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Hornick
Transformative Works and Cultures, Vol 4 (2010)
Book review
In the hunt: Unauthorized essays on "Supernatural," edited by
Supernatural.tv
Alysa Hornick
New York, New York, United States
[0.1] KeywordsÏFan; Television
Hornick, Alysa. 2010. In the hunt: Unauthorized essays on "Supernatural,"
edited by Supernatural.tv [book review]. Transformative Works and Cultures,
no. 4.
.
doi:10.3983/twc.2010.0161
Supernatural.tv, ed. In the hunt: Unauthorized essays on "Supernatural." Dallas,
TX: BenBella Books, 2009, paper, $14.95 (275p) ISBN 978-1-933771-63-2.
[1] In the Hunt: Unauthorized Essays on "Supernatural" is a collection of essays
about the television show Supernatural, and to some extent its fandom and fan
works. Although at a glance this collection may seem targeted toward fans and too
casual for an academic readership, taken as a whole, it offers a broad and
insightful look at its subject from many angles and proves surprisingly thought-
provoking.
[2] In the Hunt is among the more recent entries in BenBella Books' Smart Pop
series, which since 2003 has published collections of essays investigating popular
culture texts and characters. The series takes pride in being accessible to
nonacademics, in being "seriousÈbut not too serious" (Smart Pop Web site:
), though it accepts submissions from all kinds
of writersÏby invitation only. Thanks to this formula, some names have become
familiar across the series. In the Hunt, however, breaks from the formula by
including three essays written by winners of a fan contest co-organized with the
fan Web site Supernatural.tv, and by naming this Web site as editor of the volume.
As a result, In the Hunt, in addition to being the first officially published collection
on Supernatural of its kind, also functions as a kind of snapshot illustrating some
of the enduring tensions between academia, fandom, and publishing.
[3] The essays are not organized into stated sections, but a topical continuum is
discernible: family, horror and fear, religion and morality, heroism and sacrifice,
misogyny, gender and sexuality, identity and transgression, fandom and fan
1 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
works, specific objects and secondary characters in the show, and folklore and
other sources. The use of such a continuum reinforces the idea that the collection
should be taken as a whole rather than in parts. However, other elements
ultimately harm the impression of integrity. Aside from the unavoidable tensions
between academia and fans, the book also reveals a consistent and troubling
gendered divide between stereotypically male and female interests in the show and
its fandomÏso much so that it may color some readers' receptivity to the ideas
presented.
[4] The foreword, "Not Just a Pretty Face (or Two)," by Keith R. A. DeCandido,
who has written for other Smart Pop titles as well as penning some Supernatural
tie-in novels, sets the tone by its very title, and also by opening with a fannish
inside joke about his "bizarre" position as a "heterosexual man" in the "sea of
female faces" (ix) that constitutes most of Supernatural fandom. This joke, while
well intentioned, may seem off-putting, as may its essential message: that it's
okay for a straight man to enjoy this show as long as his interests in it are
masculine enough. Although it can be argued that gender is irrelevant to authorial
respectability, the fact that DeCandido was asked to provide this foreword can be
read as a paternalistic and potentially offensive swipe at the heavily female
scholarship that it precedes. The introduction by Dawn (aka kittsbud, Webmaster
of Supernatural.tv) thankfully improves things, outlining further and deeper
reasons that many fans love the show. In addition, the naming of a single author
here, writing on behalf of the Web site named as the editor, helps highlight the
book's multivalent position as it strives to be seen as a serious scholarly effort by
individual voices and yet still maintain the patina of a communal, fan-generated
project.
[5] Within this context, the essays most likely to be of interest to academics are
those by Mary Borsellino, Jacob Clifton, Carol Poole, and Emily Turner. They are
grouped together in the collection on the basis of their interconnected discussions
of gender, sexuality, identity, psychology, and fandom. It is useful to read them
together to form a more complete picture of the way the inherent complexity of
these topics is handled by both the show and those seeking to critique it.
