9x18 - the problem of subtext

[butterfly]

This is actually related to that “are the writers doing what I think they’re doing?” thought that I was talking about after 9x17. 

One of the things last night put a spotlight on is that the writers are very much aware of the Problem of Subtext.

 

Back in 9x10, with Gadreel & Abner, there was a clash of potential readings. The ‘bad guy’ (the douchy torturer angel at the start of the episode) characterizes Abner as Gadreel’s boyfriend. Abner (and then Gadreel) later use the term 'best friend’. Two readings that might be considered to be in conflict (though I will also note that there is nothing stopping a boyfriend from also being a best friend).

An audience that is predisposed to centralize and glorify heterosexuality while simultaneously dismissing potential queerness* will view those readings as in conflict (especially with the non-conflicted straight-reading marriage on view) and dismiss the word 'boyfriend’ as carrying any meaning, erasing it entirely from the text and effectively pretending it never happened.

The same thing also frequently happens regarding Dean and Cas’s subtext on the show or any subtext re: Dean being bisexual. It gets dismissed because the 'straight’ reading is given more weight. Something that is treated as sexual attraction when it’s directed from Dean to a lady (ex. that gif from S1) is 'oh, he was just happy to see his friend’ when directed towards Cas in mid-S8. Despite being near-identical looks and shifts of the body.

Or, say, every romantic trope used in S8 and S9 gets dismissed because 'Dean is a hetero’ (which is an exact quote I saw an anon use when talking to someone) and thus any evidence for a different point of view is disregarded and diminished. And, of course, dismissing all earlier hints towards queerness make any new hints equally dismissable. After all, the show has never suggested anything like that before! (not in a way that the viewer was willing to count)

It doesn’t make subtext not real, but it does complicate the issue of if subtext should remain subtext. And the writers do appear to be wrestling with that question within the text of the show itself.

* including all forms of queerness here, not just gay readings

 

 

 

 

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Original Post: the problem of subtext