Destiel

Don't be put off by the title, but I want to talk about an area of the Supernatural fandom that I consider myself a part of, that might set some people on edge. It sets a lot of people on edge.

Particularly, it seems, the actors in the roles who get asked constantly about the notion. Yeah, other fans, please don't do that.

Anyway, so for those who don't know (sorry to those who do) Destiel is a concept within Supernatural, or at least, amongst fans, that there's a relationship of some description between one of the leads, Dean, and one of the series regulars, Castiel. I'm being vague on purpose, because despite whatever fan fiction I might write, my idea of it isn't the same as everyone else's.

I'll try and stay on point with this, because I can feel myself getting ahead of where I want to be and I totally blame the Asylum fans for distracting me with the very subject I'm trying to write about! I should shut down my Facebook window sometime. Sorry if it's disjointed. You know by now, my head doesn't work right, and I'm tired.

So yeah, word has spread through tumblr and onto social media sites that I can remember the password to about a Destiel question asked at JIBCon, the Italian Supernatural convention. Someone asked Jensen about it. The video I saw didn't pick up the question too well, but Jensen was pretty good - I thought - at answering in a very balanced way. But maybe some Destiel fans (why are we considered the same? Inwardly groaning!) should have taken heed when he said it was taken out of proportion. Because hey, guess what they did on tumblr?

Yeah, they took his answer out of proportion.

It's pretty simple to me, the whole notion of Destiel. Maybe it's because I am a Grace so I don't get that whole 'zomg they should have SEX' thing that some fans do (more internal groaning, here) but to me it's more like they're playing to a TV/film/book concept that most people get wrong. I can think of a few examples of shows where there has been speculation of two characters (normally in a hetero relationship, like Eric and Donna in That 70's Show, Corey and Topanga in Boy Meets World, Nick and Jess in New Girl, just to name a few of the crap TV I enjoy) and the writers latch onto the fans reaction to that, and put the couples together. They do it so early that they cancel out the tension, and then make a perfectly decent couple with chemistry break up for Reasons.

The alternative to this is the love triangle, like Bella-Edward-Jacob, Katniss-Peeta-Gale, whatever but even that wears on the people reading/watching. Who they choose is obvious.

I think Supernatural writers have realised that it's the tension that grabs people. That they can keep playing the will they/won't they, and they'll still have viewers hooked. That's the thing I love about Destiel, that it's not actually canon but there's a possibility, potentially. They know how I function as a consumer, damn them!

I like other elements of Destiel too, on the level I see it as. Regardless of whether you acknowledge the concept as viable, you can see that "in real life" Jensen and Misha are good friends, and that comes across in their work. You can easily buy into the notion that Dean and Castiel care very much about each other. For me, Destiel is merely acknowledging that there is an emotional connection there. That's it. I was talking to the other Asylum-goers about it, because we're all pretty upset that a)a decent answer has caused so much of a shitstorm b)someone thought it was okay to bring that to the table in the first place (and c) that actually, they're making perfectly decent, harmless Destiel-shippers seem like ignorant mongs).

So yeah, people are deleting their tumblrs and twitter accounts and 'boycotting the show' (on hellatus, smart move!) all because they've taken an answer out of context and decided it's meant that the thing they created in their heads wasn't real, and not only that but the actors are all raging homophobes. I'm offended. They must be offended. I'm also offended that this kind of juvenile behaviour leads others to cuss out an otherwise harmless branch of the fandom. Supernatural fans are ridiculously passionate and it's one of the things I've really embraced since becoming a part of it, but even though I haven't reacted in the same way (eh, I knew it wouldn't happen. Even in my head canon of there maybe being some lip-on-cheek and then a typical Dean freak out, I know is far-fetched) I feel like I'm being insulted on twitter by those who don't support the notion because I, in some way, do. In a couple of days when emotions aren't running high (I get it, JIBConners, blast at the con yet reality slapping you in the face? Was there a week ago!) it'll all blow over and those people will slink back to the fandom (with fun comments on their fanfics of 'well, it's canon in my head that Destiel regularly get naked, screw Jensen!) but in the mean time …

I just want to put out there that fans need to separate fiction from reality. And that can be split by so many ways. Just think of it compartmentalised - there are the actors in their lives, doing whatever they do, there are the actors on set, reading lines, there's the edited version you see, there's the way you interpret it, and there's the way you choose to adapt it further in your head. Don't hold the guy doing his level best to give a balanced answer he had to struggle through accountable for the way you've decided it should go based on what you've read in subtext. That's not fair. He didn't write the script, he wasn't in your head! Maybe I find it easy because I do write a lot and I'd have some real difficulties in a lot of areas if I suddenly started talking about my MCs in real life, but really, I don't think it's so hard to separate the role from the actor from head canon.

