Character musings, Sheppard and Dean
Mar. 29th, 2007 03:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mari4212Run and hide, I'm meta-ing!
So, I've been mainlining my new fandom, Supernatural, for about a week or so. Plenty of time for me to inhale a large portion of the canon and start devouring fanfic. And now my first bit of delving into the text is done, and I can start thinking and reflecting on it, especially my new-found liking for Dean Winchester. That, coupled with a discussion/argument I got into last Friday about why I don't like John Sheppard that much, (blasphemy, I know) has me back on character archetypeish thoughts.
I mentioned a while back that my favorite hero archetype tends to be what I call the dutiful soldier, the character that knows what he's walking into, knows why he's doing so, and chooses to do it, despite what the cost to himself might be. Examples for easy reference to understand what I mean would be characters like Faramir, Prequel-era Obi-Wan (to an extent), or Marcus from B5. They're normally steadfast, loyal, devoted to duty, and with a strong conscience which normally leads them to do their assigned roles, and sometimes forces them to break with said roles and tasks. And they make me melt like no tommorow, normally. (And obviously, though I'm using the masculine pronouns here for convenience/proper grammar's sake, this applies to any female heroines as well.)
And I think around that time I also mentioned how much I disliked cocky or arrogant characters. Personal preference, a character that is very brash or arrogant just rubs me the wrong way most of the time, and normally reminds me of the guys that drove me nuts in high school. As I recall, we had a rather large population of guys who thought that because they were cool and well-off, everyone had to like them. I tried my best to ignore their presence, with mixed results.
With that being said, I think it's somewhat obvious why I tend to dislike Sheppard. For all of his good points, I think even his character's biggest fans will admit that he's rather cocky at times. Heck, for many of the people I've talked to, that's one of the main things they like about him. And even though his character is military, with strong loyalties to his team and his subordinates, he's very much the rebel. He does not obey orders if he does't come up with them himself. There's a prime example of that in Hot Zone, an episode that made me briefly want to steal Teyla's sticks and whack him upside the head. Because, really, being independent and decisive can be good traits, especially when you're on your own, but when his choices put everyone else in danger, they stop becoming good decisions. And like I said, rebel and I don't get along well.
So what about Dean? Because, boy, can that guy do cocky. I should normally be rather unimpressed by him. Instead, he's quite probably my favorite.
I think really, it's his incredible loyalty, to his father, his brother, and his chosen mission in life. Out of the three Winchesters, he's the only one who really seems to have chosen and accepted their role as hunters for what it is. John and Sam are in it for revenge, to find out what happened to their SOs. Dean's in it to save people, and if he finally stops the demon, he'll be happy, but he'd still keep hunting. Because even if the demon goes, there are still other things out there hurting other people, other families. So he's a protector by choice, loyal to a fault (and oh, my Hufflepuff side is squeeing at that, Dean's a 'puff), and he's got a nurturing side, as is witnessed in the way that he's been taking care of his brother ever since the fire. Guh. Those three traits? Override my cockiness aversion. So while he can be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, and he'd probably drive me nuts if he were a person I was meeting in real life, I love him as a character.
So, I've been mainlining my new fandom, Supernatural, for about a week or so. Plenty of time for me to inhale a large portion of the canon and start devouring fanfic. And now my first bit of delving into the text is done, and I can start thinking and reflecting on it, especially my new-found liking for Dean Winchester. That, coupled with a discussion/argument I got into last Friday about why I don't like John Sheppard that much, (blasphemy, I know) has me back on character archetypeish thoughts.
I mentioned a while back that my favorite hero archetype tends to be what I call the dutiful soldier, the character that knows what he's walking into, knows why he's doing so, and chooses to do it, despite what the cost to himself might be. Examples for easy reference to understand what I mean would be characters like Faramir, Prequel-era Obi-Wan (to an extent), or Marcus from B5. They're normally steadfast, loyal, devoted to duty, and with a strong conscience which normally leads them to do their assigned roles, and sometimes forces them to break with said roles and tasks. And they make me melt like no tommorow, normally. (And obviously, though I'm using the masculine pronouns here for convenience/proper grammar's sake, this applies to any female heroines as well.)
And I think around that time I also mentioned how much I disliked cocky or arrogant characters. Personal preference, a character that is very brash or arrogant just rubs me the wrong way most of the time, and normally reminds me of the guys that drove me nuts in high school. As I recall, we had a rather large population of guys who thought that because they were cool and well-off, everyone had to like them. I tried my best to ignore their presence, with mixed results.
With that being said, I think it's somewhat obvious why I tend to dislike Sheppard. For all of his good points, I think even his character's biggest fans will admit that he's rather cocky at times. Heck, for many of the people I've talked to, that's one of the main things they like about him. And even though his character is military, with strong loyalties to his team and his subordinates, he's very much the rebel. He does not obey orders if he does't come up with them himself. There's a prime example of that in Hot Zone, an episode that made me briefly want to steal Teyla's sticks and whack him upside the head. Because, really, being independent and decisive can be good traits, especially when you're on your own, but when his choices put everyone else in danger, they stop becoming good decisions. And like I said, rebel and I don't get along well.
