InsaneJournal

Wayward Son: Supernatural and Spirituality pt3


And if I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don’t know

A previous season had a Monster of the Week named Samael. The Samael on the show was a different demon than the actual mythological figure, but “Samael” means “Blind God/God of the Blind”, another name for the Demiurg, the “false God” of Gnosticism. A lower being created accidentally who thinks he’s God but actually isn’t. Not that “Samuel” and “Samael” are the same name…exactly…although I’m sure someone could argue convincingly for that, but the show has made a point of foreshadowing Sam’s character arc by including other Monsters of the Week who have names that include the word “Sam”. The Samael of Gnostic mythology is not evil, he’s more like a temperamental teenager who quite literally thinks he invented everything. Which is how Sam Winchester’s father and brother were likely to describe him at the start of the series.

As if to color in this picture more, we get this dialogue with Dean and Anna in the episode “Heaven and Hell”.
"I was stationed on earth two-thousand years. Just watching. Silent, invisible, out on the road, sick for home -- waiting on orders from an unknowable father I can't begin to understand, so don't tell me that..." her voice trails off as Dean laughs. "What is so funny?"
Dean rubs his face and tries to settle down. "Nothing, sorry, it's just...I can relate."- quote courtesy of TwoP

So right there we have a comparison of John to God, which is at the same time, exactly the opposite of how the boys relate to actual God. Sam believed in and sought out Actual God, while Dean couldn’t fathom the idea that God might not only exist but love and want to help him, so the first time he met an angel he assumed it was a threat. But when it comes to John, Sam is actually the rebellious son, not Dean (Dean even accuses him of being “selfish” in an earlier episode) in spite of the fact that to the outside world, Dean is the one who is always breaking the rules, to the Winchester family, Dean is the good son because Dean doesn’t break John’s rules. Like Lucifer, Sam violently rejected his father’s way of life, not understanding what John was trying to do for them. Sam thought John hated him and was trying to keep him from knowing things and being normal out of some sick power struggle, rather than the truth, which was that John had legitimate reasons for cutting Sam off from normality. And when Sam was ready to come back, John welcomed him with open arms (well, awkwardly stoic arms followed by some yelling but it all turned out okay in the end).

It reminds me of the Greek Orthodox idea that Heaven and Hell are the same place, it’s where you think you are that makes the difference. Sam believed that he was unloved and couldn’t do anything right, so it was actually Sam pushing John away. Dean assumed he was loved and that everything John asked him for was for a good reason, and even though he is often accused of not thinking for himself and having “blind faith”, Dean was mostly right about John, while Sam was mostly wrong. Even if Dean could’ve stood to question John a bit more, if Dean had stopped to have a pointless argument with John just for the sake of proving John couldn’t tell him what to do in the first scene of the pilot episode, Sam would be dead right now. In fact, Sam would be dead many times over if not for Dean’s almost obsessive adherence to John’s Number One Rule, “keep Sammy safe.” Which is something Sam didn’t understand for a long time, the lengths his family has gone to in order to keep him safe and innocent and good (you might even say, in order to allow him the luxury of under appreciating everything they do for him). And I think realizing that will be what pulls him back from the brink, in the end.

The show actually seems to be working towards a view of a God who, although he is unavailable most of the time, and far from infallible, ultimately loves everything he made and is just waiting for us to realize that and come back. It’s a little upbeat for a traditionally dark and pessimistic show, but then, no one ever expected the plot would go there at all, so who knows?

Carry on, my wayward son, there’ll be peace when you are done.

NOTES OF A NOTELIKE NATURE
Dean as Christ Figure (interesting that they conclude that Kripke may be doing this just to set us up for the point when he pulls the rug out from under it all)
http://bardicvoice.livejournal.com/47344.html#cutid1
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/supernatural/heaven_and_hell_1.php?page=10
Supernatural and Narnia- a really well worded post bringing up allusions I never even thought of. Narnia is everywhere, isn’t it. I’d previously only thought about SPN/Narnia in the context of this fic, where I began to wonder what it would be like if the Pevensies replaced the Winchesters in the SPN world. All four of them, or doing the genderswap thing and just use Susan and Lucy (which works on more than one level).
*although the show seems to differentiate between Uriel the Archangel and Uriel the uh…regular angel.

* a script note apparently says that it’s Lucifer’s sword.

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