Critical Analysis

Critical Analysis

            Upon research, the creator of Supernatural Eric Kripke has shown his interest in the heroically characters and how the book Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell has influenced the show. Campbell’s book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” makes an appearance in the first season in the episode “Wendigo”.  This symbolizes the trip or “journey” that the brothers will take. (Supernatural Wiki) One questions the viewer will have to ponder is “What is a hero and until what points do their actions stop being heroic”? Typically, heroes are raised on pedestals and praised in great cheer at the end of defeating the monster or villain while Sam and Dean are trying to keep a low profile. The Winchester brothers are a mixture of your typical biblical, tragic, classic and anti heroes.

The writers and creators of Supernatural have had a parallel symmetry between their fictional heroes versus biblical heroes. Sam and Dean are comparable to Cain and Abel. While one is disobedient to their father John or God. Sam relates more to Cain while Dean is to Abel. The personalities are similar. Sam went away to have a normal life, got to school, have a girlfriend, and a career path and to not become part of the family business. Cutting all family ties. Cain and Sam question their father and his father knew. Thinking John would not accept him back even if he wanted to believing that Dean/Abel was the favorite. Although, Cain/Sam though that their father loved the other more, they took their anger out on the younger sibling. This showed that he isn’t perfect and that he is human and has emotions. (Stiles)

A tragic hero is when their judgment gets to the best of them and leads to their ultimate downfall such as in Greek Literature like “Oedipus” which end in his own death. Sadly, we do not know the end of the series. Both the brothers die quite frequently throughout the series but the other one always comes to the rescue and resurrects him from the dead. Since Supernatural has a lot of plot twists. Another character the “Trickster” from the first four seasons turned out to be the archangel Gabriel. He is an example of a tragic hero. Being defeated by his own brother Lucifer. (Heroes Wikia) While he had to confront his family to defend the right of others. Gabriel fits into all of the categories to be a tragic hero, he is from a higher up family, and has a terrible flaw (tricking) which gets to the best of him and doesn’t allow everyone to always trust him.

Classical heroes do good without any sort of motive but for the greater good. This does not apply to the brothers one bit. Throughout the series they are out for revenge. It started with avenging their mother’s death then onto their father’s death. Resulting in the hunt of trying to find the demon that could get Dean out of his deal that saved Sam’s life they have slayed multiple monsters and demons along the way for their own benefit. This is also very well demonstrated in one of the episodes which is when Dean is dead and Sam goes into a rampage to seek revenge for Dean in season 3. Also, they cannot easily come out with the truth because people would think they are mentally unstable.

They are also anti heroes; they are your typical bad boys. Mittell defines an antihero “is a character who is our primary point of ongoing narrative alignment but whose behavior and beliefs provoke ambiguous, conflicted, or negative moral allegiance”. (Mittell 142) That being said they mean well, doing so the save the innocent they are willing to wreck havoc all through the town. The well know quote from Batman an other antihero said “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” This describes the Winchester brothers perfectly. They are willing to go to any length to protect their family and friends, even if it means destroying the world for one and ruining the many.

“Saving people, hunting things, the family business. Well, I think the people you save, they’re how you justify your pathetic little lives. The alcoholism. The collateral damage. The pain you’ve caused. The one thing that allows you to sleep at night, the one thing, is knowing that these folks are out there, still out there happy and healthy because of you, you great, big bloody heroes. “(Crowley Season 8, Episode 22: Clip Show )

This depicts Sam and Deans reasoning for all the wrong doing they have done. Doing so they have a bad reputation with the law. They are wanted for identity theft, credit scams, and various murders. While theft and fraud are their fault primarily, they take the blame of the murders because the bodies of the victims were left after Sam and Dean killed the monster or demon and high tailed it out of the town so they could get far away from the authorities as possible.

A unique perspective to look at is if the boys think if they are heroes saving the day and when they interact with other hunter or “heroes”. Such as Gordon Walk the vampire hunter. Sam and Dean were skeptical at first and thought he was a goof guy until he turned himself later into the third season. Which Gordon was after Sam because he saw him for the monster he would really become in the future. Although they always had their suspensions about others, ever since then they learned to always keep their guard up. Even having to murder the once innocent to save themselves. So that they can continue to save other people.

            Supernatural does a good job of trying to establish their characters. On the one hand, all characters are complex they all show characteristics of being a hero depending on how much of the show you’ve seen and how you define a hero. Main characters Sam and Dean portray the three main type of heroes: biblical, tragic, classic and anti.