Sooo, anyone in the mood for some It’s probably nothing but dear God let’s hope it’s subtext?
I know we speculated that Dean talking about Charles in Charge with Billie – Billie saying out right, in fact, that Dean would be likely to die watching Charles in Charge and choking on a burger because, apparently, he does both so often – had to do with what that show was about – a boy babysitting children. And yes, it’s true Dean would respond to that, especially considering the thing aired when Dean was a teen himself, stuck with his younger brother in some motel.
But today I was on Buzzfeed and I clicked on this Who Supports Whom article, because, yeah, with everything that’s been going on that’s what I need – to get angrier – and guess who supports Donald fucking Trump for President of the United States?
Which, okay, maybe it’s not a surprise, because apparently the guy supported Ronald ‘Let’s have a shootout with the Soviet Union’ Reagan back in the day, but the funny thing is, his endorsement of Trump came out on March 20th – Red Meat aired on March 30th.
Now, the fact they chose Charles in Charge as Dean’s go-to show – I found it weird back then, because to be honest I’d never even heard of the show and when I had a look at American television in the late 1970s and 1980s – the kind of thing that would have been available in motels when Dean was a kid – well, I’d have gone for Happy Days, no questions asked. Just look at cool af Fonzie and his cool af leather jacket. Dean 101.
And now I’m wondering if the fact they chose Charles in Charge and they mentioned Baio specifically, by name (my God, Billie accusing him of watching some half girly, definitely family show and Dean sassing her back, “Well, that was peak Baio.” – aaaaaaaw)
was done deliberately to imply not only that Dean was attracted to Baio, that he’s followed Baio, in fact, from show to show (peak Baio – that implies Dean’s seen it all) like a girl with a crush – or, well, a boy with a crush – but that our Taylor Swift loving, chick flicks digging, raging bisexual hunter Dean Winchester downright jerked off over a conservative Republican idiot who would hate his guts because of who he is – and there’s nothing you can do about it, baby.
Gay men perving over you, the all-American good boy: the ultimate nightmare for that merry band of witch hunters, and some fine level trolling.
Slow clap, guys.
Excellent point in Dean having followed Baio throughout his career – just as he did Swayze and Clint Eastwood.
I wonder whether watching Charles in Charge was another thing Dean and Chuck had in common.
So I was inspired tonight to write a post that’s actually been on my mind for some time now. And it has to do with a specifically visual element of Dean’s queer-coding that I’ve honestly never seen anyone do any analysis on. (Which is quite surprising to me actually, given how much meta exist on this topic more generally)
So, basically my thesis is that particularly from S.4 on, there has been a repeated gag which is almost exclusively reserved for Dean, and which strongly mirrors a particular gay porn trope – the (holy water) facial. Please beware, under the cut there are explicit gay porn scene GIFs. You have been warned.
Dean has always, always use flirtation (and misinterpreting threats as come-ons intentionally) as an aggressive act. He uses the implication of homosexuality to mentally knock down his opponents. It’s a symptom of his deep-seated effemiphobia. Dean strongly believes that only the toughest survive, and it’s impossible to be tough while doing things that have traditionally been gendered as feminine.
The problem is that Dean also really enjoys “feminine” things like dressing well and cooking and childcare, and is a nurturer by nature. He’s also got a feminine cast to his features, with the cheekbones and the lips and the Disney princess eyes, which people have been pointing out in a threatening way for years. And in his line of work, that kind of weakness can literally get you killed. So he buries it under this macho persona, and uses it as a threat against others.
He clings tooth and nail to his own manliness as a talisman that he is tough enough to survive. And if you think a Kansas roughneck in his mid-thirties doesn’t code dude-on-dude sex as “feminine” in his own head, ho boy, do I have some things to tell you.
We have been shown nine seasons of all of that being stripped away to reveal the real Dean. It’s pretty intense character development, and he’s moved away towards a more accepting-of-himself mindset where he sees his “feminine” traits as less of a liability. He’s not all the way there yet, but he’s steadily headed in that direction.
And the “I’m awfully flattered” line is a step in that direction. It wasn’t a denial, or a turn-down, or “You’re cute but I don’t swing that way.” It was still a verbal punch, but it lacked the denial of “I don’t swing that way.” He still used flirtation aggressively, but this time he was the one flirting, not the one turning the guy down as a joke.
It wasn’t, “Wow, you’re totally gay for me, which makes you more feminine than me, which means I’m going to win this fight by virtue of being more manly than you.”
It was, “Even if I was really flattered it wouldn’t matter because I’m still gonna kick your ass because liking dick doesn’t make someone less deadly in a fight.”
Basically, you’re right, and he does use flirtation aggressively. But the way he used it in this instance was remarkably less homophobic and effemiphobic than in the past.
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