To Destiel or to not Destiel? That is the Question.

This is a reply to the article written in Digital Spy entitled “ Supernatural finally confirms ‘Destiel’ in the worst possible way.” by David Opie — You can read the article here. I think this subject matter needs to be addressed in the larger context of queer people and popular art as well as the role of fanfiction and ‘shipping’.

• MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD*

I loved Supernatural up to Season 5. I mean, I loved it. The acting, the storyline, the ARC, all of it had excellent writing, drama, and incredible scenery.
The story was supposed to end there.
Fifteen years later, ten years longer than the creators planned to run, it finally ended.
Season Six was okay, Season seven was terrible, but the following seasons made up for it even if the original writer wasn’t there and became a little campy.
I stopped watching, however, when the Archangel Michael finally inhabits Dean’s body to kill Lucifer.
Yet, the show ended a couple of years later.
It had a phenomenal run.
I did, however, watch the final clips. *Spoilers Ahead*
Dean’s Death. Castiel’s goodbye and his death. Sam growing old, and finally, HIS end and reunification of the two in heaven.
They wanted so many more people to be present, per Ackles, but due to Covid, it wasn’t fair to drag them all over to quarantine in Canada for two weeks for one scene.
That being said, I read this article concerning “Diestiel” (Dean/Castiel) and the disappointment of SPN fandom over the fact that they feel ‘queer baited’ by the show.
In the clip they’re referencing, Castiel pours out his heart to Dean and says, “I love you,” while Dean sort of non-responds or responds with, “Why does this sound like a goodbye?”
Tears. Death. (No one cries better than Jensen Ackles, I swear.)
I digress.
The backlash over this scene and how the writers didn’t fulfill specific fantasies is precious.
And by ‘precious,’ I mean annoying. Seriously. Hardcore. Fucking. Annoying.
To me, Queerbaiting was the episode where The Magicians killed off the bisexual character after he’d spent a lifetime with his lover. There was queerness written, intentionally, into the fabric of a show, and then to add insult to injury, the suicidal character goes through with his suicide.
I stopped watching the show for that.
Supernatural?
I think it’s more of a question of which came first? The Chicken or the Egg?
The show wasn’t written back in 2005 (years before marriage equality) to be rife with queer characters. The ‘subtext’ that everyone read into may or may not have been there at points, but I took the characters, especially Dean, as a womanizing, alcoholic, codependent mess. The result of situations beyond his control and a shitty father headed toward a bad end.
Sure, the Cas character came, and there may have been some subtext to it, even queer subtext, maybe Castiel was even queer, but does that mean that Dean should have been Queer for Cas in the end?
I think every queer person in the world has fallen for a straight person at one time or another. I have. But the fact of the matter is, no matter how much you “love” that person romantically, and no matter how much that person loves you back, platonically, it isn’t EVER going to change the person — unless that person is queer.
We spend so much of our energy telling the world that “We were born this way,” letting people know that we didn’t ‘choose’ to be gay, so on and so forth, that we should know better than to try and undermine someone else’s inherent sexuality. Straight people were also ‘born that way’.
I know people have spent uncountable hours writing their own ‘fanfiction’ and ‘shipping’ characters they see on t.v. (I ship Congress Woman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Congressman Daniel Crenshaw because I think they would have a moderating effect on each other and create political harmony. I also thing they’re both fucking adorable.) and while that may mean something to you, specifically, it doesn’t mean it should influence the actual creator’s creation itself. Or pressure them to do things they may not want to do, artistically or otherwise.
Would it have alienated people from watching the show? Probably not.
If you could go 15 seasons of the brothers dying and being resurrected only to die again, and again, and again, you’re dedicated. You’re in it for the long haul. Honestly, I’m surprised one of them didn’t end up IN a homosexual relationship at the point because the story was simply running out of story. It’s just that I don’t think a man telling another man “I love you” means that there has to be queer subtext there.
For as much as we rail against the desensitizing of the male gender, the inability to connect emotionally, the alpha nonsense that leads to abuse and rape culture, only to turn around and write books with literal “Alpha males” in them in societies revolving around “ specialized, sandbox-like universe, of actual nonconsenting rape culture’ (Omegaverse) it’s pretty ironic for us to put the strain back ON men who do say they love each other, to want also to eat each other’s ass like groceries.
Which one is it?
Honestly? You don’t know, and with an article like this, it shows.