Supernatural
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[edit] Introduction
Supernatural is a series that first aired in 2005 on The WB Network (which became the The CW network in 2006 after a merger with CBS affiliated UPN and independent The WB. [1]
The series itself offered two primary male leads Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as the older brother Dean Winchester. As such, the main slash pairing in the fandom was an incestuous one. There were few protestations to the existence of the slash pairing.
Supernatural also has a thriving community of RPS/RPF writers and multi-chapter, multi-author story lines.
The fandom exists largely on LiveJournal and FanFiction.Net, with a few independent archives, but as of this posting no single, all inclusive archive exists. The fandom held its first online awards in early 2006, The Lawrence Awards.
Given the supernatural theme of the how, in addition to the expected array of vampires, werewolves, and post-apocalyptic stories, fan writers explore any number of impossible situations that would otherwise be labeled Crack!Fic. Wingfic, Genderswap, and the ani-morphing of the characters into animals, are very common story and plot devices.
[edit] The Canon
This section needs more information.
[edit] Canon Release Dates
[edit] 2005
- On September 13, 2005, the episode Pilot originally aired on CW. [2]
- On September 20, 2005, the episode Wendigo originally aired on CW in the United States. [3]
- On September 27, 2005, the episode Dead In The Water originally aired on CW in the United States. [4]
- On October 4, 2005, the episode Phantom Traveler originally aired on CW in the United States. [5]
- On October 11, 2005, the episode Bloody Mary originally aired on CW in the United States. [6]
- On October 18, 2005, the episode Skin originally aired on CW in the United States. [7]
- On October 25, 2005, the episode Hook Man originally aired on CW in the United States. [8]
- On November 8, 2005, the episode Bugs originally aired on CW in the United States. [9]
- On November 15, 2005, the episode Home originally aired on CW in the United States. [10]
- On November 22, 2005, the episode Asylum originally aired on CW in the United States. [11]
[edit] 2006
- On January 10, 2006, the episode Scarecrow originally aired on CW in the United States. [12]
- On January 17, 2006, the episode Faith originally aired on CW in the United States. [13]
- On January 31, 2006, the episode Route 666 originally aired on CW in the United States. [14]
- On February 7, 2006, the episode Nightmare originally aired on CW in the United States. [15]
- On February 14, 2006, the episode The Benders originally aired on CW in the United States. [16]
- On February 28, 2006, the episode Shadow originally aired on CW in the United States. [17]
- On March 30, 2006, the episode Hell House originally aired on CW in the United States. [18]
- On April 6, 2006, the episode Something Wicked originally aired on CW in the United States. [19]
- On April 13, 2006, the episode Provenance originally aired on CW in the United States. [20]
- On April 20, 2006, the episode Dead Man's Blood originally aired on CW in the United States. [21]
- On April 27, 2006, the episode Salvation originally aired on CW in the United States. [22]
- On May 4, 2006, the episode Devil's Trap originally aired on CW in the United States. [23]
- On September 6, 2006, the episode In My Time of Dying originally aired on CW in the United States. [24]
- On October 5, 2006, the episode Everybody Loves A Clown originally aired on CW in the United States. [25]
- On October 12, 2006, the episode Bloodlust originally aired on CW in the United States. [26]
- On October 19, 2006, the episode Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things originally aired on CW in the United States. [27]
- On October 26, 2006, the episode Simon Said originally aired on CW in the United States. [28]
- On November 2, 2006, the episode No Exit originally aired on CW in the United States. [29]
- On November 9, 2006, the episode The Usual Suspects originally aired on CW in the United States. [30]
- On November 16, 2006, the episode Crossroad Blues originally aired on CW in the United States. [31]
- On December 7, 2006, the episode Croatoan originally aired on CW in the United States. [32]
[edit] 2007
- On January 11, 2007, the episode Hunted originally aired on CW in the United States. [33]
- On January 18, 2007, the episode Playthings originally aired on CW in the United States. [34]
- On January 25, 2007, the episode Nightshifter originally aired on CW in the United States. [35]
- On February 1, 2007, the episode Houses of the Holy originally aired on CW in the United States. [36]
- On February 8, 2007, the episode Born Under a Bad Sign originally aired on CW in the United States. [37]
