#dean studies

[annmariethrush]

Watching spn helps free you from the perils of media sometimes. Someone died? Eh, they’ll be back. They’re too important to be gone forever. Literal only exception to this after it became a rule Crowley. But living inside the narrative has got to be the craziest whiplash. Your brother died, mourn, grieve, he’s back. Your boyfriend dies. Again. Mourn, grieve. He’s back. AGAIN. Mourn, grieve, he’s back. YOUR MOM who has been DEAD SINCE YOU WERE LITERALLY A BABY????? Back. OOPS!! Dead again!!! BFF? Dead dead, buuuuuut, someone who looks EXACTLY LIKE HER and also sorta IS her??? here!! have fun! Ex fling? Back! But oops!!! You pissed off god! Now she’s not just dead, she’s GONE! And so is every single other fucking person on the planet!

Like, how are these poor boys supposed to process their trauma when it constantly gets negated or just made worse but easier to ignore by the world around them???? Chuck fr be running CIA levels of human experiments just to see how much the human mind can take before it simply shuts down or they kill themselves with alcohol poisoning. (Though tbh I have a theory that Chuck just turned off all the shut down features on their bodies— if Dean can cope with enough greasy food and liquor, that’s still coping to Chuck, liver failure and heart disease be damned)

#insanity #it’s called supernatural because of the supernatural toll on their mental health #Dean has the supernatural capacity for suffering #let them out #spn #supernatural #dean winchester #sam winchester #Castiel #crowley macleod #Dean studies #spn thesis #chuck shurley

[t00muchheart]

I just hit My Bloody Valentine on the ol’ rewatch and Famine’s exchange with Dean is never not one of the most gut-wrenching character moments for me. I’ve always seen it as saying “Dean doesn’t have a craving, he’s empty,” but I have some other thoughts this time around.

Famine feeds on people’s desires; he takes hunger and makes it into starvation, turns things from wants to needs in a way. Things that fill people up become poison to them through excess; appreciation and enjoyment becomes raw consumption.

And then there’s Dean, who Famine can’t seem to affect—because, according to Famine, there’s nothing inside him: he’s dead inside, and nothing can fill that void. Now, earlier in the episode, Dean claims to Cas that this doesn’t affect him because he feeds himself as needed—he satiates his own desires. That seems fully out of line with what Famine is saying, which implies that it’s bravado or arrogance, but I think there’s some truth in this, too: none of the excess that Famine is using with the rest of the town will work on him because Dean has tried it, and he knows for a fact that all it can be is a distraction from his bigger issues.

Which brings me to my thought about what Dean’s craving is. Throughout this episode, we see Dean turn down his normal desires. He doesn’t go out for Valentine’s day for alcohol or to pick up women, he doesn’t eat his burger. In other words, he’s rejecting those distractions from the dead-ness or nothingness he feels inside him—and I think it’s because that feeling itself is Dean’s craving. Over and over again, Dean has expressed exhaustion at the path they’re on, he has just spoken to Michael and been told that free will is a farce, and as instinctively as he rejects that, I think a part of him wants to give in, to let go. To stop fighting and let himself drown in the hopelessness. And this episode, he’s headed there as surely as Cas is headed toward filling himself with beef or Sam with demon blood, only he’s doing it by letting go of the things he uses as defenses against it, flimsy as they are.

To me, that’s what makes him such a good victim for Famine. Because Dean is ready to give in, I think, when Famine is talking to him. He’s helpless, Cas has been taken in, Sam isn’t there. It’s hopeless, and Dean can’t do anything to push it down. He doesn’t have buffers left.

And at the end of the epusode, after Sam takes Famine down, Dean is drinking again. But as surely as Sam’s exposure to the demon blood impacted him, Dean’s moment of giving into the hopelessness got to him, and we see it in that haunting final scene, where he prays, begs for help from above, because that hopelessness was brought further forward than he usually lets it be, and he can’t quite push it back down.

