Regardless of the subject
matter, regardless of the genre, a text in the modern world will be glimpsed
through a skeptical lens by most readers. In this culture of criticism and
irony, we are reluctant to suspend our disbelief, and to let art do work on us
without pushing back. This episode of Supernatural cleverly employs evident
self-awareness and self-deprecation in a way that disarms the would-be cynical
viewers. We feel solidarity with the characters as they reflect our mentality.
In our camaraderie, we find trust, and Supernatural is able to manipulate us.
Sam and Dean stand in for us in this episode: as they “read”
their own story and react to it, they voice many of our opinions and express
our emotions towards the show. The more we identify with them, the more we
allow them to act in our stead. They deride the fact that their lives could be
pre-ordained. They are exasperated by the notion that Chuck wrote them such a
tortuous and extremely adverse path. Eventually, they find Chuck, and their
whole situation, absurd. We empathize with them. Or really, they empathize with
us, and we feel bonded to them for it. When we hear an arch-angel might be the
means of saving Sam, we are thankful rather than sardonic. When Lilith brings
“real” danger to the plot, we are no longer critically detached.
When Lilith proposed a deal with Sam to save the world,
he gasps, affronted, “You expect me to believe THAT?” She counters, “No. But it’s
the truth.” This exchange speaks to the mechanism of the entire episode. We
look over the fantastical, contrived, Supernatural world and we take umbrage
with the suggestion that we could be fooled to align with such nonsense. Lilith’s
manipulative “No” is played out by Sam and Dean, who repeatedly remind us that
they, like us, don’t believe a word out of Chuck’s mouth. These guys are
sensible. They are like me. “…it’s the truth.” We believe you.
This post does a great job of shining a light on the surreal and stressful rollercoaster ride that was the viewer experience. The point that Sam and Dean become our surrogates is spot on. Even this surrogacy may be viewed as a manipulation technique. After the audience finds that their reactions mirror those of Dean and Sam in the beginning of the show, they become less headstrong and more trusting of their interpreters: the protagonists. The program has the power to slightly change the audience reactions by trapping them in a perpetual "yeah, what they said!" agreement with Sam and Dean.
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