veneredirimmel:

I dislike mightly that they even attempt to even try to say that Dean’s just a killer (as opposed to who? Sam? Cas?). Because the ‘tell’ fails completely to show it. The same kind of violence we’ve seen Dean commit has been shown both in Sam and Cas’s actions without any commentary either in the show or in fandom. On the contrary, often I see people remark on Dean’s violence and ignore completely Sam or Cas’s violence or dismiss it as ‘badassery’. (I believe it’s about a deep seated classismbopth in fandom AND in the writing room – Sam and Cas are considered learned, soft, emphatetic, high class. Dean’s considered the brute, low class ignorant but this is a tangent I can’t follow now). 

Now, I know that I’m confusing two different issues here – or maybe even three, so I’m going to try to untangle them – hopefully.

So, I do believe that the various remark about Dean being just a killer, even for as much as they’ve been proved wrong over the course of 12 seasons, are about Dean’s abuse, traumas and self-perception and the result of never having been allowed to be a kid. Dean’s been raised as a blunt instrument by John and even though Dean wants to believe that he is way more than – and we know, we have seen him being more than that –  being a blunt instrument was something John imposed on him at a very young age. Dean is left reeling. That accusation from Ketch hits something very deep in Dean – and rightfully so, because Dean is still working through so many issues and in the line of work of hunting, a violent world, the process will probably never end. 

My issue, here, is not with Dean’s character: this internal tension is what keeps Dean real and grounded and true to himself. He asks himself questions about what and WHO he wants to be. So, you know, that’s good.

But, and here the writing issue interfer and I don’t even know where to start, because the show uses this device only with Dean but rarely, if not ever questions it for Cas and Sam (speaking of mains here, of course), so I’m left with the weird impression that violence = bad only when it’s Dean as if he is the only one who should be afraid of becoming a killer. The end result, at least for me, is that I’ve started to see Dean as a more grounded and rounded character, and definitely more self-aware than the rest. But i don’t think this was the intention? 

I’ll try to explain, if the writing insists on telling me that Sam is less violent than Dean but shows me Sam being as violent as Dean without having Sam reflect on what it says about him – what kind of charater does that make Sam? I often have no idea what to make of this (and tbh, the same happens with Cas). 

Fandom sort of reflects this kind of weirdness in the writing, because I rarely see Sam or Cas’s violence debated – or maybe it is and it never crosses my sight? It’s all circular because the characters don’t question themselves and for this reason, fandom seems not to question it either? 

 I will admit also, that it seems that the show tends to focus on a different aspect of their character (their tendency to justify the means for the ends/for the greater good) so maybe because i don’t see a real internal tension in the characters portrayal or the writing about this huge aspect of them, I end being disappointed. I would love if the justification for violence for the greater good, to obtain a result that often Sam and Cas use would be questioned more both from the writers and the characters, but it seems we’re not there yet. IDk maybe the BMol are the a way to question this tendency that Sam, for example has, of justifying and rationalizing his choices and avoiding looking at them for what they really are  but eh, even as I write it I don’t believe it. I’d like if it happened, tho, because, it seems to me that that’s kind of uncheked attitude is a way more steep slippery slope for ending as a mindless killer.