#spn #supernatural #dean winchester #spn meta #dean studies #dean meta #dean winchester character study #dean winchester meta #my bloody valentine #spn 5x14 #supernatural meta

[sailorsally]

#dean winchester #god i think about this at least 3 times a week #spn #destiel #supernatural #dean studies #deano #sally blogs

[destiel-wings]

Dean Winchester & hug dynamic analysis

I was thinking about how whenever Dean hugs someone he's almost always the one hugging the other and how this links to his psychological trauma of always being the caretaker of people, making himself bigger to protect them.

Because that's how Dean sees himself, as a shield for others, and then I thought about how Cas actually is the shield, and he's HIS SHIELD, specifically, the only one who's really there to protect HIM, which is why it hits so much when we see this:

The way Cas wraps his arms around him, trying to protect him with his whole body--that he'd use as a shield and give up in a second if he could spare him from any pain and save him.

(for context: Dean was about to go use the soul bomb on Amara there, it was a suicide mission)

Bobby is another one that hits, he hugs him as the big hugger because he's his father, he loves him and he's actually here to protect him (and Dean LETS him -barely, but he lets him *and Cas* - in a way that he doesn't let Sam)

I watched a compilation of Sam & Dean hugs to check if i was right about it, but it's almost always Dean the big hugger with Sam, except when he's about to die or Sam sees him alive again after losing him.

Even then, Dean mostly tries to hug Sam as the big hugger anyway, with at least one arm, like a way to comfort him, making him feel protected, like his body language is saying "I'm here, I'm okay, I'm still strong, i can still protect you" (because their real father failed and Dean thinks it's his job).

He rarely lets himself be the little one hugged with Sam, unless he's barely conscious. Which is why it kills me so much more now that in this moment (s14, when Dean was going to lock himself in the Ma'lak box cause he was possessed by Michael) and Sam has a desperate breakdown and punches him (to stop him) he forcefully hugs him as the little hugger, the way Dean always kept him, like a way of saying "I still need you to protect me, please don't do this to yourself".

In the scene below he gives Sam his blessing to do a dangerous (possibly suicidal) mission, and one of his arms is down, but the other one tries to stay up--he's forcing himself to do it and he struggles because he still wants to protect him, but (as the seasons progress) he slowly becomes more prone to let go.

So in this view the hug dynamic becomes an indicator of how Dean sees Sam (and himself) and his protector role, how adult and self sufficient he considers Sam, and how much he lets people around him take care of him, lowering his walls and letting himself be hugged.

This is also why i think hugs from characters like Garth or Charlie are so special, because they're just like us: they see Dean and they just know that he needs to be hugged a lot, and that he's not used to it, so they just go for it-- and it's so normal and kind and spontaneous that Dean's just not used to it-- he doesn't know how to respond (especially with Garth, at the beginning, but as the seasons progress, he learns to, and he even initiates the hug eventually).

I love the hugs where they're 50/50 (one arm up, one arm down both), feels like they're equals, both taking care of each other. I feel like with Sam and Dean, this indicates a healthier dynamic, because Dean lets go a little of the role that was imposed to him and manages to see Sam as the strong individual that he is. But the same applies to 50/50 hugs with other characters, like with Cas, where I feel like it testifies how equals they feel in terms of being fighters, there's a show of respect of each other's strength that transpires by the gesture (which is even more astounding considering that Cas is literally a powerful angel).

And just to end on a destiel note, I'd like to note the possessiveness and protectiveness of Dean (rightfully so) whenever he finds Cas after he thought he had lost him, and how that translates into his body/hug language:

#dean winchester #spn #dean winchester character study #spn analysis #dean winchester analysis #dean winchester & hugs #dean studies #destiel #deancas #body language #hugs #dean winchester hugs #castiel #sam winchester #sam & dean #sam & dean dynamics #dean x cas #psychology #my thoughts #my interpretation #my analysis #spn gifs #dean winchester gifs #Youtube #long post #but it's mostly many gifs #no that's not true i also wrote a lot (but it's little paragraphs in between more gifs than the mobile app allows) #(I did it from the website to cheat) #(i hope it doesn't lag too much)