- On February 15, 2007, the episode Tall Tales originally aired on CW in the United States. [38]
- On March 15, 2007, the episode Roadkill originally aired on CW in the United States. [39]
- On March 22, 2007, the episode Heart originally aired on CW in the United States. [40]
- On April 19, 2007, the episode Hollywood Babylon originally aired on CW in the United States. [41]
- On April 26, 2007, the episode Folsom Prison Blues originally aired on CW in the United States. [42]
- On May 3, 2007, the episode What Is and What Should Never Be originally aired on CW in the United States. [43]
- On May 10, 2007, the episode All Hell Breaks Loose (1) originally aired on CW in the United States. [44]
- On May 17, 2007, the episode All Hell Breaks Loose (2) originally aired on CW in the United States. [45]
- On October 4, 2007, the episode The Magnificent Seven originally aired on CW in the United States. [46]
- On October 11, 2007, the episode The Kids Are Alright originally aired on CW in the United States. [47]
- On October 18, 2007, the episode Bad Day at Black Rock originally aired on CW in the United States. [48]
- On October 25, 2007, the episode Sin City originally aired on CW in the United States. [49]
- On November 1, 2007, the episode Bedtime Stories originally aired on CW in the United States. [50]
- On November 8, 2007, the episode Red Sky at Morning originally aired on CW in the United States. [51]
- On November 15, 2007, the episode Fresh Blood originally aired on CW in the United States. [52]
- On December 13, 2007, the episode A Very Supernatural Christmas originally aired on CW in the United States. [53]
[edit] 2008
- On January 31, 2008, the episode Malleus Maleficarum originally aired on CW in the United States. [54]
- On February 7, 2008, the episode Dream a Little Dream of Me originally aired on CW in the United States. [55]
- On February 14, 2008, the episode Mystery Spot originally aired on CW in the United States. [56]
- On February 21, 2008, the episode Jus In Bello originally aired on CW in the United States. [57]
[edit] Terminology
Following the style of playing with names and "smooshing" them, the term "Wincest" was created to refer to the incestuous sexual relationship between Sam and Dean Winchester, and also may include pairings with their father, John Winchester.
Papa'cest is occasionally used when depicting incestuous relations between John Winchester and either of his sons. Papa! or Papachester is often used to describe the character of John Winchester.
Wee!chesters - fiction written about Dean and Sam as children (pre-series).
SPN is the most commonly used acronym for the fandom. SN is sometimes used, but it causes some confusion between Supernatural fandom and the Sports Night fandom which uses the SN acronyn exclusively.
Metallicar is the fan-given nickname for the Winchester's classic 1967 Impala. The nick comes from Dean's love of the band Metallica. The Car is often treated as the third regular cast member.
[edit] Character/Actor Acronyms/Terms
- JA - Jensen Ackles --> Dean Winchester
- JP - Jared Padalecki --> Sam Winchester
- JDM - Jeffrey Dean Morgan --> John Winchester
- YED - The Yellow-Eyed Demon
[edit] Timeline
Below is a partial list of events that have taken place in this fandom community.
[edit] 2005
- On November 13, 2005, the mailing list superjared was created. [58]
- On November 16, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_discussion was created. [59]
- By late 2005 -- early 2006, some Sentinel fans had migrated to the Supernatural fandom. Curiously, in transitioning to this fandom, many did not bring with them the terminology set from their old fan, including words like smarm. [60]
[edit] 2006
- On January 25,2006, the LiveJournal community spnstoryfinders was created. [61]
- On January 30, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_recs was created. [62]
- On February 16, 2006, the LiveJournal community spnnewsletter was created. [63]
- On March 18, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_betas was created. [64]
- On April 9, 2006, the LiveJournal community sn_flashback was created. [65]
- On April 12, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_spoilers was created. [66]
- On April 17, 2006, the private Supernatural/Veronica Mars rpg spn_vm_girls on GreatestJournal was created. [67]
- On May 5, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_heavymeta was created. [68]
- On May 8, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_possession was created. [69]
- On May 26, 2006, supernatural.ru was created [70] and quickly became the home to the largest Russian language based Supernatural fandom. [71]
- On August 6, 2006, Angstslashhope brings Super-wiki [72] online, providing fan-edited content on the characters, the production staff and crew, the fiction, episode transcripts, facts and trivia.
