Flutiebear: Rambling My Way Through Thedas

runawaymarbles:

Hello, citizens of tumblr. This is part 1/whatever of the Supernatural rewatch-and-review-and-analyze-the-fuck-out-of project. 

“Endings are hard,” Chuck will say in Swan Song [5x22]. Well, beginnings are hard too. They have to be able to set up characters and plot and theme, and do it all in a non-infodumpey way that makes you want to watch the next one. Supernatural’s pilot mostly does this.  

We start with the infamous night in Lawrence—and right away, we get a look at Dean’s relationship with his father. The moment John enters the room, Dean goes running to him. It’s cute, but in retrospect, it’s also an interesting character moment for both of them.  

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Is it… can it be…? A potential Great Season 1 Rewatch in the works?

OH DEAR LORD YES PLEASE

spn-rants:

If Cas doesn’t come back wearing something different besides that damned trench coat I am gonna scream.

Don’t get me wrong folks; I love that damned trench coat, and it gets me all excited like Dean when he sees it after Purgatory, but it has run it’s course and it has got to go. And if it doesn’t go, be best be wearing something else underneath it.

The thing is that the trench coat has, since the beginning, been the symbol of CASTIEL THE ANGEL. When Castiel is not being an “angel”, he doesn’t wear the trench coat. When it was Jimmy? No trench coat. Emmanuel? No trench coat. End!verse Cas? No trench coat. Crazy? Well, he was technically still an angel, but the scrubs underneath showed that he wasn’t all “there”, it wasn’t all “Cas” and it was a statement to his mental health and how much it had broken and deteriorated. So when he comes back out of Purgatory, all clean and “angelfied” by Naomi, HE HAS THE TRENCH COAT. And for once, it’s not a good thing.

I don’t know if there is a link to it, but Flutie specifically got me thinking about Cas’ wardrobe — or complete lack thereof. In the hospital, it signified many different things, but now he’s back and he has his old clothes. The trench coat and the business suit are meant to be like a “uniform”; this is what a soldier-of-the-Lord should wear, and Castiel does too. So he comes back from Purgatory and goes right back into his uniform get-up; not really that great of a sign, even if we all THINK it is. Like Dean, we all get excited; “Oh man, Cas is back, the angel is back, I’m so fucking happy to see him back”. But at what cost? 8x17 showed us that it wasn’t all hunky-dory having Castiel walking around, because he was being controlled by Heaven. His suit was still on and he was still stuck doing his duty.

But now, Castiel is FREE. He can do whatever the hell he wants. He doesn’t need a uniform because he’s no longer a soldier. He doesn’t have to wear his business suit at all; he can get a tux or a waist coat or a t-shirt at a Goodwill. He can be whatever he wants to be, if anything at all.

There’s also the practical point that everyone and their Aunt May is looking for Castiel right now, and that trench coat, let’s be honest, makes him stick out like a sore angelic thumb. It displaces him, how odd it is, that he wears it in 90 degree weather, or 20 degree weather. Trench coats are not the most “every day” of fashion attire. It’s not normal. Every angel and demon in this world and the next knows he’s the angel in the trench coat. If he’s going to hide effectively, he needs to leave it behind. Or, at the very least, not wear it in public.

So because of Cas’s newfound autonomy, and his now constant need to lay low, I will be MAJORLY upset if the writers don’t have Castiel wearing something… “different” when he comes back. He can still be an angel and damnit he can even have that stupid trench coat still, but they need something NEW. They need something fresh. And they need it to be something that symbolizes everything Cas is, was, and will become.

Perhaps there really is a reason he’s wearing a black shirt and coat in all the promotional stuff this season, and not just to look good…

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes, I think I’m just going to barf over my keyboard an endless stream of yeses.

Personally, I’d prefer it if he kept the trench — as it has always been both his armor and his identifier, what sets him apart from all the rest; plus, it’s a nice callback to Jimmy — but ditched the business suit, because only hive mind creatures need the control and anonymity the suit provides.

defilerwyrm:

OH BASICALLY THIS

Actually Anon I have to level with you: I do like it, or can at the very least tolerate it, under some very specific circumstances that are not all that often met. I’m picky, you see, and I’ll discuss those circumstances towards the end of this. As to why I DON’T like it (when I don’t like it), it basically breaks down into three categories in which it strikes me as wrong: canon evidence, fandom attitude, and personal experience.

First and foremost let’s clear some things up. I’m not going to make assumptions about how much you do or don’t know about BDSM but the average person really does not know jack shit about it, so first I’m gonna go over what exactly a sub is.

