“We’re Justchrw… Food and Perverse Entertainment”: Supernatural’s New God and the Narrative Objectification of Sam and Dean

Abstract

Over the course of Supernatural’s first five seasons, Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) Winchester fight for the right to tell their own story, to maintain the integrity of their own narrative, despite the pressures of their past and the many forces moving to ensure their participation in a single, possible future. For the brothers, this desire to resist objectification, to avoid becoming mere characters in someone else’s story—brought into even sharper relief after the events of “The Monster at the End of This Book” (4.18)—ultimately affords them the narrative agency they need to subvert the Apocalypse. However, this flash of authorial self-control is quickly disrupted by an unexpected source: the Winchesters’ greatest ally, their savior, their friend—the angel Castiel (Misha Collins).