- Around December 30, 2006, la_folle_allure created a Supernatural hatememe that was quickly deleted. Before it was deleted, many fen expressed unhappiness about its existence. [73][74]
[edit] 2007
- Around January 14, 2007, Supernatural fans kerfluffled over the posting by Echoing0comfort where the parodied a character from Supernatural to resemble Adolf Hitler. [75][76]
- In January 2007, Supernatural fans wanked over the posting of twincest/Wincest to the spn_brotherlove community. [77]
- By January 2007, Supernatural fans were posting their fan fiction to Quizilla.
- On January 18, 2007, the Supernatural real person fic GreatestJournal community spn_rps was created. [78]
- On April 9, 2007, the Supernatural rpg GreatestJournal community inthedark_rpg was created. [79]
- On April 15, 2007, the GreatestJournal community supernatural_au was created. [80]
- On April 29, 2007, the GreatestJournal community supernaturalfic was created. [81]
- Between June and August 2007, parts of the Supernatural community located on LiveJournal began migrating to GreatestJournal, InsaneJournal and JournalFen because of events on LiveJournal including BoldThrough and StrikeThrough.
- On June 1, 2007, the GreatestJournal community spn_fangather07 was created. [82]
- On June 2, 2007, the InsaneJournal community supernatural_tv was created. [83] As of August 13, 2007, it had 63 members.
- On June 4, 2007, the InsaneJournal community spn_fic was created. [84] As of August 13, 2007, it had 69 members and was watched by 101 people.
- On June 7, 2007, the Supernatural icon GreatestJournal community super_icontest was created. [85]
- On June 18, 2007, the InsaneJournal community spn_100 was created. [86] As of August 13, 2007, it had 20 members and was watched by 29 people.
- On July 17, 2007, the GreatestJournal community spnfans was created. [87]
- On July 24, 2007, the GreatestJournal community spn_random was created. [88]
- On July 25, 2007, the JournalFen community spn_porn was created. [89]
- In August, due to a rumor that Yahoo!Groups was removing users who were lurking on mailing lists in this fandom, a number of mailing lists saw an increase in participation so that would not happen. While this rumor was not true, and Yahoo was only removing people who had e-mail accounts bouncing in excess of six months, it did not stop a certain level of hysteria.
- In August, post comic-con, it comes out that Supernatural may be canceled. Fans started to campaign to save the show on mailing lists like Supernatural_on_The_WB and talked about contacting sponsors, encouraging them to keep up with the show.
- On August 3, 2007, the InsaneJournal community supernaturalfic was created. [90] As of August 13, 2007, it had 73 members.
- On August 3, 2007, the GreatestJournal community spn_xx was created. [91]
- On August 4, 2007, the InsaneJournal community spn_xx was created. [92] As of August 13, 2007, it was watched by 4 people.
- On August 5, 2007, the InsaneJournal spn_slash was created. [93] As of August 13, 2007, it had 27 members and was watched by 44 people.
- On August 5, 2007, the JournalFen Supernatural real person fic community spn_rps was created. [94]
- On August 5, 2007, the GreatestJournal community spn_slash was created. [95]
- On August 8, 2007, the JournalFen community evilsam_spn was created. [96]
- On August 8, 2007, the InsaneJournal community spn_newsletter was created. [97] As of August 13, 2007, it had 21 members and was watched by 36 people.
- On August 9, 2007, the JournalFen community spn_recs was created. [98]
- On August 10, 2007, the JournalFen community spn_club was created. [99]
- On August 11, 2007, the GreatestJournal community spn_fanfics was created. [100]
- In late August 2007, there were issues with Russian speakers poorly translating works from English into Russian with out permission of the English speaking author. Some of these translations were poorly done, and when this was pointed out, the translator did not fix them. Some Russian readers assumed this was a problem was this the English speaking author or hey loved the story anyway, poor "writing" and all. [101]
[edit] Actors
The actors on Supernatural have quickly developed their own sub fandoms inside of the Supernatural fandom.
[edit] Jensen Ackles
Jenson Ackles has one of the largest followings of all the actors on Supernatural. Below is a partial timeline of events related to the actor.
- On August 28, 2005, the MySpace group JensenAckles was created. [102] As of August 13, 2007, it has 1,030 members.
- On September 21, 2005, the mailing list Jensen_Ackles_Online_Support_Team was created. [103]
[edit] Conventions
- The first Supernatural convention was the primarily slash-oriented WinchesterCon held in Nashville, Tennessee in October, 2006.
- A gen-oriented Supernatural convention, KazCon, is scheduled for August 2-5, 2007 in Lawrence, Kansas.
