#i have probably gotten details wrong and missed stuff because i'm working from memory

[chickenstrangers]

Photography in Aof's Series

I have been thinking a lot about cameras and queer visibility since @dudeyuri's tags on this post and @miscellar, @respectthepetty, and @telomeke's following discussions. In Bad Buddy and He's Coming to Me, the motif of the camera plays with the ideas of public vs private aspects of the character's relationships and how open and visible they are able to be. I think this is very true in BBS and HCTM, but it is also a recurring theme in Aof's shows.

Bad Buddy and He's Coming to Me

I am not going to delve too far into these shows because I think @miscellar and others have already written brilliant posts about this linked above. @miscellar makes a wonderful point about photography being seen as a hostile act in most of Bad Buddy because Pat and Pran are trying to hide their relationship, but the context changes when Ink is taking the photo: "ink's camera sees them for who they really are, and more than that, it affirms their relationship." Who is taking the picture changes its meaning, which I think can be extended to discuss queer media more generally, how directors using a queer lens will portray queer stories in more nuanced and/or realistic ways.

In He's Coming to Me, we have the theme of public vs private queerness with Thun taking a selfie with Mes but Mes is of course not visible. Not sure if I have anything to add here, but I do think this fits into the many other scenes where Thun does absolutely nothing to hide the fact that he's talking and hanging out with a ghost. They're hiding in plain sight but no one else sees what they do. This could be a comment on how often people overlook queer relationships or devalue them.

Dark Blue Kiss

In Dark Blue Kiss, Pete photographs Kao a lot, and he doesn't do this in secret. Unlike Pat and Pran who aren't even supposed to be friends, Pete and Kao have that act to disguise their relationship, so they are able to do some parts of their relationship in public. In episode 3, Pete takes Kao's photo in front of a horse and buggy ("You said you like taking photos of views." "You're in every view I see." "Smooth."). Right behind them we see other people also taking photos, including someone taking a photo of two people who look to be a couple, contrasting Pete and Kao with the visibility that straight people get to enjoy.

But while we do have public photography here, because their relationship is hidden and Kao isn't out to his mom, he hides the photographs. In Pete's room, there is a photoboard with lots of photos of the two of them or them separately. Pete doesn't have to hide the relationship in his own home because he is out to his dad and his dad is incredibly supportive.

Kao, on the other hand, primarily has his room decorated with posters about math (this is yet another Aof show where a character has 1 interest and it becomes their entire room décor). But he does keep all the photos, even if he can't display them.

He reveals them at their anniversary surprise when he decorates a whole room with pictures of them together. This moment shows that even though Kao isn't able to be completely open about their relationship, he still wants to put in the effort to show his love, even if it is only possible in an empty school room that no one else will see. While this moment is sweet, there's a thread of sadness behind it because being open to the world is such a huge point of concern in their relationship for the whole series.

Moonlight Chicken

Heart and Li Ming take photos together multiple times, and their comfort with this I think speaks to @telomeke and @waitmyturtles point about how this show is about generations and their different experiences of queerness (x), and so it is an important counterpoint to Jim and Wen that Heart and Li Ming are fairly openly affectionate with their friendship and then their relationship, within safe spaces. For example, they ask Wen to take a photo of them in the food court (Wen who acts as an observer throughout most of the show), and in this interaction Wen sees that there is more to their relationship than friendship. In this way, I think he acts in a similar role to Ink.

I also think it is noteworthy that Wen and Alan have so many photographs of each other, and then their break up scene takes place right in front of the photoboard that is a monument to the good times of their relationship. Wen starts with his back to the board, facing away from that history, and then the framing moves to have the board in between them. The traces of the past are literally acting as a wedge between them as they fight over it. And then that board remains in the apartment, with the photos taken down, as a continued reminder of what used to be there. The love that no longer remains.

There's an interesting parallel between Jim and Wen's conversation on the pier and the scene I talked about before in Dark Blue Kiss. While they discuss the Marina Food Court, there's tension between them, with Wen's guilt in his role in the project affecting Jim's diner and Jim still putting as much distance as he can between himself and Wen. In the background we see a two people, potentially a couple, taking photos. They are wearing almost the exact same colours as Jim and Wen. Their happiness in this scene seems like a direct contrast to the sadness Wen and Jim are expressing, hinting at what they might have when they get past this disconnect. And then once they do get together, Jim and Wen take their own photo together at the beach.

