Rec: Meta by rusty_halo

[hells_half_acre]

 rusty_halo  has a nice Meta on S1 up. The first half of it is about the themes and character development overall, and last part goes into viewing the show from a feminist perspective (how much the show follows common sexist tropes and how much it challenges them). 

Anyway, check it out by clicking the quote from it:

The whole season is set up as a quest for their lost father, but what they're looking for from him--family, connection, meaning--they ultimately find in each other, not in John. 

Naturally, I like the first part of the meta - because I don't tend to see sexism where others see it, so I tend to be far easier on shows than most feminists. (My general rule is that if I can replace the female character with a male character (and vice versa) in my brain, and still believe their motivations/characterization, then the role isn't sexist. I'm well aware that all this exercise might prove is that I think men are "girly".) In terms of the complaint that women are marginalized on the show - "women exist only to serve the mens’ story" complaint - I disregard it completely, since every single character other than Sam and Dean exist only to serve Sam and Dean's story. (Notable exceptions: Castiel, Bobby, Ellen, and Jo in S5). Even John only existed to serve Sam and Dean's story. Again, I may just have a completely different view on what is sexist/misogynistic...and that's either a post I've already done, or one I should do in the future (which will no doubt alienate me from my entire flist, so maybe I won't at all.) 

ETA: The individual episode metas that are linked from the over-view meta are all fantastic too. 

Comments

[ladililn.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree--I don't really understand all the accusations that Supernatural is such a sexist show, because honestly I can think of several others that I think are potentially much more offensive. *shrugs*

I'd love to read that post if you ever decide to make it public. :) It's nice to read something like that from a perspective I agree with, for once. And I'm sure you have some interesting ideas.

No problem! Thanks again for the timeline and everything (and the clothes thing, which I'm just now discovering)!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ok, I've made the post public for you...now that it's over a week old and isn't going to appear on anyone's flist immediately. I just flocked it because I didn't want to piss everyone off with my opinions. You can see it here: http://hells-half-acre.livejournal.com/119256.html

Clothes thing is still in it's infancy! I've only done up until 2x07, and out of all those clothes I've got less than half of them posted. But, I'm glad you found it! I usually try to update it with one article of clothing once a day. Right now I'm working my way through coats.