#i feel a little. uh. pretentious w/ this because i'm not an academic but i figure

[antigonewinchester]

MoC Meta Annotated Bibliography

In being more thoughtful with how I’m referencing other people’s work in my thinking over the Mark of Cain arc, I’ve taken a step back to build out an annotated bibliography. The list below includes fandom meta / posts, along with other non-fandom sources, some of which I’ll be directly citing and some I wanted to include as just being generally influential for me & in the back of my mind as I’ve been thinking over all this. In my trying to grapple with the Mark of Cain and later seasons of the show, plus just as someone who’s inclined to gather as much info as she can & soak in a broad context of something when thinking about it, I’ve ended up reading thru a lot of great posts and insightful past & recent discussions. Since my intent is to expand on previous conversations in fandom, even coming to this topic a while after the fact, I need to then cite others’ work & thoughts as my jumping off points.

I’ve used MLA format and taken just a few creative liberties (hyperlinked urls, and added descriptions for posts without titles for context). The first section is fandom and canon-related sources. The second part is non-fandom posts, books, etc., some of which I’ve come to thru meta and others I’ve discovered thru my own research & websurfing. Included are my major points of take away & occasional questions / broad thoughts. I plan to keep updating both these lists as I go along. [ETA as of 9/3: added new sources.]

Also, if any OPs listed here want me to cite them differently or even not at all for whatever reason, just let me know. I’ve erred on the side of being more comprehensive about references here, treating everything like it’s a ‘formal source,’ from published books to longer form meta essays to one off tumblr posts, but I’m less sure abt fandom norms around meta vs shorter posts.

Fandom Meta / Posts / Resources

alaynestone. “Untitled” (Dean/John & incest subtext). Tumblr, 12th May 2020.

gifs that point out the incest subtext around Dean and John from Kripke era seasons.

allykat49-blog. “Untitled” (“There’s No Place Like Home” & the framing around Dean’s violence). Tumblr, 1st Feb 2015.

the ending of 10x11 suggesting that all of Dean’s actions, including his self-defense against Charlie, were unjustified

the narrative framing that condemns Dean for his reactionary violence without mentioning people being actively violent towards Dean first / at the same time

the show has somewhat romanticized moments of not fighting back against violence from loved ones

amonitrate, extremedeangirl. “Untitled” (contempt towards ppl who break under torture / stay with abusers). Tumblr, 29th June 2014.

mainstream / status quo ideas about abuse: that it’s heroic to fight against an abusive situations and conversely not heroic to submit to or obey an abuser; “good” vs “bad” victims

how this ties back into Sam rebelling against John vs. Dean complying with John; also related to “strong” vs. “weak” dichotomy; how that framing gets reflected in fandom conversations (and somewhat the show too?)

amonitrate. “Untitled” (Mark’s overkill violence & self-defense). Tumblr, 5th February 2015.

the Mark’s scary, overkill violence often being triggered by Dean’s defending himself, with this pattern not explicitly acknowledged within the show

Dean’s violence overemphasized while other characters’ violence is underemphasized or not mentioned

brother-benny. “Untitled” (Framing of Demon!Dean). Tumblr, 22 Oct 2014.

talking about how Demon!Dean is framed in 10x03, as “Dean prioritizing his own feelings is connoted as evil and not-Dean”

Cairns, Bryan. “Girl Next Door.” Supernatural Magazine, No. 33, Jul 2012, pp. 68 – 71.

“Amy tried to put her monster past behind her. In the end, why did Dean have to kill her? That’s Dean’s nature, too. He’s used to doing what’s needed to protect himself and his brother. For him, it was no different. He didn’t see Amy as a human being; he just saw her as a problem that was going to get worse. As a protector, Dean needed to get Amy out of the way. It was sad because I don’t think he wanted to do it, he just had to.”

castielcommunism. “Untitled” (SPN & biological determinism). Tumblr, 23rd Aug 2021.

later seasons being heavily steeped in biological determinism; “morality on supernatural [as] biologically encoded”

the shift in Lucifer’s rebellion wasn’t from Lucifer’s own choices but because of his corruption by the Mark of Cain

castielcommunism. “Untitled” (More examples of SPN & biological determinism). Tumblr, 10th Nov 2021.

more discussion of biological determinism: all monsters ending up in Purgatory; the only way to get into Heaven, the least shitty afterlife in SPN, is to be born human; the best way to become a powerful witch to be born powerful, training can’t make up for it; how all this intersects w/ the show’s racism & ableism

cor-ardens. “Untitled” (Quote from What Evil Means to Us). Tumblr, 17th Apr 2022.