[solarmidnight]

Supernatural: Dean is in heaven, a better place. He gets to drive around for forty years waiting for Sam to show! Isn't that great? Perfect ending for him! 😊

Dean, the very moment people took their eyes off him:

#supernatural #dean winchester #destiel #castiel #sam winchester #john winchester #the winchesters #dean studies #deancas

[vendettasfanfictioning]

Ok so. "Why does this sound like a goodbye?" Was fucking heartbreaking, right; we have the full-on uninterrupted eye contact, the head tilt, Dean's already open mouth twitching before the scene cuts to Cas' "I love you," like he had more to say, but Cas beats him to the punch. It's great, we love that. But for the dialogue to be sequenced that way, and to have Dean reply with, "don't do this, Cas."

I'm only just realizing how fucking insane it was. And sure, I might just be coping here, at the end of the day who fucking knows, but look at it. Think about it. Now let yourself feel it all over again.

It's Dean's death knocking on the door behind Cas, and it's Cas' death emerging behind Dean. Like this, they're directly facing their own demise—but they're too stuck on each other, in their moment, to give a damn. And then Dean doesn't say, "I love you too." He says, "don't do this."

He isn't disgusted or ashamed or put off in the slightest by Cas' confession, because if he is then why is he on the verge of tears? In what world would it make sense for him to want to cry after his best friend confessed to him, if the confession was something he did not want. He says don't do this here, don't do this to me now.

Even if, and that's the most unlikely if to ever exist, Dean did not reciprocate Cas' feelings—don't do this is still so fucking powerful. Because Dean's connected the dots, happiness [...] is in just saying it, and Cas said it, so where does that lead Dean? That's right, with Cas dead again, trying to save him again.

Don't do this. Don't die for me, don't love me only to die for me, don't love me at all, just stay with me.

Don't let me watch you die again and not even let me follow you—because, at the very least, that was a consolation. She's gonna kill you, which Dean knows that Billie knows will hurt him more than his own death, and then she's gonna kill me.

"Don't do this," was actually so fucking powerful, I don't know how it slipped past me until now...

#MORE destiel fuckery #supernatural #spn #destiel #castiel #dean winchester #deancas #15x18 #spn 15x18 #spn despair #dean studies #spn castiel #spn dean #spn meta #spn analysis #destiel angst

[dirtangeldean]

“don’t do this, cas” is not “don’t confess,” it’s “don’t leave me”

#da.txt #destiel #cas #deancas #dean #dean winchester #d.constructed #dean studies #bold text #italicized text #it reads: dont leave me

[castielsparkle]

☆ john winchester's journal | 1x12 - faith | 4x01 - lazarus rising | 12x19 - the future | 5x04 - the end | 6x20 - the man who would be king | john winchester's journal | 12x02 - mamma mia | john winchester's journal | 2x04 - children shouldn't play with dead things | john winchester's journal (x3) | 2x20 - what is and should never be | 6x20 - the man who would be king | supernatural season 5 disc 6 special feature commentary

#cas.art #dean winchester #dean web weaving #web weaving #web weave #spn web weaving #supernatural #art #spn art #parallels #supernatural web weaving #lgbt dean winchester #meta #john winchester #mary winchester #destiel #cas #spnedit #dean studies #john winchesters a+ parenting #Hi i hope this makes a lick of fucking sense #i hope the vision is there #do you guys see it. do you know what im Talking About #i havent slept for 19 hours #hope this is coherent and perhaps good<3 ily all #also thank u soo so so soo much ro for the john winchester god clip o7

[chappelroan]

Supernatural 3x10, "Dream a Little Dream of Me"

#dean winchester #deanwinchesteredit #supernaturaledit #spnedit #canonspngifs #dailyspngifs #spncreatorsdaily #inacatastrophicmind #becauseofthebowties #* #supernatural #dean studies

