Dean/Sam
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[edit] Introduction
Dean/Sam is a romantic and/or sexual pairing between two brothers Sam Winchester (played by Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (played by Jensen Ackles) in the The CW series Supernatural. It is by far the most common pairing in the Supernatural fandom and is frequently referred to as Wincest by fans.
[edit] The Subtext and Maintext
[edit] Incest
Given Supernatural's plot format -- two brothers on the road, searching first for their father, then later for the demon that had killed both their parents by the beginning of the second season -- any kind of pairing is problematical, be it Slash or Het. The debate about the use of incest (or Wincest as it is sometimes called) is one that continues in the fandom to varying degrees of amiability or animosity.
Rationales for the popularity of the pairing range from the basic, two hot guys in close proximity, 24/7, to more dysfunctional acknowledgments of the fact that boys were raised with a sense of isolation, constant siege, and outside normal societal expectations, and without the usual extra-family support systems. The co-dependency of the brothers is obvious, but so is the amount of extreme stress they survive under.
For Sam perhaps especially, the death of his girlfriend Jessica, in the same manner as his mother, and his burgeoning psychic powers, lend to the sens of isolation if not outright risk to anyone he becomes involved with. That his brother Dean undeniably loves him and is willing to protect him at all costs, adds to the impression that a sexual relationship between the brothers is not completely implausible.
Various writers have approached the issue with an equal variant degree of functionality/dysfunctionality in such a relationship. Some writers prefer for the boys to be incredibly messed up about it (as is likely in real life) while others, given the extreme amounts of drama, trauma, and angst on the show, would like to think of the brothers as more or less resolved to be as happy as they can be, able to build a future together that seems unlikely in the series.
Given the nature of the brothers's canon relationship, many fan writers provide Slash, Gen, and Het stories and not all slash stories involve incest, although the vast majority do. With a few exceptions, the fandom manages to rub along with few outright meltdowns over the slash/incest debate.
[edit] Timeline
Below is a partial timeline of events that took place in this ship community.
This section needs more information.
[edit] Kerfuffles
There is a small but often vocal contingent of Supernatural fans who take great issue with the commonality of incest in the fandom. Thus far, most diatribes have been limited to mostly heated debates within individual journals, occasionally spilling over into responding posts in other journals. The level of animosity varies greatly with advocates noting that the fandom is extremely conscientious about labeling stories containing incest, thus making it relatively easy to avoid, and objectors voicing a broad array of opinions that include the existence of such stories is likely to actually promote real life incest by making it seem normal, to the admonition that within the series, both boys are rather obviously heterosexual in their desires. The latter argument is one seen since Slash first made its appearance and is usually unlikely to provoke a response.
It is notable that Fandom_Wank has apparently been waiting for a major meltdown over the issue, but thus far the posters there have been largely disappointed in the wanks that have ensued. By and large, Supernatural fans both pro and con seem to be willing to exist with, if not entirely amicable relations, at least an unspoken agreement to pretty much ignore one another. The popularity of some authors who write both Slash and Gen/Het probably aids in that mutual detente to a large degree.
[edit] Influential Stories
- The first Dean/Sam story posted to supernaturalfic was Jane Davitt's Reunion, posted only hours after the pilot aired on September 14, 2005. The story was rated "R" and carried the warning implied incest/slash. (Note: earlier stories in the supernaturalfic archive appear with distorted timestamps due to backdating.)
[edit] Mailing Lists/Live Journals
[edit] Pairing Size
Several fans, including Maygra and Esorlehcar, have done analysis of publicly posted fic both from Supernaturalfic and from the spnnewsletter. These two communities were chose as they both allow postings of all genres and have no bias toward any particular pairing or ship. The number of Gen stories posted is slightly larger than the number of Slash/Wincest stories posted, but only by a couple of percentage points. Het stories trail to a distant third.
Within the Slash piece of the pie, the Dean/Sam pairing far exceeds any other or even any other combination of slash pairings, including Crossover fics.
The relative equanimity between the Gen and Slash sides may be due to a number of factors, including the fact that the series provides ample emo-porn to make even the most fervent slashers happy with the emotional content, and again, because a good number of writers, willingly write across genres.
- Esorlehcar's spnnewsletter genre posting breakdown:[1]
- Maygra's supernaturalfic genre posting analysis: [2]