“What distinguishes sadism from aggression is the sadist’s intense identification with his victim. Sadism is the form that aggression takes when it is fleeing its doom. […] Sadism is the joy of avoiding victimhood, though that puts it too passively. Sadism is the joy of having taken control of the experience of victimhood by inflicting it on another.” C. Fred Alford, What Evil Means to Us

cor-ardens. “Untitled” (Dean, Hell & sexual violence). Tumblr, 24th July 2022.

“#given how closely spn associates hell with sexual violence the implications are terrible”

Hell & sexual violence, undercurrents of Dean as both victim & perpetrator

deadendtracks. “Untitled” (The question of John physically abusing Dean). Tumblr, 7th Jul 2017.

making an argument for John physically abusing Dean based on a lot of subtext, although it’s not necessarily the only read one could have

related to the weirdness of framing around Dean’s violence during the MoC arc, where violence in self-defense was bad but violence to protect others, particularly Sam, was good?

deandelreys. “Untitled” (Dean playing bait in 1x20 as “normal”). Tumblr, 19th Aug 2021.

Dean playing bait as a regular, normalized situation based on everyone’s reactions: John’s “You know what to do” & Dean in fact knowing exactly what to do, Sam not pushing back against it, neither John nor Sam checking in on Dean after Kate assaults him

deandelreys. “Untitled” (Dean in 1x20, 14x14). Tumblr, 3rd Oct 2021.

comparison between 1x20 and then a deleted scene from14x14, where Dean says John had him play the “wide-eyed hitchhiker routine all the time on Hunts”

the writers as aware on some level of this subtext around sexual abuse, Dean playing sexualized bait

horrorshow. “Untitled” (comparison between John, Azazel, and Alastair). Tumblr, 4th Jan 2022.

frozen-delight. thejabberwock-blog1. “Untitled” (Sam & Cas’s reaction to Dean’s violence). Tumblr, 13 Jan 2017.

discussion of Dean’s violence in 10x09 versus 10x22, and how Sam and Cas reacted to it in those eps

in-universe, Sam & Cas reframing the not nice parts of Dean’s character (his fear, anger, violence) as related to the Mark, because it’s the “way that’s most comfortable for them,” that good, heroic Dean wouldn’t really act like that

howmanyangels. “Untitled” (comparing Azazel!John & Dean to Azazel!Samuel and Mary). Tumblr, 24th Feb 2021.

screenshots comparison between Azazel!John in 1x22 menacing Dean to Azazel!Samuel menacing Mary in 4x03

juppschmitz. “Untitled” (Sam’s line from 10x10). Tumblr, 2nd Feb 2014.

the weirdness of Sam’s line to Dean: “So yeah, the Mark is strong, but Dean maybe there’s a part of you that wants to give into it,” and how that doesn’t seem to reflect in how Dean has been shown reacting to the Mark

again, strong vs. weak dichotomy?

juppschmitz. “Untitled” (Mark / Blade DVD commentary). Tumblr, 12th July 2015.

Adam Glass talking about Dean on the DVD commentary for season 10 around the Mark / Blade: “Dean is always going to be a hero, you know, no matter what, he’s always gonna sacrifice everything, for his brother, or for the world, or for anything… I think that’s really […] who he is and who he’s always gonna be."

Dean as a “hero” framed as something innate / natural / admirable, not as a role he was forced into as a kid

juppschmitz. “Untitled” (Jensen on Dean and his Dad). Tumblr, 3rd June 2016.

“At an early age [Dean] was like, ‘This is way more interesting [than a normal life]. I’m on hunting trips with my father. I’m not going to recess!’ …it wasn’t until later in life when he started doubting that and thinking, like, ‘How dare he steal that from me? How DARE he steal my childhood from me?’ And I think that’s probably a conversation that he will have one day with his father. Which… I’d love to film that scene.”

litterae-ignotae, antigonewinchester. “Untitled (Mary & Bela parallels, incest in SPN). Tumblr, 5th May 2022.

discussion of hunting, particularly in the Kripke era, as an idea that evokes incest (isolation, secrecy, complicity) even if one doesn’t read those relationships as literally incestuous

Does this lens apply to / is it still useful for looking at later seasons? Hunting does somewhat shift thematically in s8 after the intro of the Men of Letters, but there still seem to be threads related to Dean here, like in 9x16 w/ Magnus, 9x19 w/ Alex. Also sort of with Crowley’s altar boy “joke” in 11x02?

lovedwinchesters. “Untitled” (Dean’s violence framed thru his DNA). Tumblr, 12th May 2022.

being critical of “Deancrit” that references Dean’s DNA & his “own destructive nature”

“Deancrit” with shades of bio-essentialism, quasi-eugenics ideas here (ppl’s violence is in their DNA).

martyrdeans, veneredirimmel, nottherealdean. “Untitled” (Similar violence judged differently between Sam, Cas & Dean). Tumblr, 4th May 2015.

gifs of Cas choking Dustin, Sam slamming a guy’s head down on a counter, and then Dean slamming a guy’s head on a table; in only Dean’s case, it’s framed as “he’s snapped & is getting worse”

microcomets. “Untitled” (Singer talking about the writing process). Tumblr, 2015.