[6] In "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jo the Monster Killer: Supernatural's Excluded
Heroines," Borsellino tackles the issue of sexism. Supernatural often attempts to
position itself as relentlessly masculine, and one by-product of this is the continual
stereotyping and degrading of female characters. Focusing mainly on the character
Jo Harvelle, Borsellino illustrates some of the ways in which Supernatural can be
painfully retrograde in its gender politics, particularly as an example of post-Buffy
genre television. This makes one give serious and necessary pause to either casual
enjoyment of or deep investment in the show, and it should inform the work of
any subsequent discourse. Interestingly, an earlier version of this essay appeared
2 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
in a fan-produced, self-published, not-for-profit compilation (Jules Wilkinson and
Andie Masino, Some of Us Really Do Watch for the Plot: A Collection of
"Supernatural" Essays, 2007), and although Borsellino is not the only writer who
contributed to both of these collections (in fact, appearance in Some of Us may
have influenced an essay's inclusion in In the Hunt), the double recycling taking
place hereÏfrom Some of Us and from online fandom meta before itÏmay have
the deleterious effect of undermining the legitimization of fannish writing that is
part of In the Hunt's mission. It may serve to deny a reading of Some of Us, and
perhaps any similar fannish projects by extension, as important in any larger
context. Although Borsellino's essay is one of the strongest in either collection,
and its presence in In the Hunt ensures that it can reach the much larger audience
it deserves, it is disappointing that such an outspoken writer would choose to
recycle an essay rather than produce new workÏperhaps on the same subject but
treating the show's third season.
[7] Clifton's "Spreading Disaster: Gender in the Supernatural Universe," one of
the longest entries in the collection, is as meandering as its predecessor is
pointed. Clifton gamely examines the question of why Supernatural has such a
large female fan base, reflecting the long-standing scholarly interest in female fan
identification with male protagonists. He argues that the show's heroes are
phallically-charged "masculine characters traversing a female landscape" (123)
and posits that the show is thus driven by the resulting conflicts. The heroes'
quest, then, must be one of containing, rejecting, and only occasionally
compromising with the Female. Clifton also argues that the tensions exhibited by
fans whenever new female characters are introduced are a natural outgrowth of
the audience's established identification with the heroes. This is a valid reading,
but also a provocative and troubling one, in that Clifton relies on traditional
definitions of "femaleness" that equate it with "Otherness," evil, shadows, and
permeability, doing little to problematize them or to problematize the notion of
traditional masculinity. Clifton raises many good questions about the nature of
fannish enjoyment but does not fully succeed in answering any of them; he never
quite connects the presence of a "female landscape" (though one that still
privileges the male gaze) to a working explanation of why so many women enjoy
the show. However, by implying that female and queer enjoyment of Supernatural
might only occur by reading against the text and "around the edges," and stating
that "fan creative output [is] just as importantÈas the canonical work itself" (124),
Clifton leaves the door open for further consideration.
[8] Next comes Poole's "Who Threw Momma on the Ceiling? Analyzing
Supernatural's Primal Scene of Trauma." A practicing psychotherapist, Poole uses
"depth psychology" (144) to present an elegant and captivating analysis of Mary
Winchester's death scene and its subsequent influence on the characters and the
narrative. Poole states plainly that "there is no way to construe this as a feminist
3 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
show" (149), but she also positions Supernatural as a postmodern statement on
loss, place, identity, and gender, provides a gentle and sensitive take on what she
sees as the Winchesters brothers' quest to heal themselves from the loss of the
Mother, and draws connections between this quest and that of American
mythology, which seeks to "put [fragmented stories] either to rest or together"
(151). The placement of Poole's essay between two very different entries on
gender and transgression renders it even more poignant, but it is a standout essay
in the collection, and a good starting point for further investigation into the
psychology, postmodern fragmentation, and myth building of the characters and
their world.