- Asylum Con, a Supernatural & Smallville convention, took place on May 11-13, 2007 in Conventry, England. An incident occurred where a hysterical fan jumped on Jensen Ackles, almost bringing them both crashing to the floor.
[edit] Fan Art
Fan art in the Supernatural fandom tends to fall into three broad general categories: art, icons and wallpaper, and macros. They are supported by an active screencapping population. Each has its own cultural rules regarding borrowing and using images and screencaps.
- On November 11, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_daily was created. [104] This community largely catered to icon and wallpaper makers.
- Demon Hunt was created on October 20, 2006. [105] It is a Supernatural fan art site.
[edit] Fan Fiction
[edit] Archives
The vast majority of Supernatural fanfic seems to be concentrated either on/in Supernatural-themed LiveJournal communities or on FanFiction.net. However, Archives persist and continue to appear.
[edit] Don't Fear The Reaper
[edit] FanFiction.Net
As of February 20, 2008, there are 13,599 stories on FanFiction.Net. [106] That averages roughly 13 new stories posted a day since the show premiered.
[edit] FanLib
Supernatural was one of the early popular fandoms on FanLib. This was helped along because an administrator for FanLib was a member of the Supernatural fandom.
As of May 23, 2007, there are 141 Supernatural stories on FanLib. [107] As of December 13, 2007, there are 222 stories on FanLib. It is the 11 most popular fandom on the site. [108]
[edit] FicWad
[edit] Ghost Hunters
[edit] The Sam and Dean Slash Archive
[edit] Sinful Desire
[edit] Crossovers
A number of authors like to write Supernatural crossovers. Popular shows to write crossovers with include Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, Highlander, NCIS and Smallville.
Below is a partial timeline of crossover related Supernatural fan fiction events.
- On October 17, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_crossovers was created. [109]
[edit] Drabbles
- On October 31, 2005, the LiveJournal community supernatural100 was created.[110]
[edit] Flashfic
- On October 29, 2005, the LiveJournal community spn_flashfic was created. [111]
[edit] Gen
- On December 6, 2005, the LiveJournal community spn_gen was created. [112]
[edit] Het
- On December 7, 2005, the LiveJournal community spn_het was created. [113]
[edit] Influential Stories
The sudden explosion of fan fiction at the airing of Supernatural across LiveJournal, FanFiction.net, and various mail lists, makes pinpointing influential stories difficult at best. There are certainly firsts, in a variety of areas, including Slash, Wincest, Genderswap, Wee!chesters, and any number of other tropes and premises. There are premises that have become popular such as Futurefic and Post-apocalyptic stories, although it could be argued that the premise of the show prompts such things rather than any single or combination of stories.
Any such listing would be highly subjective and as of yet, there is probably no single story or premise that has fundamentally changed the way a large number of fans view either the series or a particular character. Popular stories, yes, as well as universes, but popular does not necessarily equal influential.
[edit] LiveJournal
Many people who were Supernatural fans who would be found on LiveJournal were already there when the show premiered. Early on, the community had access to a number of multifandom communities which they could post early fan fiction to. As the show gained in popularity and the fandom grew bigger, people created specific and even more specific LiveJoournal communities to cater to their own needs. This transitioned started before the first episode of the show even aired.
Below is a partial timeline of LiveJournal fan fiction related events.
- On September 22, 2003, the LiveJournal community allfandomfics was founded. [114] It would eventually host Supernatural fan fiction.
- On November 11, 2004, the LiveJournal community 3_ships was founded. [115] It is a threesome secret santa community. It would eventually host Supernatural fan fiction.
- On September 11, 2005, the LiveJournal community supernaturalfic was created. [116]
[edit] Mailing lists
There are not as many fan fiction specific mailing lists as there are LiveJournal ones. Fan fiction tends to get linked more on general Supernatural lists instead.
Below is a partial timeline of fan fiction mailing list events.
- On May 12, 2006, the mailing list supernaturalfanfic was created. [117]
[edit] Plagiarism
On April 10, 2006, Narcissus in Chains plagiarised agtkrycek, Angelrhose, beellegee, Black_Rose_Fallen, Chaos Dragon, Kalika, Lisa_Evelyns, Marasmine, Melanie Eden, Miguellawolf, bleedtoblue, Narcissus Unchained on Pomme de Sang, Raintiger, SatiricalPhilosophy, PDS, saturdays_angel and WishUponAStar. The fandoms involved were Anita Blake, Prison Break, and Supernatural.