“When Sera left us, she left Dean in Purgatory and we didn’t know where the hell we were gonna go. But that’s kinda the challenge of the show. We get asked a lot, “Well, how far ahead do you plan?” We’ve never planned — and Eric and Jeremy will tell you this as well — we don’t know what the hell we’re doing the next year.” -Robert Singer

Nelson, Jayne. “Growing Pains.” Supernatural Magazine, No. 33, Jul 2012, pp. 74 – 78.

“It was an interesting quandary because she was Dean’s daughter and perhaps his DNA could have made her overcome her other DNA. She might have taken after her father! There was a sense of a push-pull inside her… at least until she tried to kill him. [Laughs.] ‘I’m gonna follow through with it. I don’t care how handsome you are, I’m gonna do it.’”  

nottherealdean. “Untitled” (weird ending of “There’s No Place Like Home”). Tumblr, 31st Jan 2015.

the focus on Dean hurting Charlie and glossing over how Charlie felt after merging her “dark” and “good” sides (after having killed and tortured ppl herself)

lazy / incomplete writing choices for Charlie’s arc; her character role was to be an expansion for Dean’s story, with her development sidelined

nottherealdean. “Untitled” (“About A Boy,” self-defensive violence versus protective violence). Tumblr, 5th Feb 2015.

Dean being in situations that triggered the Mark when he was trying to help someone (going to help Claire, stopping Dark!Charlie)

in “About a Boy,” Dean uses violence to directly save Sam and then isn’t overwhelmed by the Mark

nottherealdean, “Untitled” (Fandom framings of WTLB/PONR vs. SS/GS). Tumblr, 3rd April 2014.

fandom trends of criticizing Dean for his anger in When the Levee Breaks, Point of No Return in his fights with Sam, Cas and then romanticizing his forgiveness / being there for Sam & Cas in Swan Song, Goodbye Stranger

Is this framing still as much of a fandom pattern in 2022? But perhaps relevant to the writing of the show at the time in 2014/2015. Also how this plays with Colette: a beautiful unconditionally loving wife who’s always forgiving including uhhh *checks notes* after being fatally stabbed by her husband Cain.

nottherealdean. “Untitled” (Gifs compared 10x03, 8x17, 5x18 to 10x22). Tumblr, 22nd Jun 2015.

Dean and Cas’s fight at the end of 10x22 directly mirrors several other ‘fights’ that have happened between them: Cas grabbing Demon!Dean, Cas breaking Dean’s wrist, Cas throwing Dean into the fence

orangemoonchild. “Untitled” (Whitewashing of Sam & Cas’s actions). Tumblr, 24th Apr 2014.

fandom trend of whitewashing Sam and Cas’s actions as compared to Dean; “how they are seen as innately good, and how dean is seen as innately monstrous/vicious/bad”

Fandom framings around innate / natural badness or goodness, character double standards. When / where / why exactly did this theme develop? Say, did ppl talk abt Dean as innately a killer in Kripke’s era too?

pussyhoundspock, ilarual. “Untitled” (Sam reinforcing Dean’s role as hunter). Tumblr, 28 Sept 2021.

Sam in season 2 reinforcing Dean’s role as a hunter when Dean starts to push back against it

“#this is the shit I'm talking about when I say that Sam took over the job of policing Dean's identity after John died #he doesn't have a clue he's doing it and there's no malicious intent from Sam of course #but it's crazy to watch in real time”

riversdark. “Untitled” (Sam, Cas and Colette parallels). Tumblr, 30 Sept 2021.

the Cas = Colette parallel can work but ultimately it’s because of Sam that Dean is able overcome the Mark, not Cas

Sam is one who pulls Dean back from violence several times over seasons 9 & 10, while Cas doesn’t, including in 10x22 when Cas tells Dean to “stop” ala Colette and Dean just beats him up more because of it

swayingwires. “You’re Gonna Have to Let Me Grow Up: the campaign to rescue Sam’s image in five easy steps.” A03. 8th Oct – 10th Dec, 2016.

the parentified dynamic between Sam & Dean, esp around Sam viewing Dean’s mistrust as him being bossy or controlling instead of having valid issues

the narrative pattern of blame shifting, where Sam’s actions & their consequences will get framed as partially Dean’s fault because he reacted badly / didn’t trust Sam / didn’t do X right

Dean’s narrative role being to “preserve the Family” and either being cheered or condemned for doing so

Imo the dynamics laid out in this essay explain A Lot about the writing in season 5 & beyond, and feel particularly relevant to how season 10 plays out. Also once you see it, you can find ppl in fandom uncritically replicating this framing (Dean & his reactions as responsible for Sam’s behavior) all the time 🤔 

swayingwires. “This is What You’re Gonna Become: season 9 as the culmination of Dean Winchester’s thematic roles of identity in SPN,” A03. July 14th, 2017.