[9] In "Scary Just Got Sexy: Transgression in Supernatural and its Fanfiction,"
Turner looks at the form and content of Supernatural fan fiction and discusses how
such works can function as metatexts reflecting back on the show, which itself
features themes of transgression. Turner spends more time discussing fan works
than discussing the show itselfÏnot a surprise considering her background in
acafandomÏbut this discussion sheds much light on the content of the show
regardless, which is exactly what much fan fiction attempts to do anyway, making
this essay a cogent example of its own argument. Turner also touches on the idea
that fandom's love of transgression and metatextuality function as a mirror for the
show's clear love of intertextuality, most visible in Supernatural's frequent
callbacks to classic horror cinema and filmmaking. This idea leaves open new
areas for the study of intertextuality on the show, and between the show and its
fandom. Although the analysis sticks closely to the specifics of Supernatural fan
works, this is a standout piece for anyone interested in fan studies in general.
[10] Aside from the essays featured above, there is plenty more here with which
scholars can concern themselves. At the start of the collection, Tanya Huff's
"We're Not Exactly the Bradys" begins a section about family dynamics in
Supernatural by discussing what can be inferred about John Winchester and his
sons' childhoods and emotional development vis--vis his parenting. Segueing into
a section on horror and fear, Randall M. Jensen's "What's Supernatural About
Supernatural?" then examines the show's ideas of what renders something
supernatural, and whether such things have actually been rendered natural within
the show's created world. Jensen also addresses the notion of familial love as a
common source of horror, and the show's place within the larger horror genre
canon. In "Horror, Humanity, and the Demon in the Mirror," Gregory StevensonÏa
professor of theology perhaps best known in acafannish circles for his work on
morality in Buffy the Vampire SlayerÏhere writes again about morality and
sacrifice, and also about fairy tales and monsters as metaphors.
[11] Tanya Michaels's essay concerns heroism and sacrifice. Her "Dean
Winchester: Bad-Ass or Soccer Mom?" analyzes Dean's presentation as a kind of
4 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
bad boy with a heart of gold, who outwardly exhibits the trappings of rebellion but
is at heart a loyal nurturer who takes on family responsibility as a full-time job, and
who exhibits the most emotional vulnerability of the three Winchester men.
Michaels notes that "bad-ass" and "soccer mom" do not have to be mutually
exclusive roles (although there still exist unexamined, underlying assumptions
about gender here). In a section on specific objects and secondary characters,
Jules Wilkinson's "Back in Black" is one of two essays focusing on the Winchesters'
car as mirror and symbol, especially for Dean, and also as a separate character in
itself. The car's endless crisscrossing of America is conflated with the idea of the
postmodern Road to Nowhere.
[12] From another perspective entirely, Jamie Chambers's "Blue Collar Ghost
Hunters" offers a practical guide to supernatural "hunting" as if it were real and
celebrates the Winchesters' "have-not" way of life. Chambers, a game designer
who has worked on the official Supernatural role-playing game, is full of interesting
and useful observations, but his essay also exudes a kind of reverse snobbery,
touting the have-not way of life as ethically superior to one with more
privilegeÏthe kind of life likely shared by most of the show's viewers. It's a
striking position to take when one considers how little the topic of class difference
is directly addressed within the show itself, but this essay's macho blue-collar
posturing comes off not as interrogative commentary but as an expression of
earnest admiration. This will undoubtedly help to prompt further inquiry into class
issues on the show, but it also becomes another example of how male and female
fans' concerns are positioned as jarringly disconnected.
[13] The collection closes with London E. Brickley's "Ghouls in Cyberspace:
Supernatural Sources in the Modern, Demon-Blogging World." Brickley, one of the
fan contest winners, discusses the influence of modern technology in the show's
narrative and on audience perception of it and points to the pervasiveness of the
Internet, which she identifies as a kind of folkloric practice writ large because of its
role as contemporary society's tool for rewriting and contributing to folklore and
mythology. Supernatural's characters frequently put modern information
technology on par with ancient tomes, and the audience never questions this
parity. These characters use the tools that we give them, situating themselves in
our "real world" as we create it. Brickley weaves a fascinating metatext here, one
that manages to be about the show, the audience, and modern life itself.
[14] Ultimately, In the Hunt is not without its flaws, but it broaches an
impressive variety of ideas and gives academic readers much food for thought.
One can hope that future scholars will build on this collection to present even more
thorough and nuanced work on this complex show and its fandom.