[edit] Slash
Below is a partial timeline of slash related events.
- On September 14, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_slash was created. [118]
- On November 16, 2005, the LiveJournal community snslashnotebook was created. [119]
[edit] Wincest
Wincest is one of the more popular slash pairings.
Below is a partial timeline of Wincest related events.
- On October 23, 2005, the LiveJournal community wincest was created. [120]
- On January 23, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_brotherlove was created. [121]
- On December 27, 2006, mysfan4life posted a rant about the evils of incest/twincest/Wincest fan fiction in the Supernatural fan fiction community. [122]
[edit] Fanvidding
Fan vidding plays an important role in some parts of the Supernatural fandom. It was helped by the rise of YouTube, fans bringing their vidding traditions from other fandoms and the ease of being able to create vids.
Below is a partial timeline of fanvidding related events.
- On February 16, 2006, the GreatestJournal community supernaturalvid was created. [123]
[edit] Roleplaying
Below is a partial timeline of role play related events.
- On December 26, 2006, the Supernatural rpg GreatestJournal community hunters_hideout was created. [124]
- On July 1, 2007, the Supernatural rpg GreatestJournal community road_nowhere was created. road_nowhere
[edit] The Internet
[edit] Live Journal Communities
Supernatural has a fairly robust mix of Gen, Het, and Slash fiction being produced regularly. LiveJournal communities sprang up almost immediately to support the preferences of writers and readers and the fandom has a number of writers who cross genres easily:
- dean_sam (media, fan fiction, fan art, fan vids, news)
- sn_daily (media images)
- sn_discussion (discussion)
- sn-slash (fan fiction)
- spn_flashfic (fan fiction)
- spn_heavymeta (discussion)
- spn_possession (resources)
- spn_recs (recs)
- spn_spoilers (spoilers)
- spnnewsletter (compilation of fic, meta, recs, vids, etc.)
- supernatural_tv (general news and discussion)
- supernaturalfic (fan fiction, vids, art)
- wincest (slash fan fiction)
Below is a timeline of LiveJournal related dates in the Supernatural fandom.
- On September 22, 2003, the LiveJournal community allfandomfics was founded. [125] It would eventually host Supernatural fan fiction.
- On November 11, 2004, the LiveJournal community 3_ships was founded. [126] It is a threesome secret santa community. It would eventually host Supernatural fan fiction.
- On September 11, 2005, the LiveJournal community supernaturalfic was created. [127]
- On September 14, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_slash was created. [128]
- On October 17, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_crossovers was created. [129]
- On October 23, 2005, the LiveJournal community wincest was created. [130]
- On October 29, 2005, the LiveJournal community spn_flashfic was created. [131]
- On October 31, 2005, the LiveJournal community supernatural100 was created.[132]
- On November 11, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_daily was created. [133]
- On November 16, 2005, the LiveJournal community sn_discussion was created. [134]
- On November 16, 2005, the LiveJournal community snslashnotebook was created. [135]
- On December 6, 2005, the LiveJournal community spn_gen was created. [136]
- On December 7, 2005, the LiveJournal community spn_het was created. [137]
- On January 23, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_brotherlove was created. [138]
- On January 25,2006, the LiveJournal community spnstoryfinders was created. [139]
- On January 30, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_recs was created. [140]
- On February 16, 2006, the LiveJournal community spnnewsletter was created. [141]
- On March 18, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_betas was created. [142]
- On April 9, 2006, the LiveJournal community sn_flashback was created. [143]
- On April 12, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_spoilers was created. [144]
- On May 5, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_heavymeta was created. [145]
- On May 8, 2006, the LiveJournal community spn_possession was created. [146]
- Between June and August 2007, parts of the Supernatural community located on LiveJournal began migrating to GreatestJournal, InsaneJournal and JournalFen because of events on LiveJournal including BoldThrough and StrikeThrough.
[edit] LiveJournal clones
Prior to 2007, a number of Supernatural fans on LiveJournal had migrated to LiveJournal clones including Blurty, DeadJournal, GreatestJournal, InsaneJournal and Scribblit. The events of Strikethrough only helped accelerate part of this migration. Each service developed its own unique culture, and demographics. GreatestJournal, prior to its collapse in late 2007, was mostly known for its role playing.
Below is a partial timeline of events on LiveJournal clones, sorted by site:
- On December 18, 2005, the GreatestJournal community supernatural_wb was created.