Elaine Scarry’s The Body in Pain & Judith Harmon’s Trauma and Recovery as 2 lenses through which to look at Dean’s traumas

connections between Dean’s childhood, raised as a child solider > Dean’s time in Hell > then onto the MoC

veneredirimmel. “The Wounds That Never Heal.” Tumblr, 24th Nov 2014.

speaking to Dean’s moral wounds in early season 10 in the context of his conversation with Cole at the end of 10x07

zudillo, moishecampbell. “Untitled” (how hunting shifts thematically over the show’s run). Tumblr, Nov 2021.

hunting in the early seasons as something explicitly negative, from trauma, taking one’s trauma out on others (“compared directly to serial murder by the text”)

hunting changing to be something less negative after the intro of the Men of Letters; Charlie, Donna, Claire becoming hunters, ““hunting” is almost like a special boys and girls club that anybody can be a part of”

Non-Fandom Resources

Alford, C. Fred. What Evil Means to Us. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1997. (to read?)

“C. Fred Alford interviewed working people, prisoners, and college students in order to discover how people experience evil―in themselves, in others, and in the world. What people meant by evil, he found, was a profound, inchoate feeling of dread so overwhelming that they tried to inflict it on others to be rid of it themselves.”

Black, Edwin. War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race. Expanded edition, Washington, DC, Dialogue Press, 2012. (to read)

history and development of bio-essentialism, the American eugenics movement

Foo, Stephanie. What My Bones Knew: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma. New York, Ballantine Books, 2022. (to read)

personal look at PTSD/cPTSD, trauma from familial abuse, the author speaks to scientists, psychologists as well as exploring her own traumatic childhood

gatheringbones. “Untitled” (American culture & double think). Tumblr, 2021.

American writing (“#morrison vonnegut obrien etc”) as reflecting trauma, the forced forgetting of that trauma as an essential part of American culture

gatheringbones. “Untitled” (Freud & dysfunctional families). Tumblr, 2021.

children / families fighting amongst themselves instead of looking at the dysfunctional family system as a whole

gatheringbones. “Untitled” (Hanya Yanagihara & status quo attitudes around abuse). Tumblr, 2022.

Mainstream stories about abuse, recovery being from an outsider “gothic horror aesthetic of there-but-for-the-grace-of-god-go-I...” perspective, “top down, disinterested, uncurious”

I’ve also read differing opinions on Yanagihara; this is only one pov on her books. Also haven’t read A Little Life myself, which I’d need to do to form my own opinion on it. However, I do wonder abt this attitude around abuse / trauma as something from the SPN writers, in terms of writing ‘what they know,’ as well as a certain tone that can creep into fandom discussions around Dean. But maybe I’m being too cynical here?

Harmon, Judith. Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence – From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. K. 3rd edition, New York, Basic Books, 2015.

in depth and compassionate look at trauma as related to child abuse, captivity, intersecting with PTSD

Norman, Sonya B. and Maguen, Shira. “Moral Injury.” U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 26 July 2021.

defining moral injuries, particularly its connection to combat / soldiers

Scarry, Elaine. The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1985.

discussion of torture, its logic & justifications, particularly around confession / ppl who break under torture

people as represented by the body and God by voice in the Hebrew Bible; pain, work & material making / creation as deeply connected (“we’ve got work for you”)

Shay, Jonathan. Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character. New York, Scribner, 1994. (reading.)

speaks to the psychological wounding of war by comparing characters from the Iliad to real-life experiences of Vietnam veterans with PTSD

Shay originated the idea / term of “moral injury” through his work with Vietnam veterans, the beginnings of it present in this book

A “berserker” state Shay talks abt (fearless, frenzied violence; described by vets as becoming “an animal”) connected to both the MoC arc (for ex, the end of 10x09) and potentially to Dean in Hell (“I carved you into a new animal, Dean. There is no going back.”)

Shay, Jonathan. Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. New York, Scribner, 2002. (To read?)

“In this ambitious follow-up to Achilles in Vietnam, Dr. Jonathan Shay uses the Odyssey, the story of a soldier's homecoming, to illuminate the pitfalls that trap many veterans on the road back to civilian life.”

Zehr, Howard. “Good and Bad Victims?” Zehr Institute for Restorative Justice, 29 Nov 2011.

“It is tempting for restorative justice advocates, consciously or not, to differentiate between “good” and “bad victims.” Good victims are those who are ready to forgive and reconcile; bad victims are those who are angry, punitive and unforgiving.”