She didn't even touch her pumpkin. It's a freak with no face.

Willow ,'Help'


Supernatural 1: Saving People, Hunting Things - the Family Business  

[NAFDA]. This is where we talk about the CW series Supernatural! Anything that's aired in the US (including promos) is fair game. No spoilers though -- if you post one by accident, an admin will delete it.


Consuela - Aug 14, 2007 6:03:22 pm PDT #1204 of 10002
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

And I should state (not that I have to) that I enjoy the hell out of the show. But season 1 made me really uncomfortable about what it was saying about the position of women in the Supernatural universe. Season 2 was a little bit better, with the Harvelles and Det. Ballard; but the finale was not reassuring.


P.M. Marc - Aug 14, 2007 6:03:53 pm PDT #1205 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

Amyliz, the point was the violence against and evil of. Based on that, Ellen and Jo wouldn't be in it--although I suppose they could have used clips from BUABS.

I think the BUABS clip would have worked, and I can't wait to read their making of about the vid, because I can also see reasons for not including it or AHBL:II with Ellen. (BUABS because it was sexualized violence played AS sexualized violence, rather than just violence, sexualized; AHBL:II because, while it was gendered, it wasn't sexual.)


Consuela - Aug 14, 2007 6:05:32 pm PDT #1206 of 10002
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

but that isn't the case

Um, what? That's absolutely the case. All of those are clips from the show. The vid is made by two women who adore the show.

They didn't invent the clips. The show isn't about violence against women: but it uses it, in (I suggest) a relatively unthinking way. And the vid is about holding that up to the light and saying, "Do you see what you're doing, here?"


Amy - Aug 14, 2007 6:05:54 pm PDT #1207 of 10002
Because books.

the show has, particularly in season one, and as shown in the vid, given us more women as victims, and sexualized that victimhood in a way that they have not done with the men.

I think there's a lot to be said, or explored, there about the nature of violence toward women, in general, and the nature of a lot of the myths the show has used. I'd have to think about that for a long time before posting much about it, but I will say this: I don't think Kripke et al have an agenda, even if I also believe they haven't exactly tried to subvert any social norms already in place.


Ailleann - Aug 14, 2007 6:07:23 pm PDT #1208 of 10002
vanguard of the socialist Hollywood liberal homosexualist agenda

haven't exactly tried to subvert any social norms already in place

This. I mean, it's not a show about women saving themselves, but OTOH they're not Captivity...


Consuela - Aug 14, 2007 6:07:44 pm PDT #1209 of 10002
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

I don't think Kripke et al have an agenda, even if I also believe they haven't exactly tried to subvert any social norms already in place.

No, I don't think any of this is a conscious agenda. They're well-meaning people. Looked at one at a time, there isn't a single episode I would really point to and say, "that's misogynistic". But I look at that vid, and I'm both fascinated and horrified: there's been that much? Holy cow.


Theresa - Aug 14, 2007 6:07:56 pm PDT #1210 of 10002
"What would it take to get your daughter to stop tweeting about this?"

Everyone has an equal opportunity, maybe. And yet the show has, particularly in season one, and as shown in the vid, given us more women as victims, and sexualized that victimhood in a way that they have not done with the men. Women in showers, women in swimsuits, women in bedclothes, women in bed, dying.

Unfortunately I think you are right about the numbers and some of the ways shown.

You don't see the violence against men fetished on the show, you don't see male victim's bodies displayed the way the women's are.

Wendigo had a man strung up and hanging as the victim. Quite often the people being tortured involve Sam and Dean, and I don't see them as less sexualized in this show than women. I think it's a whole different beast from the typical horror show torture-porn.

Um, what? That's absolutely the case. All of those are clips from the show. The vid is made by two women who adore the show.

They didn't invent the clips. The show isn't about violence against women: but it uses it, in (I suggest) a relatively unthinking way. And the vid is about holding that up to the light and saying, "Do you see what you're doing, here?"

But they selectively used particular clips and selectively didn't use any clips with violence against men that absolutely did exist.


P.M. Marc - Aug 14, 2007 6:09:29 pm PDT #1211 of 10002
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear

I don't think Kripke et al have an agenda, even if I also believe they haven't exactly tried to subvert any social norms already in place.

I don't think Lum or Sisabet think there's an agenda, just a strong and not very thought out dependence on some tropes that are, when viewed as a group, deeply disturbing.


Nutty - Aug 14, 2007 6:10:39 pm PDT #1212 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

I think Kripke is an old man in more ways than one. Often well-meaning, but, not often a deep thinker about the traditions in which he participates.

sexualized violence

A good example (I thought) of this, for Jo, is Wossname Serial Killer groping her hair/neck in the coffin in No Exit. It was possible to show her scared and menaced in other ways, but the visual composition of that shot was unpleasantly vibey. I know some disagree with me on that one.


Consuela - Aug 14, 2007 6:10:56 pm PDT #1213 of 10002
We are Buffistas. This isn't our first apocalypse. -- Pix

Quite often the people being tortured involve Sam and Dean, and I don't see them as less sexualized in this show than women.

No, but they're not victims, either. They have agency. Sexualizing Sam and Dean (which the show absolutely does) operates differently than sexualizing the victims. When you sexualize the victims, you sexualize their victimhood.

Sam and Dean are sexy in part because they're heroes, not victims. Even when they're being beaten up, they're still heroes and it's hot to see Dean with a bruise and know he's still going to kick ass as soon as he gets back on his feet.

I do see that as a different thing. YBMV.