Our Skyy 2 x A Tale of a Thousand Stars

In these special episodes, as the brilliant @wen-kexing-apologist has discussed in their incredible essays (x, x), the main journey of the special surrounds Phupha becoming more comfortable being a partner to Tian in public and being more open with Tian in general, working through a lot of internalized homophobia. This is once again demonstrated using the photography motif.

Phupha takes photos of Tian taking photos of the food in the café, a date during which he is initially uncomfortable with how public they are. He is slowly getting used to how this feels to be so open. But he does push past the discomfort because he knows that this is important for Tian, and important for himself as well.

The next stop on their date is to a photobooth, which an interesting liminal space between public and private. Inside the booth they are alone, but it's still in a very public space, and anyone walking past could see them coming out together, or could look at the photo strips as they're printed out before Tian and Phupha have a chance to collect them. The public and the private are slowly becoming enmeshed.

Tian and Phupha then take a photo with Ink, Pa, Pat and Pran after the play. This is the most open they are with photography, Tian's hand resting on Phupha's shoulder, standing close. This is also an opportunity for Pat and Pran to be in a photo together publicly, like the play itself. Like I talked about regarding the play, it's important that all the people in this picture are queer, and that this creates a safe space to blend the boundaries between public and private sides of their relationship.

I also think it's important to consider when talking about photography, the role that the camera plays as a stand-in for the audience. We are getting this glimpse into the characters relationships, both public and private, and the cameras we see within the scenes can often reflect queer media and queer visibility more generally.

[absandersons]

what makes you think the writers want deancas? not trying to be an asshole, i'm just genuinely curious as to why you think that. i know berens' episodes are pretty heavy with subtext so i can see why you'd say that he wants it, but i'm not so sure about the rest of the writers/dabb. it seems like meghan isn't a huge fan either, given her "they twisted it so fast" tweet :/ of course she's a very new writer (think she's only writing one ep this season?) but still

OKAY this is a great question, welcome to my dissertation.

I’m going to address the end of your question first. Meghan is actually DeanCas positive, she has been for quite a long time. She actually, a few years back, posted a picture of her reading a literal book about Destiel and captioned it “writing reading” or something like that.

This whole thing just comes out of a boiling over of tensions because of how nasty fandom twitter can be. Like I said here, I think this has just gotten blown out of proportion, they shouldn’t have posted all this randomly disparaging stuff, but also like...can you blame them? The fandom is a lot, we always have been, and they’re probably also under a gag order not to talk about the finale, and are annoyed that people keep asking.

So nah, Meg is not anti Destiel.

To the first part!! So let’s take a look at the show runners since Cas has been around.

Seasons 4 and 5: Kripke

Seasons 6 and 7: Gamble

Seasons 8-11ish: Carver

Seasons 11ish-15: Dabb

So starting with Kripke. Okay, yes, I will be the first to admit that we have some pretty incredible Destiel moments in these seasons, but it’s less directly written into the plot and much more from Misha and Jensen’s uhhhh ~chemistry~. The only times it was directly written into the script was when the episode was handled by someone like Edlund (“On The Head Of A Pin,” “The End,” “My Bloody Valentine”). And you have to remember, if in season 5, there are moments here and there where you’re like huh that’s suspiciously romantic dialogue, remember that Cas took Anna’s place. Anna was supposed to be endgame for Dean, but due to a myriad of issues and Misha’s general greatness, Anna was replaced with Cas.

Onto 6 and 7. Hmmm. Gamble. 6 and 7 are my two least favorite seasons and that’s no secret, and that’s not only due to the plain old weird shit in the overall storyline, but also that homegirl killed off Cas in s7 and then Bobby like four episodes later. (Also it ALWAYS rubbed me the wrong way they couldn’t have Baby in that season lol). We still had some great DeanCas moments, but again, it wasn’t really written into the overall arc (until they had to change the end of season 7 because of tanking ratings and bring Misha back lol, anyone remember the fact that Dean kept Cas’ jacket and would randomly dream of him? Yeah.). But we still had those moments, those distinctly romantic moments, probably the best example in these two seasons is from Edlund again, specifically “The Man Who Would be King,” I wrote a little about that here.

