At What Point Does One Pass From Fan Territory Into Stan Territory???

At what point does one pass from fan territory into stan territory???

While we're on the topic, I found several eps of s1 (just off the top of my head, there's probably more throughout) extremely racist towards Indigenous peoples of America — obviously s1 ep2 appropriates and bastardises a figure from Algonquin mythology, and has the white heroes saving the white people from the evil Indigenous creature. Then s1 ep8 "bugs" where the ~evil~ Indigenous American curse is attacking perfect white suburbia. The pro-settler pro-colonial pro-white rhetoric is not even a little bit subtle in the early seasons. Someone else did a good, in depth (which this is Not) analysis on why the croatoan storyline is racist and dehumanising.

"Bugs" in particular struck me, because the plot is essentially that white people commissioned the building of a beautiful and expensive suburban development on Indigenous land. The development is framed as being state of the art and luxurious, an idealistic emblem of the white American fantasy. It is framed as the sort of place anyone in their right mind would want to live, but it's exclusively for the well-off (there's a brief scene at the beginning where one of the construction workers says he'd love to live there, but will never be able to afford it). It's framed as being a welcoming society, one of the estate agents says (paraphrase) "we welcome residents of all ages, nationalities, and sexual orientations (insert homophobic joke about Sam and Dean being mistaken for a couple). Yet the episode is clear that only the rich, white and socially conforming actually get to live in these houses.

However, the 'monster' of the week is a curse invoked by the building of the development over the bones of the Indigenous people who lived on the land before it was colonised. The episode makes it clear that the colonisation was violent and brutal. Any useful criticism of the inherent exclusionism of white suburbia flies out the window here as the episode focuses on the ~evil~ curse, which attacks the residents in the form of bugs. The episode goes out of it's way to paint the residents as innocent victims and Indigenous people as manifestly inhuman — as bugs, explicitly, and I am sure I don't have to unpack all of the symbolism of that for the point to be clear.

The brothers are then cast in the role of protectors of white suburbia — which is the ultimate role for them in the framework of the show — where saving people and hunting things puts anyone who isn't white firmly in the "things" category. The episode is blatant in positioning colonisers as victims and Indigenous Americans as the evil magical force threatening the ideal manifestation of the nuclear family and the white American dream.

The episode places utopian suburbia, which is white, rich, socially conforming, superficially inclusive but actually exclusionary towards any outsider group, in the role of the innocent victim. What might have been a commentary on the evils of suburbia turned into an endorsement of those same values, all while dehumanising Indigenous Americans to the level of comparing them to insects. Truly, the show outdid itself with the racism here.

Anyway, donate to the Yuchi Language Project because they're the ones explicitly named (& vilanised) in this episode.

I made a uquiz: Which verison of destiel are you !!  please take it :)

dean on his very successful cooking blog: well, fellow parents, there’s a chill in the air, which means it’s that time of year again! school supply shopping time! my husband is going to have a blast at target picking out new folders and notebooks, since our son jack starts first grade in a week! boy does time fly! when i was his age, six years old, i witnessed my father kill a man in front of me for the first time. it damaged my fragile psyche in ways that i can’t unpack even now, as i approach my late forties. if it wasn’t for the help of my husband and family, i’d likely still be picking at the metaphorical scabs of that particular trauma. below you can find my recipe for seasonal squash soup, which, while i only ever had it once with my uncle bobby while growing up, provided a comforting memory to me during those cold september nights spent in cheap motel rooms, as i was mentally preparing myself to shoplift bread for my brother and i so we could eat the next afternoon. 

Curious female shark  showing off swimming on her back.This is rare to see ! 🤯

Imagine Dean, telling Charlie all about Cas. Telling her ‘this is my best friend’ and gushing about Cas for hours. He tells her about Cas’ quirky traits and the silly phrases Cas says that make Dean laugh, to the way Cas humors him and goes along with whatever Dean wants- whether its hunt related or just whatever movie night Dean has planned. Dean talks Cas up; explaining how damn good the angel is in a fight, but that it’s not about Cas’ angel powers, more that Cas is well, Cas, and there’s nothing the angel can’t do. He even quietly says how Cas has taught him a lot- about free will and family and to follow his heart instead of his brain. And hours later, when Dean has made himself hoarse from talking about Cas and only Cas, he finally says, “I’ve never had a best friend before, but Cas just… he just stole that spot, you know? Sorta snuck up and became my best friend without even knowing it.” And Charlie looks at him, and she smiles; not teasing or gloating, just soft and reassuring. Instead, she reaches out, placing her hand ever-so-gently on Dean’s knees, and she squeeze softly. “I know you’ve never had a best friend before so you don’t know what it feels like, and maybe I don’t know much about it either because I’ve always been on my own. But if there’s one thing I do know, no one talks about their best friend like that. Not unless their best friend happens to be their crush or their lover. There’s nothing wrong with that, Dean. It’s okay, you know. To have a crush on your best friend. You know everyone says the best relationships are the ones where your lover is your best friend, because there’s no one else you’d want by your side. If your partner is your best friend, you know you’ve found the one.” And suddenly Dean is reeling, and oh God oh God, Charlie’s right. This whole time… he’s been calling Cas his best friend. But Cas is more than that. So so so much more. And it’s there, in that moment with Charlie, that Dean realizes he’s absolutely head-over-heels in love with his best friend.