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Bobby in S5
It says something about how stressed I am lately that one new development on SPN completely passed me by until today. I'm speaking of what's happening with Bobby, and I'll spoiler-cut the rest of this for anyone not yet up on S5. But this discussion won't be spoilery for anything but that one character.
Because Bobby is in a wheelchair. And it was implied that this may not be a temporary condition.
And the implications of this only just hit me. Oh, I've talked about the crappy writing around how it happened, and I noticed the deeper questions of blame and what it could mean for the overall arc. But I missed what is, to me, more important.
SPN fails hugely on gender and does little better on race. There has been some treatment of mental illness (albeit not openly acknowledged and generally with some supernatural cause) and on the whole SPN does that fairly well on that score. But Dean and Sam appear to operate in a universe in which physical disability does not exist.
It bothers me, because I've lived with disability all my life. I am not disabled myself; let me say that upfront. I'm lucky - my worst physical problem is my eyesight and glasses fix that beautifully. But my grandmother, with whom I lived throughout my childhood, was disabled. In her case, it was the effect of TB which she caught in her 20's. She had only about three quarters of a lung and during the surgery to extract her diseased lung her back and ribs were damaged. This left her unable to walk very far without help and she'd used a walking stick ever since the surgery. Nevertheless, she worked in a laundry and later as a shop assistant, until she retired at age 60. After she retired, it was as if her body just gave up. She was in constant pain and though she could still walk around the house, if she wanted to go out, she needed a wheelchair. Moreover, she needed someone to push the wheelchair, because she didn't have the strength to do it herself. In school holidays, that was often my job, and I got a swift education in how people in wheelchairs cease to be visible. I was just a kid, but people would ask me "Would your gran like....?" just as if she wasn't there. My mother is likely to be in a similar situation before much longer; in her case it's arthritis that will soon take away her ability to walk.
So, yeah, the refusal to acknowledge disabilities on TV, particularly a show I truly love, does trouble me. On Supernatural, even old age barely exists: to watch the show you'd get the impression that the mean average age of Americans is around 32 (the median would be even younger) and anyone making it to retirement age is either a witch or a statistical anomoly of giant-asteroid-hitting-the-earth proportions. On a show with so much potential to do something exciting with a character who is, say, blind or has a mobility impairment, it's more than disappointing that these things don't even get a passing mention. Even if it were only a person-in-need-of-rescue, it would be something. But I'm at a loss to recall a single physically disabled character on the show, except Dean's brief heart condition, which was instantly cured. [ETA: Oh, yeah, there was Pamela. Except they barely dealt with her blindness; if anything her second appearance implied that she could 'see' psychically instead.]
Until now?
I don't know. Given the show's track record I fully expect some kind of magical cure for Bobby, and for his role in the show to become much less until that happens. I want to be writing about how great it is for fans with disabilities to have a character like Bobby because how can he be anything but a positive portrayal of disability...except if there's a way to screw it up, the SPN writers will find it. But I'm not thinking so much of what canon will do with it, as what fandom might.
Bobby's initial reaction to the news that me may not walk again was very in-character: angry denial. In the second episode all we saw was anger and depression; I don't think he's past the denial part either, given his demand for a miracle. What we didn't get to see much of was how the people around him have adjusted - specifically Dean and Sam. I don't suppose we will; that's not what the show is about. Nor do I expect to see much of how Bobby copes with it. His role in SPN has always been somewhat akin to Giles' library in BTVS: he provides information to save the boys doing the work. Only rarely have we seen Bobby-the-hunter and when we have it has always been either so he can save the day without making the "real" heroes look like complete morons or so he himself can be rescued. In a narrative sense, Bobby isn't a character, he's a useful plot device.
But to us, to the fans, he's still Bobby. We get to tell the stories canon can't or won't. And I really want to see them.
I want to read the fic where Bobby built a holy water spray-gun into his wheelchair. I want to read the fic where someone's in trouble and Bobby gets there. I want to read the fic where he can still do an exorcism or kick some demon ass (just maybe not literally kick).
But I want to read the other fics, too. I want to read the one where he can't do everything and where he's hurting and can't always pick himself up from that. I want to read the one where he can't get into his own panic room in that damned chair, so he has to improvise and it doesn't work too well. I want to read the Dean/Bobby fic where they both want to pretend nothing's changed but it's hard to adjust (but they can still be together, oh, yes they can, because not being able to walk doesn't switch off a person's sexuality). I want to read the one where he can't get there in time and it all goes to hell without him. And I want to read the one where, in the end, he's still the same old gruff, cynical, awesome Bobby with a heart of gold who loves those boys like they were his own and they love him back.
And I really wish I could write some of those stories I really want to read, but just now I simply don't have the time.
There are fanfics out there that deal with disability, either temporary or permanent. Many of us like to take our heroes and put them through hell but it's different when it's canon. Or when it starts from canon. It's different when it's a beloved character but not a central character so you don't necessarily expect a magical reset button. It's different.