[angelsdean]

also like yea dean doing sex work (for survival) is fanon but there ARE enough little canon moments to subtextually support it so like, if you add those experiences along with his michael possession arc, hell trauma (repeatedly tortured and violated for 30 yrs), the way he's the only one out of sam and cas who has not slept w/ someone who was possessed, the way he has to psych himself up for sex, the way we canonically see / hear abt him having sex very little for a 15 yr period, the way he doesn't sleep w/ the sex worker who's clearly not into him or as into her job as she says she is, the way he know what roofies look like and to keep an eye out for them, the way it's implied he was drugged underage at a club......like, he would be thee most normal abt sex and respecting boundaries, asking for explicit consent AND he would NOT fuck if he were possessing someone else !! like go back to dean studies 101 if you disagree with any of this bc you do not know this guy

#vic.txt #dean studies #dean and sex #sex work mention #cw sa implied

[torturedpoetemotions]

The way people hate on the Mary arc of later seasons like "why did Dean have to lose his image of his mom" that was the POINT. Like??? That image he had of his mom was never real! Nobody is that perfect, least of all a traumatized hunter kid who was orphaned at 19 and made a desperate deal to save at least ONE person she lost so she wouldn't be completely alone in the world. The Mary Dean knew and idolized was a fiction cobbled together from grief and a four-year-old's hazy memories. She wasn't real!

And the loss of her is where it all started. All Dean's trauma. All of his hangups and issues and fears began the night Mary died. And to some extent I don't think healing was possible until he fully grappled with the fact that his mom was just a PERSON. Not a saint on a pedestal he should worship and sacrifice everything for and could never live up to.

Like!!! Sooooo many of Dean's Issues started with her death and the way John turned her into a martyred saint to justify his actions. Dean was mourning for a woman who didn't even exist and an idea of a perfect life he never would have had! His "perfect mom?" Their "perfect family?" Never. Existed. That's literally the point. He was never going to be able to love any life he could have if he was always comparing it to some impossible idea of perfection that was never even possible.

Sorry but Amara was right, he needed that false idol to be shattered.

#supernatural #dean winchester #mary winchester #mothermartyrsaint #dead mom trope #dean studies #best damn thing the show ever did and people would really rather mary stayed dead and sainted #like if that doesn't fully sum up the spn fandom's overall issue with women i don't know WHAT does

[lilyflxwers]

nothing hurts me more than s9 e7 of spn ‘bad boys’, john letting dean be punished for stealing bread, absolutely no child steals bread unless they’re hungry and they don’t know when their next meal is. the fact john leaves him there long enough to get a taste of normality and then arrives on the night of his prom, you cannot tell me that john winchester didn’t know full well that it was an important night for little fifteen year old dean. he turns up right as dean is about to leave. not in the morning or after it’s happened but the second that dean was about to experience being a teenager, all dressed up smart, ready to just be a kid, you cannot tell me that that was merely a coincidence. and you can see the second dean realises that this has all been a fucked up lesson about never getting attached. and him seeing sam hanging out the back window and knowing if he doesn’t sacrifice his childhood then sams will be sacrificed in its place.

#dean studies #sam studies #spn #john winchester #dean winchester #sam winchester #supernatural

[t00muchheart]

Dean Winchester went to hell and spent thirty years on the rack before agreeing to torture other souls for his freedom. Dean Winchester spent ten years putting souls on the rack and torturing them, Alistair’s lessons supplementing the skills his father taught him, twisting the lessons that taught him to save people and hunt things. Dean Winchester liked it because, after thirty years, he wasn’t being tortured himself, and because he was good at it. Dean Winchester was raised from Hell and could accept what had been done to him but not what he had done, not able to accept that they were in some ways the same.

Dean Winchester was gripped tight and raised from perdition and of course he didn’t believe he deserved to be saved—how could he be, after all he’d done? And in the end, he was right, in part: heaven only wanted to use him as a weapon, a tool—just like hell had. Except that there was one angel who didn’t, one angel who saw his soul and had questions, had doubts. One angel who chose to fall and embrace humanity and free will, to learn to love. To prove to Dean Winchester that he was worthy of being saved, no matter how low he’d fallen.