So what about Dean? Because, boy, can that guy do cocky. I should normally be rather unimpressed by him. Instead, he's quite probably my favorite.
I think really, it's his incredible loyalty, to his father, his brother, and his chosen mission in life. Out of the three Winchesters, he's the only one who really seems to have chosen and accepted their role as hunters for what it is. John and Sam are in it for revenge, to find out what happened to their SOs. Dean's in it to save people, and if he finally stops the demon, he'll be happy, but he'd still keep hunting. Because even if the demon goes, there are still other things out there hurting other people, other families. So he's a protector by choice, loyal to a fault (and oh, my Hufflepuff side is squeeing at that, Dean's a 'puff), and he's got a nurturing side, as is witnessed in the way that he's been taking care of his brother ever since the fire. Guh. Those three traits? Override my cockiness aversion. So while he can be rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, and he'd probably drive me nuts if he were a person I was meeting in real life, I love him as a character.
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no subject
Date: 2007-03-30 01:27 am (UTC)When I first watched Supernatural, I was torn between calling Dean and Gryff or a snake. Really. He was such a freaking Lion he drove me batty. Sam was the Puff. However, as the first season evolved...
Dean is the quintessential Hufflepuff. He's steadfast, and loyal, plus, he's got this "If I just keep going, I'll get through it" attitude.
Sam, however? I'm thinking more and more he's a snake. A cute snake, with woobieness and a gentle heart, but a snake nonetheless. He wants revenge, and he's really not worried about what he's got to put people through to get to it. And even through season two he shows more and more snake-ishness.
John though? Him, I loathe. He's got all the bad Gryff and Snake traits without any redeeming qualities at all. And he's using his sons as well. I'm sorry but using your children is just one thing I won't tolerate.
Hi, I'm Cat and I've rambled until I lost my point. If you see it, please to be returning it.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-01 12:17 am (UTC)Sam definitely has a lot of Snake tendencies, but I'm bad at diagnosing Slytherins, so I can't slot him there perfectly.
And yes, John Winchester drove me up a wall sideways. Partially because of how he treated Sam and Dean, the other part because he put them in such a bad position in their childhood. Hunting is dangerous, and apparently he was leaving Dean alone in charge of Sam from the age of 8/9. What would have happened had John not come back from one of his solo trips? Would Dean have known what to do if John went permanently missing? The best thing that could have happened in that case would have been for CPS to have found them before too long, but even then, CPS is focused on finding placements for the individual children, and would have probably split Sam and Dean up. Which, more than anything else, would have destroyed Dean, since his entire world was his father and his brother, and he'd have lost both at once. Sam would have been young enough to adapt, but still. And that's the best thing that could have happened. I don't want to even think about what the worst could have been. (Although, really, John Winchester never returning from a hunt would make for an excellent story, because of all those possible ramifications)
He loved his wife, yeah, I get it. He wants to get rid of the thing that killed her, and to stop other things like it from hurting people, great. But he put his children in massive amounts of danger. Duty to the living takes precedence over duty to the dead, sorry John.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-30 08:12 am (UTC)(John improved a bit for me in season 3, hence the wasn't. Though, 'not overly' probably still fits; aka, nothing compared to the majority of fandom.)
I remember reading your archetypes post and 'hmmmmming', a lot. It actually made me go analyse the various types of characters I like which probably helps out a bit too, with Dean.
I like the Dutiful Hero a lot too (though, I think I tend to call them more The Soldier), particularly, if they're a little bit darker, a little more broken. I like it when they fight for a cause, but often even more, when they fight for their families (biological or created) - they definitely have to have some sort of loyalty in there. And Dean falls under this, but I think it's more another aspect of him, that has me going.
It's what I call The Mask. Often sarcastic, brash, joke-cracking, sassy, a little cocky, but who's actually rather vulnerable underneath. Dean falls under this. Vala does, Danny from Without a Trace does, and it's how I sometimes read Tony and Ziva too. And this, coupled with the soldier thing, has me absolutely gone.
Which, really, brings up the question of why I don't (didn't) like John. Or why Rodney isn't quite so high-up on my list because he has a bit of that too - though, it's definitely a different sort to John's. And I... don't have an answer for that.
(I think I just like broken people. On TV, not in real life.)
no subject
Date: 2007-03-31 11:51 pm (UTC)(Oh, and hi back.)
I get bored, and my mind goes into Joseph Campbell's hero story places, complete with archetypal analysis. My brain is seriously warped. So it's nice to know I'm dragging someone else into my insanity, because being nuts is so much more fun with company.
Yeah, the mask behavior pattern, the exterior held out to deflect interest or attention away from the vulnerable inner self, is fun, isn't it? And it does so much for the characters.
I think for me, the reason Sheppard doesn't work with that is because his mask is too perfect. There are no real cracks in his behavior, until he turns dark and angry, and then I'm normally too freaked out by him to want to look further.
Dean though, especially around Sam and his father, lets you see a lot more than you normally would. He still puts up a front, but he drops it more around them than he does elsewhere.
(and then there's the episode with the shtriga, where young!Dean gives young!Sam the last of the cereal, and I just melted into a little pile of goo at it.)