Saving People, Hunting Things – It’s a Wonderful Life?
Damian: “You’re wrong, you know. “
Dean: “I’m sorry?”
Damian: “About Supernatural. No offence, but..I’m not sure you get what the story is about.”
Dean: “Is that so?”
Damian: “In real life, he fixes stereo equipment, and I fix copiers. Our lives suck. But to be Sam and Dean…..to wake up every morning and save the world, to have a brother who would die for you…well, who wouldn’t want that?”
Really, who wouldn’t want that? Who wouldn’t want to be the saviour of the world, for no thanks, no pay, and in return for it all you’re added to the FBI’s most wanted list and hunted by every demon imaginable?
I’m going to risk a guess and say no one. No one who has actually taken stock of the life Supernatural’s Winchesters lead.
So let’s take stock: they have no steady source of income, so they have to commit credit card fraud to buy food, gas, beer, pay for lodgings (on the days they don’t just sleep in the car); this, in itself, is not a glorious lifestyle, contrary to popular belief.
They have no home. And while I agree with the ‘show’ that the Impala is indeed the only home they have had for a while, I can tell you from experience that living in a car is no slumber party.
Instead of playing hide and seek and coming in when the street lights came on, they were wielding shotguns and rock salt. While their peers were getting ready for prom and after-prom ‘festivities’, the Winchester boys were on the tail of one yellow-eyed demon.
Both of their parents are gone; when their mother was killed by Azazel, John ripped them out of school and took them across the country hunting the yellow-eyed demon, only to give his life for Dean’s to said demon. Granted, they probably know more Latin than any Harvard graduate, and I dare say Dean wasn’t too ticked off about not going to school.
And from then on, the Winchesters were more or less on the run – from the law, from demons, angels, and all manner of monsters, not to mention from the occasional hunter. They risk everything using fake federal identification, fake names, fake credit cards. They drive around with an arsenal hidden in the trunk (ok, that I would totally do – have you ever DRIVEN on the 401???)
They spend all their time with only one other person, in a car. Now…I *love* my brother – IMMENSELY. I would go to the same lengths for him that the Winchesters go to for each other, in a heartbeat. I would happily take a bullet for him. But would I live with him every day, day in day out, for my whole life, without opening his car door at 140 kph and telling him to tuck and roll? I don’t know that I could.
It’s human nature to need a place at which to ground ourselves, to have a place to store all our crap (physical and emotional crap), and to have a place to return to. Now that Bobby is gone and the house is burned to the ground (when that happened, I think I was more heartbroken then when Bobby actually died; nobody really dies on Supernatural, but houses really burn down), the boys literally have no place to go.
And lastly, but by far the most important, none of us would be able to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders the way they do. In this world of greed, conspicuous consumption, and a capitalist global economy, every man is out for himself. Very few people would do what they do without demanding a reward of some kind. Now, before we fight: yes, I DO know all about charities and groups who do amazingly selfless things every day of every year for people they may never ever meet. But, I think we can both agree that is not quite exactly the same scenario.
Could any one of us really live that way? Not after having lived the lives we have lived thus far. The Winchesters grow up in this life – it’s the family business. They have had occasion to experience what a grounded life would be like, but they always return to hunting. I liken it to a criminal who has spent more time in jail than not; it’s the only life you know, and you will always gravitate back to it.
One thing is for sure – if I had to live that life, I would have a drinking problem too.
I gotta admit, when Dean began to exhibit outward signs of being an alcoholic I thought that was one of the first reactions that was realistic!! However, the way they address it isn’t :/
Agreed! But I don’t think they should address it…dude saves the world every day, let the man drink! 😉
Well, there is such a thing as a functional alcoholic! 🙂
It seems bad from our point of view–because we have never lived it. To two brothers who only have each other and a few other trusted friends they consider family, the small things they enjoy already means a lot to them. And I agree with the analogy to the criminal, but then the hunting life has been so ingrained to their life, it has become their life. They did not want their family to be torn apart by supernatural forces, they did what they could to adapt.
wow, very good article. True points, all. Good thing they’re just fictional. But don’t forget, Dean’s the first to tell you that his job comes with perks. I doubt either of them really likes their life, but they’d be equally uncomfortable trying to live like you and me.
“(when that happened, I think I was more heartbroken then when Bobby actually died; nobody really dies on Supernatural, but houses really burn down)” Ha, so true! The roadhouse never came back either. But we know it’s in Heaven with Ash, so maybe Singer Salvage is in Heaven too!
I know how miserable and terrifying and horrible their life is, and yet I find it oddly compelling. It makes me want to hit the road in a 1967 Chevy Impala and stay in skeezy motels and eat in diners and blow bad stuff away with a sawed-off shotgun.
I remember one of the showrunners saying (forget which one) that this show is about guys who are extraordinarily badass in their ability to withstand horrible stuff that would have the great majority of us whimpering and drooling and wetting ourselves in the corner of a rubber room. What would be the point of the show if they fell apart and couldn’t save people and hunt things anymore? I certainly don’t want to watch them whimpering and drooling and wetting themselves. I want to watch them behead vampires with razor wire.
Agreed!! No one would watch it then 😉