Again, some rambling about Supernatural

Or, in that case, about a post which is about Supernatural. (edit: well, not exclusively, the post has gotten longer than I thought, as I developed some of my feelings about Dean’s sexuality)

I came across one of its comments on Tumblr, an amazing comment (which I’ll link at the end), and I wanted to see what it was replying to.

Well, Castiel forbid, I did not expect this. The post is about the possibility of a bisexual Dean, and the author apparently doesn’t take it seriously. She acknowledges some of the arguments used in favour of the bisexual!Dean theory, but frankly, I find the general tone of the post quite narrow-minded.

What strikes me the most is how Dean being attracted to men would be “too far” from the writers, TWICE.

Are [the writers] pushing it too far, or do fans just have an overactive imagination?

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This season has really flirted with the idea that perhaps Dean takes his bromances a bit too far.

The interesting thing that it says, though, is that even that type of viewers (as opposed as the fandom I usually see, aka tumblr people, aka mostly slash shippers from what I can see) are starting to wonder about this.

There are plenty of interesting comments on that post, including that one (here is a version you can reblog on tumblr). And here are some choice words.

When Sam is threatened with sexual or sexualised assault it’s from women; when it’s Dean, his attackers are men. NB: THIS SUGGESTS NOTHING ABOUT HIS ORIENTATION. This is instead a conscious decision on the part of the writers to subvert and attack Dean’s masculinity because he’s far, far more defensive about it.

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There have been numerous moments suggesting Dean isn’t straight either not played for laughs or, when played for laughs, containing elements that subvert the “lol jk no homo” air as early as the first half of season one. There are plenty of metanalyses examining these moments; they aren’t hard to find, so I challenge anyone who wants to claim that there’s “no evidence” that Dean is bi to put forth a tiny modicum of effort to put aside your “straight until explicitly, painstakingly proven otherwise and btw there’s only straight and gay nothing else” brainwashing for a moment and do some reading (gosh sorry was that bitter?).

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Again, these are things that Dean would have been pressured to repress both by a) his alpha-male, likely-homophobic father and b) the homophobic, misogynistic, bisexual-erasing culture of the underclass; but in the wake of his father’s death he’s finally been growing into his own person rather than what John expected him to be, and he’s toed the waters here and there.

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Buddy if you think Ben Edlund puts anything in his scripts by accident you haven’t been paying attention to his writing at all.

I agreed with most of what is in this comment, and I learnt some stuff (about Dean’s name, for example, and his alias in 8.13) so I really recommend reading it, regardless of your own opinion about Dean.

What irks me in some other comments is how some people seem to think that an outed bisexual Dean would be a different character. I don’t get why.

Others reply that they don’t see Dean being gay, reminding readers of some heterosexual reactions and relationships. Well, on that we agree, but being attracted to guys doesn’t make a man exclusively gay. There was something about when Dean looked uncomfortable when the Dean/Sam cosplayers told him and Sam they were partners. First I think he was uncomfortable because it was akin to Wincest, and that is enough to make someone uncomfortable, second, I imagine than if he really were a closeted bisexual, facing an out and proud same-sex couple can make you feel uncomfortable too. And honestly, with an up-bringing like his, even being straight, he could be slightly uncomfortable around them.

And again (although last time I was angry about this, it was about Teen Wolf), people thinking that Destiel shippers (as well as Wincest and Denny shippers) do it for/because of sexual fantasies. I DO NOT GET THAT. When you ship a male and a female character, no one says that, I’ve never read anything about the Caskett shippers being teased about their sexual fantasies, for fuck’s sake. Why can’t they understand that we love the whole relationship we can see ? Being a shipper is not about sexual fantasies, it’s about feeling a special chemistry between characters and wanting them to act on it to be happy. Of course it is used in many fanfics with sexual content, but that is not the reason, that is a consequence.
Also, there is someone saying that we see Dean as gay or bi so our pairings become possible (and I am phrasing this nicely). Well newsflash, I do think he’s bisexual, and I realized lately I don’t actually ship Destiel, I only “see it”. I like it because I think Dean has feelings for Cas, and I want Dean to be happy, but like I already said in a previous post, I don’t really care if it happens. I’m far from being obsessed about this pairing, I prefer Dean/Lisa. So I think that pretty much destroys her point. (the whole comment makes me angry, although the end is kind if funny, because it almost says more in favour of Dean having feelings for Benny)(I mean, they aren’t a lot of people who you can consider your family so fast, some of them being those you have romantic feelings for)(but seriously, you can root for one of the brothers without bashing the other).
It’s funny how they say Dean doesn’t have feelings for Cas and then say that Dean forgiving Cas is “bothersome”, well, what kind of people do you forgive even when it is unreasonable ? Answer : people you love. And Dean also trusts Benny irrationally, right ? *sigh* So these people notice it, and they choose to be angry about it rather than try and understand. Maybe we’re wrong, but at least we are trying to put pieces together instead of just be mad at it.
And to react to other comments, I don’t think he ever had sexual intercourse with another man, we don’t need that to think he’s bisexual, and we don’t need that to think he has romantic feelings towards a man/angel/vampire.

I’m not ditching the bromance possibilities. I don’t ship every male friendship that comes under my eyes (far from that) and I’m a sucker for bromance stories, but  from what I’ve seen, I honestly think that Dean has or had romantic feelings towards Cas and Benny (at different levels) whether or not he realized it. That is precisely what I think has changed in this season. The writers used the “gay jokes” differently, and they were some non-funny things that left me to think that Dean was thinking about it for real. I think that it could be a part of why Benny was here at all. We have a new post-Purgatory, almost reborn, Dean, and even though he is “purified”, he might need an actual reason to wake himself up, even though Destiel. I really see him as a starter, but not as viable relationship in any way (and I say that regardless of the fact that I think he’s going to die).
So my thought, again, is that Dean has changed, he is more himself than ever, about a lot of things, and I don’t see why his sexuality wouldn’t be one of those things he finally comes to terms with. It totally fits the story, at that point, and I don’t think it would feel as forced from the fandom if it happened. Oh and it certainly would not be a problematic change of characterization since the feeling he’s bi is based on his present and past behaviour, not on our “sexual fantasies”.

And now I notice a follow-up comment from the same Tom as the double-comment I already quoted.

What more. I don’t know. I’ll probably read some more of those comments, but I’m too tired to react to them here and the post is already very long and messy. What’s your opinion about Dean ? Do you think it could happen ? Do you think it would make sense in the story ?