Undisclosed
Desires: Supernatural and Network
Response to Sam/Dean Slash Fiction
By Allison Ross
In reading this week’s articles and
considering corresponding fanfictions, I was reminded of the CW’s Supernatural (2005-) which, in its
ten-plus-year run, has inspired extensive fan and slash fiction. This series features numerous “meta-episodes”
where various aspects of Supernatural fandom
are directly addressed by the show’s characters. By examining the phenomenon of slash fiction
and contemplating its subversive uses, in the context of two Supernatural episodes that diegetically
address fan culture, I hope to start a discussion around how fan fiction fits
into CW’s larger marketing strategies and vision for the show.
Shortly after the pilot episode of Supernatural aired, fan fictions
immediately began to surface, including a subversive fan narrative thread. This narrative had brothers Sam (Jensen
Ackles) and Dean (Jared Padalecki) Winchester engaged in a romance. While this romance was an example of the
larger genre of slash fiction, reminiscent of Mark Andrejevic’s writings on the
Kirk/Spock pairings, the backlash against this fan thread was much more
pronounced. First, this relationship
posited a homoerotic narrative in a show trading on highly codified normative
categories of gender and sexuality. The
two brothers are pumped-up eye candy types, one almost constantly seen chasing
women while the other is defined primarily by his desire for revenge after the
death of his girlfriend. Perhaps more
shocking, though, was the fact that, within the show, they are brothers. The producers of discussion sites around
Sam/Dean acknowledged the subversive aspects of this relationship, dubbing the
relationship incestuous. Though
potentially an oppositional viewing, as defined by Ellen Seiter, affording gay
male (and, according to the “wincest” boards, some female) viewers alternative
forms of pleasure while watching the show, this thread would seem to amount to
what Henry Jenkins calls “character rape.”
Episodes of Supernatural, most notably Season 6’s “The French Mistake” and
Season 10’s “Fan Fiction,” directly address fan fiction: characters respond to
fan narratives about their lives. In the
episode “The French Mistake,” Sam and Dean are placed on a movie set where Supernatural is being filmed, and forced
to “play” the actor versions of themselves – Jensen and Jared. In “researching” their characters, they
become aware of Sam Girls and Dean Girls, fan groupies around their characters. This relationship with fan culture thereby is
normalized – fantasy narratives of romance with the show’s leads is permissible
as long as it is the “right” (heterosexual, consistent with the show’s
diegesis) kind of desire. In the later
“Fan Fiction” episode, Sam and Dean discover a play that has been written about
their lives. The title “Fan Fiction” and
incidents within the episode allude to the reappropriation of storylines by
fans of a show, but, again, the diegetic logic of the show is maintained. The show’s creators, therefore, consistently
reappropriate fan culture in an effort to normalize it, but also curtail
potentially subversive readings by representing one, favored fan
interpretation.
In the context of this week’s readings, I
wondered about fan’s regulation of other fans versus the network’s regulation
of fans. It seems the two parties have a
contested relationship, with some fans trying to influence network programming
and others resisting it. I was curious
about the use of this tension as a marketing strategy, especially by the youth-oriented
channel CW. Does this acknowledgement
serve to inspire and encourage certain types of fan culture? Make alternative readings less
alternative? Or further marginalize
against the grain readings by making it clear that some online narratives will
be acknowledged and others ignored?
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