We move onto Carver, who gave us, at this point, the most overt DeanCas season with season 8 (season gr8 is a better name imo), and this is the first time Dean and Cas’ relationship is directly written as an arc of the season.  I mean, you have everything in Purgatory, Dean “seeing” Cas everywhere, the fact that he felt so guilty that Cas stayed in Purgatory that he manipulated his own memories to think that he was the one that failed Cas, because he couldn’t comprehend that Cas would want to leave him, and let’s not forget Dean snapping Cas out of Naomi’s hold on him in “Goodbye Stranger.”  It was a very obvious shift, not enough to alert the general audience, but more than enough for most of us in fandom.

It’s also important to note that this is when Andrew stopped co writing with Loflin and started writing his own episodes (”Hunter Heroici” anyone?)  I like Loflin fine, but Dabb was able to stretch his legs a little bit more once he stopped co-writing, and we also began to see some DeanCas themes in his solo episodes.

In any case, them and their issues being a big part of the seasons continued with Carver, and Berens entered the scene, his first episode (”Heaven Can’t Wait”) is one of my favorites, with human Cas and the fanfiction gap and Dean and Cas just generally being awkward and funny and sweet.  This is Bobo’s FIRST episode, remember that.  He comes right out of the gate with it.

Also in Season 9, this is when Dean takes the Mark of Cain, and the Cas/Colette mirror is born, so obviously, Dean and Cas are the fabric of the season once again.  This is also the season where Metatron says Cas is “in love with humanity,” and then immediately refers to Dean as Humanity so uhhhh yeah.

Onto season 10, Dabb and Berens continue with their greatness (I could write pages on the DeanCas date in “The Things We Left Behind” alone).  And then we have one of the best scenes in the entire show in “The Prisoner” where the Cas/Colette mirror continues and Dean, driven by grief and pain and rage and the Mark, still doesn’t kill Cas.  He still can’t kill Cas.

Season 11 is important because it takes choice away from both Cas and Dean, and shows us, as the audience, how much losing each other takes out of them. We saw in season 10 how much losing Dean takes from Cas, but what about Cas losing Dean?  Dean loses his choice with his connection to Amara this season, and loses even more when Lucifer reveals he’s been possessing Cas, and plays on Dean’s connection to Cas like a mockery.  It’s also worth noting that, similarly to season 8, Dean breaks out of the connection with Amara when he’s worried about Cas, and that’s something that even SHE is surprised by.

But then season 12, the beginning to the Renaissance.  This is when we get the writer’s that become important for what Dean and Cas are today, and, truly, why I believe they want canon Destiel as much as we do.

This is the first season with Dabb’s writers: Davy Perez, Meredith Glynn, Steve Yockey, and of course Bobo all come in with their incredible talents and gave us episode after episode of good content.  “Lily Sunder Has Some Regrets” is probably my favorite, probably the best example of what I’m saying.  An episode where Dean is called out by an enemy directly, told to “roll the dice” on Cas’ life.  And Dean won’t, it’s not even really a hesitation.  And this comes from a character that has known Dean for ten seconds.  I also wrote more in depth about this episode here.  There are also some.....distinctly domestic details we get this season, specifically in “The Future” (written by Berens and Glynn) with the mixtape.  The most tropey of tropes mixtape.  Yeah, I’ll just leave that one here.

And then season 12 ends with Cas’ death, but also with the parallel between Sam and Dean with Jess and Cas.  Sam literally has to drag Dean away from Cas, just like Dean had to drag Sam out of his burning apartment in the pilot.  The episode drives it home in every way that it can: Dean is the one left kneeling by Cas’ body, while Sam goes to find out what is upstairs.  Dean is the one who stares at the sky, finally broken.  This isn’t a random thing, this is Dean’s whole arc, it’s the entirety of the beginning of 13.  Dean’s pain, his anguish, his anger.

