I want to start with saying that I love the TV show "Supernatural." If I'm home, I watch it every Wednesday that its showing; I refer to Dean Winchester as my spirit animal and would love to have a meet and greet with every single person from the show. I appreciate the cinematography and the storylines written, but it has come to my attention that the writers often use Sam and Dean’s hyper-masculinity to overshadow all feminine or homosexual tones that can be seen in the show.
First, I’d like to clarify what I mean by hyper-masculine. Sam and Dean Winchester are gun toting, flannel, denim and leather wearing, beer and whiskey drinking, work boot donning, classic car driving manly men hunters who are “saving people, hunting things’… you know, “the family business.” They’ve had their fair share of one night stands with one-dimensionally presented female characters and there has been the occasional female objectification. In short, the Winchesters embody what most people think of when they hear the term “manly man”. While the Winchester brothers have always been very masculine, the writers seem to have gone overboard the past few seasons as if the notion of Dean’s bisexuality became more prevalent and as more and more female characters are killed.
If you’re a fan of "Supernatural," you've definitely heard of the ‘Destiel’ ship—the idea that Dean and Castiel are in love. Not only is it prevalent in online platforms like Tumblr and Twitter, it was even addressed in the season 10 episode titled “Fan Fiction”. While there are fans who do not believe in ‘Destiel,’ it’s hard to deny the homosexual undertones throughout the series. These undertones are included but not limited to the first episode where Dean flirts with police officers (“We talkin’, like, misdemeanor kind of trouble or, uh, squeal like a pig trouble?”), his flirting with Castiel (longing looks, “Well Cas, not for nothing, but the last person who looked at me like that… I got laid.”), the assertion of his arguably nonexistent heterosexuality (“Is that bustyasianbeauties.com? Word of the wise, platinum membership, worth every penny.”), his attraction to other characters (Doctor Sexy) and let us not forget Gabriel (then known as The Trickster) trying to bargain with Dean by offering him a hoard of beautiful women…and one man laying in bed who Dean checks out by lifting up the covers. In addition to all of those situations, there is a lot of subtext suggesting Dean’s bisexuality because, let’s face it, you can’t spell subtext without s-e-x. I could write a whole other article on this alone. In the end, though, the writers continue to pair Dean with stereotypical women and attempt to increase the already overflowing state of his masculinity, as if to say, “What? A masculine "manly man" liking other men? That doesn’t actually happen! Never!”
The writers continue to shove the masculinity of the boys down fan's throats with the lack of female representation in the cast. From episode one, the writers of Supernatural began to kill all relevant female characters and continued to in later episodes with other female characters, relevant or otherwise. While many of these deaths had major impact and were arguably necessary for the plot, why do the writers continue to kill almost every female character in the show? Seeing that a majority of the fanbase is women, wouldn’t having at least one live female character to identify with be an excellent idea? Apparently the writers of Supernatural don’t feel that way, as it seems they believe that women only want manly men on the show.
In season seven of the show, character Charlie Bradbury was introduced. She was a nerdy lesbian who viewers loved, the little sister that the Winchesters always needed. There was finally some estrogen in a male dominated cast, and quite frankly she was a badass. Charlie’s role was short lived as her death in season 10 shocked and angered viewers everywhere (I know I cried). Then there was Rowena, who was introduced in season ten as the villainous witch and became another fabulous female character. She was the new character everyone loved to hate and hated to love. Sadly, the writers made another poor move, killing her and leaving us with the testosterone filled characters of Crowley, Castiel, Sam, Dean and Lucifer. Again, while these deaths were central to furthering the plot, killing off all of the female characters and leaving us with overly masculine Winchesters can leave much to be desired by many viewers.
Lastly I’d like to talk about Amara. After killing all other female characters that are important to the plot, we are left with Amara, the human embodiment of the Darkness who is in love with Dean. While she may want to destroy the world, her main focus seems to have turned to making Dean love her back. She is stereotypically beautiful with long brown hair in a low cut black dress. While evil is often portrayed as taking the form of that which you desire most (example, Lucifer as Jess when confronting Sam) Amara’s over sexualization increases the hyper-masculinity present. In addition, it is often asked why an all powerful being—God’s sister—needs a man by her side? Answer: She doesn’t. The romance the writers are trying to make happen between Dean and Amara is unnecessary and unwanted by the audience. It seems as thought the writers are trying the get viewers away from the thought of Destiel and a bisexual Dean as it becomes stronger in the fanbase.
Do I still love Supernatural? Yes. Do I occasionally enjoy the masculinity the Winchesters portray? Yes. Will I still watch it despite these things? Maybe, but the writers seem to be using their masculinity as a cover for homosexual and feminine tones. We need to ask ourselves, why do the writers feel that having characters who stray from the norm is shameful enough to avoid? I will admit that if this continues, I may have to leave my favorite boys behind.
