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Supernatural and the b-word
May. 25th, 2008 02:16 pmAdmittedly, I'm not much bothered by casual use of the word "bitch". But, I understand other people are, and I guess, more than anything I tag it as a politeness thing. It's usually not nice to call people bitches, and it's unnecessary. So lately, I've been much more a tourist in the land of Supernatural fan discussion than someone there for work.
I was surprized, though, by how horribly classist both sides of the debate sounded, and that feeling was compounded by my belief that the Winchesters are not working class.
Their pre-event house provides disproves that notion. Dean wasn't present in the nursery, which suggests a home with at least 3 bedrooms. The nursery was decorated with nursery-specific items, meaning even if they were Dean's leftovers, the was adequate money available at Dean's birth to buy nursery items, and there was adequate money to buy new age-appropiate furnishings as he grew. This isn't always the case in working class homes.
Pops Winchester, pre-events, had the education and social skills to hold a job that provided income enough for that at-least 3-bedroom home, and to feed and clothe and etc., a family of four. Sure, mom likely contributed, and if that's not the case (as explained by episodes I haven't seen yet), I'm eat my serving of crow--grilled, please. ETA: see comments below. Even post-event, the Winchesters prove they are able to gain (eta: or keep) items of value (a classic car, a college education as two examples)and maintain them. They are *choosing* a depressed income in order to chase higher goals. This is a much, much different existence than the paycheck to paycheck living of working or lower classes.
Obviously, through choice or not, the Winchesters' class standing has fallen. But I really hope no one is seriously taking a message of 'as the money goes, so does the class/core values/basic manners' out of that. And, I won't even go into the theory that rudeness and misogyny are rampant across all income classes.
To me, this is an issue of permissiveness. Dean gets away with calling females nasty names. There is no female characters to stop or chastise him. And to overdose on meta, not only does Dean live in culture that allows him to say and get away having said "bitch", Supernatural's writers/producer's/network live in a culture that lets them get away with using words like "bitch". And while I haven't yet seen the season in which Dean steady drops the b-word, so I can't comment on whether or not it's acceptable use, I can comment on the CW network.
Recently, CW dropped its #1-rated show, Smackdown, because it wanted to focus on the young, female demographic. Dean calls women rude names, but in theory he doesn't gain anything from it-- well, fiscally anyway. CW allows the use of rude names, then expects viewship and earnings to follow. I'd rather deal-- in my life-- with a jerk I can confront or ignore, than false courting by a corporation.
I was surprized, though, by how horribly classist both sides of the debate sounded, and that feeling was compounded by my belief that the Winchesters are not working class.
Their pre-event house provides disproves that notion. Dean wasn't present in the nursery, which suggests a home with at least 3 bedrooms. The nursery was decorated with nursery-specific items, meaning even if they were Dean's leftovers, the was adequate money available at Dean's birth to buy nursery items, and there was adequate money to buy new age-appropiate furnishings as he grew. This isn't always the case in working class homes.
Pops Winchester, pre-events, had the education and social skills to hold a job that provided income enough for that at-least 3-bedroom home, and to feed and clothe and etc., a family of four. Sure, mom likely contributed, and if that's not the case (as explained by episodes I haven't seen yet), I'm eat my serving of crow--grilled, please. ETA: see comments below. Even post-event, the Winchesters prove they are able to gain (eta: or keep) items of value (a classic car, a college education as two examples)and maintain them. They are *choosing* a depressed income in order to chase higher goals. This is a much, much different existence than the paycheck to paycheck living of working or lower classes.
Obviously, through choice or not, the Winchesters' class standing has fallen. But I really hope no one is seriously taking a message of 'as the money goes, so does the class/core values/basic manners' out of that. And, I won't even go into the theory that rudeness and misogyny are rampant across all income classes.
To me, this is an issue of permissiveness. Dean gets away with calling females nasty names. There is no female characters to stop or chastise him. And to overdose on meta, not only does Dean live in culture that allows him to say and get away having said "bitch", Supernatural's writers/producer's/network live in a culture that lets them get away with using words like "bitch". And while I haven't yet seen the season in which Dean steady drops the b-word, so I can't comment on whether or not it's acceptable use, I can comment on the CW network.
Recently, CW dropped its #1-rated show, Smackdown, because it wanted to focus on the young, female demographic. Dean calls women rude names, but in theory he doesn't gain anything from it-- well, fiscally anyway. CW allows the use of rude names, then expects viewship and earnings to follow. I'd rather deal-- in my life-- with a jerk I can confront or ignore, than false courting by a corporation.