Season 13 starts with them burning Cas, with Dean, who has begged God to bring him back, who has split his knuckles punching a door, standing, staring at Cas’ pyre with brokenness on his face.

I mean.....

Anyway, season 13 is where it gets interesting (well, I think all of this is interesting but I’m a writer nerd so).  So Cas comes back from the Empty in “Advanced Thanatology” written by Steve Yockey, and then a wombo combo of “Tombstone” by Davy Perez next (”Brokebacknatural” as the PR said at the time).  Listen.  This is the part that SPN crossed a line that they couldn’t come back from.  With Cas being Dean’s “big win,” the fact that Dean and Cas watch movies together, “I told you, he’s an angry sleeper.  Like a bear.” Talked about it here.

This is where, in my opinion, the network stepped in, but the damage was already done.  They had already established that Cas was Dean’s big win, that Dean’s poor coping was not due to Mary’s disappearance, but solely due to Cas, and that Dean and Cas have more married energy than anyone else.  The network had nixed blatant canon at this point, and they writing room had been pushing the boundaries of what the network would allow. 

After these episodes, we see a marked drop off of DeanCas heavy scenes.  They’re still there, still a part of the fabric of the season, but not as...obvious as it had been in early season 13.

And this continued through season 14, we’re back to scraps of Destiel scenes here and there, but to me it always felt like there was something bubbling under the surface, something distinctly unsaid in the themes of the season, even after the walk back of obvious “Dean and Cas are in love” scenes.

And then we get to season 15, which, y’all know I talk about all the time.  What’s important here is that Bobo and Glynn are both executive producers, calling more of the shots than ever before.  Additionally, it’s important to note that, though they only co write occasionally, Glynn and Berens refer to each other as “work husband” and “work wife.”  Each episode has just turned up the volume, and, not for the first time, but certainly the most obvious, Dean and Cas ARE the season.  Sure, they’re trying to beat God, they’re trying to finally find peace, defeat the final big bad, but really?  This season has been about Dean, and Dean’s relationship to Cas.

And not only do we have obvious and clear Destiel in nearly every episode, but we have episodes like “Last Call” which canonize bi!Dean (wrote about that here).

And, maybe most importantly so far, we have “The Rupture,” the breakup, and “The Trap,” Dean’s confession (both written by Berens).  And here’s the thing.  These episodes feel connected, but also feel like they’re missing something.  Beren’s last episode is 15x18, “The Truth.”  We’ve all spec’ed about what could happen in this episode, and I think *I* know what it’s leading to.  But for it to be leading to that, it means that the network has to have approved what we’ve all been waiting for years for.

Who got this change to happen?  Who got the network to change their minds?  It wasn’t us.  It was them.  I am fully convinced that Dabb and Berens quite literally put their careers on the line for Dean and Cas.  They believe in them, they’ve shown that from the beginning, but the only thing standing in the way was the network, never allowing them to take the final step. 

So, to answer your question: I think the writers want canon DeanCas because they’ve already shown us that they do.  Take a look at their episodes, at Dabb’s, at Beren’s, at Glynn’s, at Perez’s, at Yockey’s.  They’ve been telling us what’s going on with Dean and Cas for years.

Sure, I’m not in their heads, I guess I don’t know for *sure* that this has been their thought process, but if we put it all together, from the marked shift when Dabb fully took over in s12, to the change right after “Tombstone,” to the new shift, the blatantly romantic shift in season 15, what else is there?

I’ve said for a long time that we, the SPN fandom, are beyond lucky to have the writer’s that we do.  They’re all going to go on to have prolific careers and we were lucky to get them at the end of our little show.  I give them a lot of credit for what we have in the show today.

Just remember, they’ve been telling us in all of s15 who Chuck is.  He says he’s the writer, right?  But a writer who doesn’t have control of his characters?  A writer who wants to do the same ending over and over because it “works”?  That doesn’t sound like a writer, it sounds like a network exec.

They’ve been showing us what they want for years, and the way s15 is going?  I think they may have convinced the network to let us have it.