#ahhhh #i cannot be normal about them #dean studies #cas studies #castiel #the way dean changed cas #and the way cas changed dean #dean winchester character study #dean winchester #spn #supernatural #spn meta #cas #destiel #deancas #casdean

[four-of-cups]

trying to sleep but can’t stop thinking about how Dean Winchester was queer-coded to the point of cliche the whole time:

- Dean knows (and says) he’ll never marry a woman and settle down.

- He fears his father and idolises his mother.

- His gender expression is deeply performative.

- He fetishises a particular type of masculinity.

- He only really forms meaningful lasting bonds with women when they’re completely platonic (Charlie, Claire, etc).

- His deepest and most compelling relationships are with men (Benny, Cas, Crowley - all transgressive characters in their own rights).

- He rejects hierarchy and hates authority.

- He takes in a kid who doesn’t belong.

- He reinvents family.

- He kills God.

- He dies young.

#kill god die young #supernatural #spn #dean winchester #queer anarchist dean winchester #he has a place in my queer heart #destiel #dean studies #dean.txt #cups text post

[swordofsun]

Avoiding rambling mostly off topic on another person's post, so I'll just spill it all over here instead.

Sam had a tv from pretty much the moment they moved into the bunker. We see it in Pac-Man Fever when they all gather in Sam's room to watch Game of Thrones. In s11 during Cas' recovery period Sam gets him hooked on Netflix.

Which is actually fascinating in and of itself. For years Sam was the one with a tv. Just Sam. Not Dean, the tv and movie reference guy. And once Dean gets a tv, it's in a group space. Even when he's watching something on his laptop he does it in the library.

The only time we ever see Dean watch something in his room is in Mint Condition when he's full on depression caving (and presumably took the TV from the Dean cave) and hiding from the AW!hunters. Outside of that one instance he'll read or listen to music in his room, but he doesn't watch TV or movies.

And we don't know when exactly the Dean cave was created. Just that Sam didn't learn about it until s13, long after it had clearly been finished and in use. So why did Dean put it together? We've been shown that he's okay with watching on his laptop in the library. He clearly wants a separation between his own personal living area and the tv/entertainment area.

(Presumably because motel rooms are set up with tvs right at the end of the bed and he's not living in a motel anymore.)

But, Cas loves TV as much as Dean does and with as little discrimination about the exact programming. We've seen Cas happily watch infomercials and know he enjoys trashy talk shows. Outside of the beginning of s11 Cas just doesn't spend a lot of time at the bunker. He spends most of s9 and s10 doing his own thing/supervising Sam's secret project. S11 he was posseased by Lucifer and then kidnapped by Amara for the vast majority.

So, S12 is when he really starts staying for longer periods of time. S12 is when Dean is looking at potentially weeks of Cas hanging around and sitting in the library in the middle of the night is no longer appealing. S12 is the most likely option for building the Dean cave and the most likely reason is a comfortable place to hang out with just Cas. No Sam wandering in during the middle of a movie. No one complaining that sound travels pretty well from the library and asking them to keep it down.

The Dean cave was built to spend time with Cas. The only reason Sam ever found out about it is because of the circumstances of the eventual TV acquisition. The place was fully constructed and in use by the time Sam sees it. And there is no way Dean got all of that set up by himself, Cas had to have helped.

But the Dean Cave was used as a place to hang out with Cas. Yes, movies and TV shows on the laptop, probably on a table pulled up inbetween the recliners. But also Dean and Cas sharing a drink from the bar, playing fooseball, listening to music, maybe sitting silently reading together. It's the first place Cas goes to look for Dean. They spend time there.

#supernatural #dean studies

[uh-ohspaghettio]

Ngl some of you are a lot like Chuck (completely missing the subtext of his character and only characterize him based on how Dean chooses to portray himself to others built upon years of being told by others who he is)

#spn #supernatural #dean winchester #Dean studies #chuck shurley