The obvious shit: it’s short for submissive, both referring to one who submits (noun, a sub) and the act of submitting (intransitive verb, to sub), and is half of the D/s (Dominance & submission) element of the overall BDSM family of kinks. It is an extreme form of power exchange – this is more than just one partner saying “We should do it like this” and the other going “Okay”. The extremity ranges from taking verbal commands and accepting punishment to complete objectification (see: Gor, or better yet don’t).

To sub or be a sub entails:

• Leaving sole decision-making privileges to another (the Dom/me).
• Attempting to anticipate your Dom/me’s desires and acting on them if permitted.
• Following your Dom/me’s orders.
• Accepting punishment when your Dom/me deems it necessary.
• Trusting your Dom/me to see to your needs & comfort with orders that will satisfy you both, by making certain s/he doesn’t cross your boundaries, and with aftercare.

THINGS THAT ARE NOT THE SAME AS SUBBING/BEING A SUB AND DO NOT IN & OF THEMSELVES INDICATE SUBMISSIVENESS:

• Being penetrated during sex.
• Giving oral sex.
• Being on one’s back during sex.
• Being passive during sex.
• Powerlessness.
• Being the little spoon.
• Cuddling.
• Not being a Dom/me (EGALITARIAN SEX EXISTS HOLY SHIT YOU DON’T SAY).
• Finding dominant or forceful personalities attractive.
• Being attentive to your partner’s needs, desires, and comfort.
• Being gentle during sex.
• Enjoying rough sex.
• Enjoying gentle sex (which isn’t exactly the same as being gentle).
• Being vocal during sex.
• Being quiet during sex.
• Enjoying degradation during sex.
• Enjoying spanking, bondage, or pain.
• Not being the one to initiate sex.
• Not being enthusiastic during sex.
• Trying to make sure your partner climaxes first.
• Being attractive.
• Acting, dressing, or appearing feminine.
• Mocking others while being physically assaulted.
• Holding still in a dangerous situation.
• ANY act of non-consensual violence or violation enacted on one’s person FULL STOP

It’s terribly simple and yet people keep fucking it up with their stupid-ass, wrong-headed assumptions. This will come up later. There might be a quiz. Strap in.

I’m writing this from the bottom of a beer. Just FYI. General content warnings: discussion of sexual assault, a lot of cussing, use of the general “you”, and Tom being aggressively, unapologetically contentious in general. You asked my opinion so I’m-a give it honestly, but not necessarily nicely. Because being a sub ain’t the same as being gentle.

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Every now and then, I get asked whether I think Dean is a sub or dom (or, once, a top or sub. Eek,). The question never fails to make me supremely uncomfortable, and defilerwyrm does an excellent job of explaining why.

jkateel:

It started with an anon:

I didn’t know if the anon was trolling me or not (probably though), but it got me thinking. Why I’ve argued that Supernatural should take the next step and include a canonical homosexual couple, I argued that from a societal/cultural point of view. But does it make sense economically? My hunch was yes, but as Sherlock Holmes would say, “Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” 

So I told Anon I’d get back to them (which became this meta), and they sent me another ask:

Which, completely ignoring all the terrible things they just said, it only spurred me on. So I decided to answer the question, “Would a homosexual couple on television make business sense?”

The answer, kiddos and anon, is yes.

First however, you have to read about the CW’s rating problems in Part 1.

After you read that, let me blow you away with math.

Kidding. There is math involved, but also graphs and charts that prove my point that Dean/Cas would be fantastic for ratings.

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omg, jay. Girl, the former editor in me is getting the chills. This is some A+ sleuthing.

Everybody, read this. Now.

jkateel:

It started with an anon:

I didn’t know if the anon was trolling me or not (probably though), but it got me thinking. Why I’ve argued that Supernatural should take the next step and include a canonical homosexual couple, I argued that from a societal/cultural point of view. But does it make sense economically? My hunch was yes, but as Sherlock Holmes would say, “Never theorize before you have data. Invariably, you end up twisting facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.” 

So I told Anon I’d get back to them (which is this meta here), and they sent me another ask:

Which, completely ignoring all the terrible things they just said, it only spurred me on. So I decided to answer the question, “Would a homosexual couple on television make business sense?”

The answer, kiddos and anon, is yes.

First, however, we gotta talk about ratings and CW’s ratings problem.

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If you thought Sera Gamble was a terrible showrunner, you need to read this. Few showrunners are actually able to increase ratings among the targeted demographic for a show in its seventh season AND moved to the Friday night “death slot”.

But that’s only one small part of a really fascinating meta from an editorial perspective — one with which I, as a former editor myself, concur 110%.