Jensen, it seems to me, gets a hell of a lot of shit that he frankly doesn't deserve. Whether it's because he rarely comes to England (come on, it's either filming time or important family markers, cut the guy a break!) or because he has to balance what he thinks, what the network wants, what different areas of the fandom expects and still give a valid answer. He did his best. Step the fuck off, you know? They try to be diplomatic and fair and it's still not good enough for some people. Or else there's shit flying that his relationship is false and he's clearly in a relationship with his co-stars and it just pisses me off. With crap like this, it almost amazes me that he does do these conventions (but not entirely, because I can tell they love their crazy, crazy, completely mental fans very much).

I mean that. At Asylum 12, we were aware Jared had been flying back and forth everywhere and probably didn't know what the fuck time it was. I got into a coffee lounge with Misha and we all said he must be jet lagged, but he was so cool with us despite saying yeah, he was. I didn't get his autograph until the end of the weekend and at the time I did, I could see he was flagging. And yet they didn't complain, they put the fans first, and I'm so grateful that even though I could see he was half-asleep, he was still polite and friendly. I didn't like to mention that I was tired (yay, post-TTP shit!) because yeah, even with my fatigue, I had nothing on him. If they can put us first for stuff like that, why can't people just respect that questions on topics like Destiel are tricky at best and divisive at worst? Why can't they think 'hey, the answer I get will never be the answer I want?'

Because that's true, the answer received will NEVER be the answer you want. Know why? Because season ten hasn't been written yet! It won't be fully polished until the last take is filmed, because script revisions happen all the time in TV. And the actors won't know what the writers are planning. And even if they did, they'll carry on stringing it on because will they/won't they is a hot commodity in writing! So why apply that pressure on the actors?

I felt sorry for Misha at Asylum too. He was happy to joke with us about the fake Heaven concept, and there was a sticky Destiel question as well. One of the better ones, because it wasn't about Destiel so much as it's impact in the LGBTA (never forget the A!) community with a reference to gay-baiting. And I thought he gave a well-balanced answer, but you could tell he got pissed off that people even thought that was possible. That they thought by association he would be like that. For what it's worth, I don't think it's like that. I think it's interesting that Supernatural is willing to take on the element of suspense with a pairing that might not be typical hetero, and it's becoming very obvious that it's a minefield whichever way they play it. I wish people could see that actually, the writers are being brave, but also, the writers have it RIGHT. Will they? Won't they? Are we going to have to watch another fifteen seasons to find out?

I fucking hope so.

Sorry if this is completely disjointed. I'm tired and completely distracted. Supernatural is actually being shown on Sky Living as I type which is confusing yet awesome. I mean, okay, it's season seven and the formatting sucks and they left the original tag of 'our new series' on an episode, but … small miracle, those fuckers are trying to take it away from us! Also, will do another con update tomorrow. It's like, nearly midnight :(

**edit** wow, this post has had a lot of views! Which I suppose is inevitable if I link it on twitter and a Facebook group with over 1,000 members. I just wanted to clarify that my point in all this was that it's actually fine to have our little niches within the fanscope, but we should just leave the actors the hell alone with it. Yeah, yeah, I know, Misha might, 75% of the time, be okay with talking about it, but that's not a validation to act like there's entitlement for it. That's just validation that Misha is one of the coolest guys ever because he does try to understand the fans and invest that attention on us. I hero worship Misha a little, I guess is what I'm also saying here. But anyway, when fans pull this shit, it detracts from what the show is about. It's as important as Harry and Hermoine being together in Harry Potter. End of.

It's intriguing as well to me, that this issue came up when it did. I'm part of a 400+ comment thread on the Asylum Facebook group where we discussed sexuality and dating (and I love that so many of you are queer, in whatever way that manifests!) and it was such a cool vibe in there, sharing horror stories and being supportive and loving that it was something for us. And then the JIBCon stuff filtered through and *sighes* I don't think so many people would be so proud to be Pan or Poly or in the Ace spectrum, or even flat-out straight in our community if Supernatural really were gay-baiting. Maybe I just got lucky and managed to meet the very best Supernatural fans out there?