All That Glitters: The Winchester Boys and Fairy Tales

Abstract

In Supernatural’s second episode, “Wendigo,” Dean (Jensen Ackles) establishes the Winchesters’ life as “saving people, hunting things—the family business.” Like the huntsman in the Grimms’ “Little Red Cap,” who chooses to cut open the wolf’s stomach and save his victims rather than just shoot the wolf, the brothers do not simply hunt monsters, they save people from the monsters. Supernatural is more inspired by this fairy tale huntsman than the alternative male role of aristocratic prince who rescues and marries the damsel-in-distress. Like the huntsman, the Winchesters simply move on to the next monster. Yet the family business is as much about the lore that explains monsters and how to kill them as it is about weapons stored in the Impala’s trunk and people saved.

Once upon a time, there were two brothers. Their mother was killed and they were raised by their father, a hunter of demons and other monsters. When their father disappeared, Sam and Dean Winchester hit the road in their’67 Chevy Impala, following the clues left in his journal like so many breadcrumbs. This is no Mother Goose tale, however. It is a tale about “real men,” authenticity embedded in masculine performance and feminine performance rendered false.