5 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl chiara76.opx.pl
Hornick
Transformative Works and Cultures, Vol 4 (2010)
Book review
In the hunt: Unauthorized essays on "Supernatural," edited by
Supernatural.tv
Alysa Hornick
New York, New York, United States
[0.1] KeywordsÏFan; Television
Hornick, Alysa. 2010. In the hunt: Unauthorized essays on "Supernatural,"
edited by Supernatural.tv [book review]. Transformative Works and Cultures,
no. 4.
.
doi:10.3983/twc.2010.0161
Supernatural.tv, ed. In the hunt: Unauthorized essays on "Supernatural." Dallas,
TX: BenBella Books, 2009, paper, $14.95 (275p) ISBN 978-1-933771-63-2.
[1] In the Hunt: Unauthorized Essays on "Supernatural" is a collection of essays
about the television show Supernatural, and to some extent its fandom and fan
works. Although at a glance this collection may seem targeted toward fans and too
casual for an academic readership, taken as a whole, it offers a broad and
insightful look at its subject from many angles and proves surprisingly thought-
provoking.
[2] In the Hunt is among the more recent entries in BenBella Books' Smart Pop
series, which since 2003 has published collections of essays investigating popular
culture texts and characters. The series takes pride in being accessible to
nonacademics, in being "seriousÈbut not too serious" (Smart Pop Web site:
), though it accepts submissions from all kinds
of writersÏby invitation only. Thanks to this formula, some names have become
familiar across the series. In the Hunt, however, breaks from the formula by
including three essays written by winners of a fan contest co-organized with the
fan Web site Supernatural.tv, and by naming this Web site as editor of the volume.
As a result, In the Hunt, in addition to being the first officially published collection
on Supernatural of its kind, also functions as a kind of snapshot illustrating some
of the enduring tensions between academia, fandom, and publishing.
[3] The essays are not organized into stated sections, but a topical continuum is
discernible: family, horror and fear, religion and morality, heroism and sacrifice,
misogyny, gender and sexuality, identity and transgression, fandom and fan
1 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
works, specific objects and secondary characters in the show, and folklore and
other sources. The use of such a continuum reinforces the idea that the collection
should be taken as a whole rather than in parts. However, other elements
ultimately harm the impression of integrity. Aside from the unavoidable tensions
between academia and fans, the book also reveals a consistent and troubling
gendered divide between stereotypically male and female interests in the show and
its fandomÏso much so that it may color some readers' receptivity to the ideas
presented.
[4] The foreword, "Not Just a Pretty Face (or Two)," by Keith R. A. DeCandido,
who has written for other Smart Pop titles as well as penning some Supernatural
tie-in novels, sets the tone by its very title, and also by opening with a fannish
inside joke about his "bizarre" position as a "heterosexual man" in the "sea of
female faces" (ix) that constitutes most of Supernatural fandom. This joke, while
well intentioned, may seem off-putting, as may its essential message: that it's
okay for a straight man to enjoy this show as long as his interests in it are
masculine enough. Although it can be argued that gender is irrelevant to authorial
respectability, the fact that DeCandido was asked to provide this foreword can be
read as a paternalistic and potentially offensive swipe at the heavily female
scholarship that it precedes. The introduction by Dawn (aka kittsbud, Webmaster
of Supernatural.tv) thankfully improves things, outlining further and deeper
reasons that many fans love the show. In addition, the naming of a single author
here, writing on behalf of the Web site named as the editor, helps highlight the
book's multivalent position as it strives to be seen as a serious scholarly effort by
individual voices and yet still maintain the patina of a communal, fan-generated
project.
[5] Within this context, the essays most likely to be of interest to academics are
those by Mary Borsellino, Jacob Clifton, Carol Poole, and Emily Turner. They are
grouped together in the collection on the basis of their interconnected discussions
of gender, sexuality, identity, psychology, and fandom. It is useful to read them
together to form a more complete picture of the way the inherent complexity of
these topics is handled by both the show and those seeking to critique it.