And I'm really excited about the possibilities.
Any recs yet?
Because Bobby is in a wheelchair. And it was implied that this may not be a temporary condition.
And the implications of this only just hit me. Oh, I've talked about the crappy writing around how it happened, and I noticed the deeper questions of blame and what it could mean for the overall arc. But I missed what is, to me, more important.
SPN fails hugely on gender and does little better on race. There has been some treatment of mental illness (albeit not openly acknowledged and generally with some supernatural cause) and on the whole SPN does that fairly well on that score. But Dean and Sam appear to operate in a universe in which physical disability does not exist.
It bothers me, because I've lived with disability all my life. I am not disabled myself; let me say that upfront. I'm lucky - my worst physical problem is my eyesight and glasses fix that beautifully. But my grandmother, with whom I lived throughout my childhood, was disabled. In her case, it was the effect of TB which she caught in her 20's. She had only about three quarters of a lung and during the surgery to extract her diseased lung her back and ribs were damaged. This left her unable to walk very far without help and she'd used a walking stick ever since the surgery. Nevertheless, she worked in a laundry and later as a shop assistant, until she retired at age 60. After she retired, it was as if her body just gave up. She was in constant pain and though she could still walk around the house, if she wanted to go out, she needed a wheelchair. Moreover, she needed someone to push the wheelchair, because she didn't have the strength to do it herself. In school holidays, that was often my job, and I got a swift education in how people in wheelchairs cease to be visible. I was just a kid, but people would ask me "Would your gran like....?" just as if she wasn't there. My mother is likely to be in a similar situation before much longer; in her case it's arthritis that will soon take away her ability to walk.
So, yeah, the refusal to acknowledge disabilities on TV, particularly a show I truly love, does trouble me. On Supernatural, even old age barely exists: to watch the show you'd get the impression that the mean average age of Americans is around 32 (the median would be even younger) and anyone making it to retirement age is either a witch or a statistical anomoly of giant-asteroid-hitting-the-earth proportions. On a show with so much potential to do something exciting with a character who is, say, blind or has a mobility impairment, it's more than disappointing that these things don't even get a passing mention. Even if it were only a person-in-need-of-rescue, it would be something. But I'm at a loss to recall a single physically disabled character on the show, except Dean's brief heart condition, which was instantly cured. [ETA: Oh, yeah, there was Pamela. Except they barely dealt with her blindness; if anything her second appearance implied that she could 'see' psychically instead.]
Until now?
I don't know. Given the show's track record I fully expect some kind of magical cure for Bobby, and for his role in the show to become much less until that happens. I want to be writing about how great it is for fans with disabilities to have a character like Bobby because how can he be anything but a positive portrayal of disability...except if there's a way to screw it up, the SPN writers will find it. But I'm not thinking so much of what canon will do with it, as what fandom might.
Bobby's initial reaction to the news that me may not walk again was very in-character: angry denial. In the second episode all we saw was anger and depression; I don't think he's past the denial part either, given his demand for a miracle. What we didn't get to see much of was how the people around him have adjusted - specifically Dean and Sam. I don't suppose we will; that's not what the show is about. Nor do I expect to see much of how Bobby copes with it. His role in SPN has always been somewhat akin to Giles' library in BTVS: he provides information to save the boys doing the work. Only rarely have we seen Bobby-the-hunter and when we have it has always been either so he can save the day without making the "real" heroes look like complete morons or so he himself can be rescued. In a narrative sense, Bobby isn't a character, he's a useful plot device.
But to us, to the fans, he's still Bobby. We get to tell the stories canon can't or won't. And I really want to see them.
I want to read the fic where Bobby built a holy water spray-gun into his wheelchair. I want to read the fic where someone's in trouble and Bobby gets there. I want to read the fic where he can still do an exorcism or kick some demon ass (just maybe not literally kick).
But I want to read the other fics, too. I want to read the one where he can't do everything and where he's hurting and can't always pick himself up from that. I want to read the one where he can't get into his own panic room in that damned chair, so he has to improvise and it doesn't work too well. I want to read the Dean/Bobby fic where they both want to pretend nothing's changed but it's hard to adjust (but they can still be together, oh, yes they can, because not being able to walk doesn't switch off a person's sexuality). I want to read the one where he can't get there in time and it all goes to hell without him. And I want to read the one where, in the end, he's still the same old gruff, cynical, awesome Bobby with a heart of gold who loves those boys like they were his own and they love him back.
And I really wish I could write some of those stories I really want to read, but just now I simply don't have the time.
There are fanfics out there that deal with disability, either temporary or permanent. Many of us like to take our heroes and put them through hell but it's different when it's canon. Or when it starts from canon. It's different when it's a beloved character but not a central character so you don't necessarily expect a magical reset button. It's different.
And I'm really excited about the possibilities.
Any recs yet?