I have a blog so I might as well use it as I please. Therefore, brace yourself for a 30 Days of Supernatural challenge that is absolutely pointless and that I'm going to do, anyway! Starting right now.

Day 01: My favourite character

Dean Winchester. Duh. And I don't mean that in a 'what twisted soul would like anyone more than Dean?' way, but in a 'if you've met me, you surely must have known,' way. I'm a Dean!girl all the way, down to the very core of my dark, fannish heart. 

It's really weird, though, because Dean, essentially, embodies everything I normally hate - he's a jerk, a sexistic pig, he's so full of himself that it's a miracle he doesn't take off and fly into space, he's obnoxious and thinks he's funny when he really really isn't and occasionally, he's more than a little homophobic; and so on and on and on... If I ever met him, or a guy like him, I'd either judge him silently, slap him or run away from him.

And yet, I love Dean. Not because he's got this one redeeming quality, or because he's pretty, or because I feel sorry for the guy. I love Dean because I believe that his good qualities exceed his bad ones, by far. He's determined, loyal to a fault, loves with everything he has and puts even total strangers first. He dedicated his whole life to saving people, hunting things, for crying out loud. He's The Righteous Man as much as he is self-righteous and most importantly, he's so human (despite what people tell him!) that just looking at his suffering makes me want to bawl my eyes out. 

He's flawed and that makes him such an outstanding character in my eyes. He's not flat; he's not just good or just bad - he saves people 'for a living' without any acknowledgment, without getting paid or thanked. But on the other hand, he broke and tortured in Hell in order to end his own suffering. And then he condemned himself for it for the rest of eternity, it seems.

To me, Dean's quiet, subtle inner struggle between being good and being evil, between doing what's right and what is easy, is much more eloquent than Sam's whole demon-blood story arc. 

Also, he's reaaally pretty. 

I'm sure I should not be this attached to a fictional character. Help!

Comments

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

he's a jerk, a sexistic pig, he's so full of himself that it's a miracle he doesn't take off and fly into space, he's obnoxious and thinks he's funny when he really really isn't and occasionally, he's more than a little homophobic; and so on and on and on...

About that - I don't think he necessarily is, not deep down. He just acts like it. And I don't know... I've never really seen the ego beyond the first couple of seasons. Honestly, he just screams insecurity and overcompensation to me. But that's because we've gotten to know him as a character. Although if I ran into him on the street without knowing his backstory, I'd totally judge.

But I agree with everything else you say and that picture just makes me want to hug him. It is probably one of the hottest shots of him. Like ever.

[seeing-ghosts.livejournal.com]

I hear you! ;D And yes, you are right that Dean isn't really like that, I know it, but it is a shell he chose to wear. It's his choice that he appears to be a sexistic jerk and blah blah blah, don't make me write it again. ;D And yeah, for that? I totally judge him. I know he's full of issues that influence most of it (hello, John and thank you!) but that's not an excuse to be a complete douche. I'm apparently very judgemental.

But we forgive him, don't we?

And that picture is ABSOLUTELY one of the hottest shots of him. The dirty t-shirt! The wound on his forehead! The look of utter agony on his face!

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

And that picture is ABSOLUTELY one of the hottest shots of him. The dirty t-shirt! The wound on his forehead! The look of utter agony on his face!

THIS SO MUCH!!!! I am apparently shallow enough to think dirty t-shirts are sexier than shirtless...

I hear you on slightly judging him for choosing to wear that shell. Although it seems he's let it drop in recent seasons. Or no longer tries as hard. But in any case, yep, his issues - of which there are many - does not excuse him for being a total douche sometimes. And we'll forgive him forever for it.

[seeing-ghosts.livejournal.com]

What's shallow about that? ;D

I think he's let the shell drop as much as he sort of... Grew out of it? The older (and wiser, and more experienced) he is, the more he acts like himself, or at least the more he lets all that he's hiding show.

We'd forgive him anything and everything.

[nwspaprtaxis.livejournal.com]

I actually don't think Dean consciously let the act drop as he aged. Not in the sense of deciding that he shouldn't be an immature douche and revealing more of himself. Rather, I feel that he's emotionally and unable to keep it up any longer. To me it seems clear that he wants to keep everything stuffed down and tightly locked and to be that cocky kid again but he just.... can't. Not after Hell and everything else. So to me, it's definitely a whole lot of maturity going on but it's also heartbreaking because he so clearly is giving up on everything.

[seeing-ghosts.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think he consciously let it drop either. But who ever decides, "oh, I'm too old to be an irresponsible jerk, let's grow the fuck up!"

I think he just matured, which was, yeah, partly caused by his stint in Hell, partly by Sam's death, partly by everything else in between, but in my honest opinion, a huge factor was his relationship with Lisa (and Ben) and then their break-up. That always matures one up, whether you're a world-saving ghost hunter or not.

Also, it seems to me, especially since S7, that Dean embraces his issues more; especially his grief and his depression (judging by, for example, his admitting to Ness in 7x12 Time After Time that he's not sure of what he does and why he does it anymore. He clearly thinks about these things, and is more comfortable - which is, of course, nowhere near comfortable enough - with expressing them. In, let's say, S2 he put a front for everybody, including himself. He doesn't seem like he denies his emotions like that any longer.)

But yes, I agree that he's given up on everything more than ever before. :(

/Jeez, that got away from me...