[6] In "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jo the Monster Killer: Supernatural's Excluded
Heroines," Borsellino tackles the issue of sexism. Supernatural often attempts to
position itself as relentlessly masculine, and one by-product of this is the continual
stereotyping and degrading of female characters. Focusing mainly on the character
Jo Harvelle, Borsellino illustrates some of the ways in which Supernatural can be
painfully retrograde in its gender politics, particularly as an example of post-Buffy
genre television. This makes one give serious and necessary pause to either casual
enjoyment of or deep investment in the show, and it should inform the work of
any subsequent discourse. Interestingly, an earlier version of this essay appeared
2 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
in a fan-produced, self-published, not-for-profit compilation (Jules Wilkinson and
Andie Masino, Some of Us Really Do Watch for the Plot: A Collection of
"Supernatural" Essays, 2007), and although Borsellino is not the only writer who
contributed to both of these collections (in fact, appearance in Some of Us may
have influenced an essay's inclusion in In the Hunt), the double recycling taking
place hereÏfrom Some of Us and from online fandom meta before itÏmay have
the deleterious effect of undermining the legitimization of fannish writing that is
part of In the Hunt's mission. It may serve to deny a reading of Some of Us, and
perhaps any similar fannish projects by extension, as important in any larger
context. Although Borsellino's essay is one of the strongest in either collection,
and its presence in In the Hunt ensures that it can reach the much larger audience
it deserves, it is disappointing that such an outspoken writer would choose to
recycle an essay rather than produce new workÏperhaps on the same subject but
treating the show's third season.
[7] Clifton's "Spreading Disaster: Gender in the Supernatural Universe," one of
the longest entries in the collection, is as meandering as its predecessor is
pointed. Clifton gamely examines the question of why Supernatural has such a
large female fan base, reflecting the long-standing scholarly interest in female fan
identification with male protagonists. He argues that the show's heroes are
phallically-charged "masculine characters traversing a female landscape" (123)
and posits that the show is thus driven by the resulting conflicts. The heroes'
quest, then, must be one of containing, rejecting, and only occasionally
compromising with the Female. Clifton also argues that the tensions exhibited by
fans whenever new female characters are introduced are a natural outgrowth of
the audience's established identification with the heroes. This is a valid reading,
but also a provocative and troubling one, in that Clifton relies on traditional
definitions of "femaleness" that equate it with "Otherness," evil, shadows, and
permeability, doing little to problematize them or to problematize the notion of
traditional masculinity. Clifton raises many good questions about the nature of
fannish enjoyment but does not fully succeed in answering any of them; he never
quite connects the presence of a "female landscape" (though one that still
privileges the male gaze) to a working explanation of why so many women enjoy
the show. However, by implying that female and queer enjoyment of Supernatural
might only occur by reading against the text and "around the edges," and stating
that "fan creative output [is] just as importantÈas the canonical work itself" (124),
Clifton leaves the door open for further consideration.
[8] Next comes Poole's "Who Threw Momma on the Ceiling? Analyzing
Supernatural's Primal Scene of Trauma." A practicing psychotherapist, Poole uses
"depth psychology" (144) to present an elegant and captivating analysis of Mary
Winchester's death scene and its subsequent influence on the characters and the
narrative. Poole states plainly that "there is no way to construe this as a feminist
3 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
show" (149), but she also positions Supernatural as a postmodern statement on
loss, place, identity, and gender, provides a gentle and sensitive take on what she
sees as the Winchesters brothers' quest to heal themselves from the loss of the
Mother, and draws connections between this quest and that of American
mythology, which seeks to "put [fragmented stories] either to rest or together"
(151). The placement of Poole's essay between two very different entries on
gender and transgression renders it even more poignant, but it is a standout essay
in the collection, and a good starting point for further investigation into the
psychology, postmodern fragmentation, and myth building of the characters and
their world.
[9] In "Scary Just Got Sexy: Transgression in Supernatural and its Fanfiction,"
Turner looks at the form and content of Supernatural fan fiction and discusses how
such works can function as metatexts reflecting back on the show, which itself
features themes of transgression. Turner spends more time discussing fan works
than discussing the show itselfÏnot a surprise considering her background in
acafandomÏbut this discussion sheds much light on the content of the show
regardless, which is exactly what much fan fiction attempts to do anyway, making
this essay a cogent example of its own argument. Turner also touches on the idea
that fandom's love of transgression and metatextuality function as a mirror for the
show's clear love of intertextuality, most visible in Supernatural's frequent
callbacks to classic horror cinema and filmmaking. This idea leaves open new
areas for the study of intertextuality on the show, and between the show and its
fandom. Although the analysis sticks closely to the specifics of Supernatural fan
works, this is a standout piece for anyone interested in fan studies in general.
[10] Aside from the essays featured above, there is plenty more here with which
scholars can concern themselves. At the start of the collection, Tanya Huff's
"We're Not Exactly the Bradys" begins a section about family dynamics in
Supernatural by discussing what can be inferred about John Winchester and his
sons' childhoods and emotional development vis--vis his parenting. Segueing into
a section on horror and fear, Randall M. Jensen's "What's Supernatural About
Supernatural?" then examines the show's ideas of what renders something
supernatural, and whether such things have actually been rendered natural within
the show's created world. Jensen also addresses the notion of familial love as a
common source of horror, and the show's place within the larger horror genre
canon. In "Horror, Humanity, and the Demon in the Mirror," Gregory StevensonÏa
professor of theology perhaps best known in acafannish circles for his work on
morality in Buffy the Vampire SlayerÏhere writes again about morality and
sacrifice, and also about fairy tales and monsters as metaphors.
[11] Tanya Michaels's essay concerns heroism and sacrifice. Her "Dean
Winchester: Bad-Ass or Soccer Mom?" analyzes Dean's presentation as a kind of
4 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
Hornick
bad boy with a heart of gold, who outwardly exhibits the trappings of rebellion but
is at heart a loyal nurturer who takes on family responsibility as a full-time job, and
who exhibits the most emotional vulnerability of the three Winchester men.
Michaels notes that "bad-ass" and "soccer mom" do not have to be mutually
exclusive roles (although there still exist unexamined, underlying assumptions
about gender here). In a section on specific objects and secondary characters,
Jules Wilkinson's "Back in Black" is one of two essays focusing on the Winchesters'
car as mirror and symbol, especially for Dean, and also as a separate character in
itself. The car's endless crisscrossing of America is conflated with the idea of the
postmodern Road to Nowhere.
[12] From another perspective entirely, Jamie Chambers's "Blue Collar Ghost
Hunters" offers a practical guide to supernatural "hunting" as if it were real and
celebrates the Winchesters' "have-not" way of life. Chambers, a game designer
who has worked on the official Supernatural role-playing game, is full of interesting
and useful observations, but his essay also exudes a kind of reverse snobbery,
touting the have-not way of life as ethically superior to one with more
privilegeÏthe kind of life likely shared by most of the show's viewers. It's a
striking position to take when one considers how little the topic of class difference
is directly addressed within the show itself, but this essay's macho blue-collar
posturing comes off not as interrogative commentary but as an expression of
earnest admiration. This will undoubtedly help to prompt further inquiry into class
issues on the show, but it also becomes another example of how male and female
fans' concerns are positioned as jarringly disconnected.
[13] The collection closes with London E. Brickley's "Ghouls in Cyberspace:
Supernatural Sources in the Modern, Demon-Blogging World." Brickley, one of the
fan contest winners, discusses the influence of modern technology in the show's
narrative and on audience perception of it and points to the pervasiveness of the
Internet, which she identifies as a kind of folkloric practice writ large because of its
role as contemporary society's tool for rewriting and contributing to folklore and
mythology. Supernatural's characters frequently put modern information
technology on par with ancient tomes, and the audience never questions this
parity. These characters use the tools that we give them, situating themselves in
our "real world" as we create it. Brickley weaves a fascinating metatext here, one
that manages to be about the show, the audience, and modern life itself.
[14] Ultimately, In the Hunt is not without its flaws, but it broaches an
impressive variety of ideas and gives academic readers much food for thought.
One can hope that future scholars will build on this collection to present even more
thorough and nuanced work on this complex show and its fandom.
5 z 5
2011-11-15 19:28
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]