Just a Blog

Living Restraints

Technically not a restraint but when a cat falls asleep on your lap you don’t get to move 😅

4th art for restraintstiel week courtesy of @valdelion and @niceworkhuggybear

This is too cute. From Misha using Jared as an arm chair (and Jared letting him), to them whispering secrets like little giggly school girls.🤣

My PurCon 10 JenMish duo photo on saturday

Me: "could we do like a reaction to my shirt?"

Jensen *looking at my shirt*: "Oh god"

But anyway. I recently came across gifs from FanFiction again and this exchange is really the crux of it all IMO:

DEAN : There's no space in Supernatural. MARIE : Well, not canonically, no. But this is transformative fiction.

This is where I think the divide is for them as actors. To them there's canon (in the most literal rigid sense) and then there's fan stuff. That's how it was presented to them in the episode.

I saw another post that was like "oh jensen thinks supernatural was a real life documentary and fan stuff is the fiction." And, well, kind of?

Like the thing is, I actually understand exactly what was being said—or trying to be said—at the con. And I understand Jensen’s POV on the matter, even if I completely disagree. Like I GET it. It’s the plot of FanFiction to him. Like Dean, he has his reality (what he filmed, his own intent) and the fans have their interpretation. And yes to him those are separate things. (Which btw is why he was bringing up that other ship. Not to equate the two or say Destiel is like inc*st, but to say, to him, these are both "fan things" that exist outside of his understanding of canon).

But like Dean in the ep he very much has been like, fans can find their own meaning. And he’s said versions of this before where it’s not HIS job to tell anyone what the art means. He doesn’t seem to really get the whole concept of meta / subtext / analysis. And how anything within the text regardless of intention is fair game for interpretation and if we can make a solid argument for it’s textual and valid. But that’s okay. A lot of fans don’t understand that either. But he still has seemed chill with fans doing their own thing in the past. He’s been perfectly nice to Destiel fans before and signed countless fanarts and complimented them. He doesn’t seem have a problem with the existence of the ship itself. He’s just very literal abt things from his end.

Happy 5 years of Destiel everyone! [tap for HQ]

did i feel hurt? yes.

was i disappointed? yes.

did he fucking ruin my whole Saturday? also yes.

does him not agreeing with my interpretation of the show he was in make him a bad person? absolutely not.

his opinion does not invalidate mine or vice-versa.

he experienced the show in a very different way than we did, that's all. people often forget that actors are just people too.

and people are messy. people forget things, people get flustered when pressured, and defensive when met with hostility.

i watched the video, and i don't think Jensen was being hostile, mean, or even dismissive. he just answered the question honestly: he doesn't see destiel as part of the show, and he didn't play Dean that way. and that's ok.

a sincere answer can still disappoint people, but a disappointed audience does not automatically mean the speaker acted maliciously.

Jensen has always been kind and polite with everyone, including queer fans. years of previous interactions support this. even after the panel, he was still kind in his interactions with destiel fans.

he could have very easily taken this incident as “cat’s out of the bag, time to put up boundaries against this thing that bothers me” and start distancing himself from it. but that didn’t happen, because the notion that destiel offends him never came from him, but from the antis.

he personally doesn’t interpret Dean that way, and that still doesn’t make him the giant bigot the antis desperately want him to be. he’s not on their side.

i'm not including Misha into this because i'm not even mad at him. honestly, i think he tried his hardest to navigate an impossible situation. he was clearly trying to defuse the tension and protect everyone involved, and i appreciate that.

I just truly cannot comprehend why all the fuss around this panel is focused on Jensen saying he doesn't personally ship Destiel

when Misha FULLY ADMITTED THAT THE WRITERS KNEW ABOUT DESTIEL FOR *YEARS* AND WERE DROPPING HINTS WITH NO INTENT TO FOLLOW THROUGH UNTIL *LITERALLY AS THE 15x18 SCRIPTS WERE BEING WRITTEN*

Right now, he’s the one receiving the overwhelming majority of the hate. There are people joking about hurting him or wishing him dead, and that’s honestly awful and deeply unfair.

And I’m being completely honest when I say I’m not even mad at Misha. I think he genuinely did his best in a very messy situation. The fan who asked the question put both of them in a lose-lose scenario. Between the interruptions, the pressure, and the atmosphere in the room, neither of them really had the chance to slow down and organize their thoughts properly.

As for “the writers knew about Destiel for years and were dropping hints without intending to follow through,” that honestly isn’t new information. Fandom has known for years that the writers were aware of the ship and its popularity. There was even a market study about it long before season 15 aired. As far as I know, Misha has never denied that.

At the same time, TV production is collaborative and complicated. Actors and writers are not solely responsible for every creative decision. There are producers, editors, directors, network executives, and many other layers involved. All Misha did control was his own performance, and I think he gave that role his full sincerity and commitment.

He has consistently stood by the idea that Cas’s confession was romantic and meaningful, and that Cas expressed and acepted his true self and love for Dean in that moment. That part of the story clearly mattered to him.

What I think happened at the panel is that the fan was trying to push Misha into publicly contradicting or confronting Jensen, and that was never realistically going to happen. Not because Misha was being dishonest, but because fandom discourse is not more important than his real-life friendship with someone he has worked beside for over fifteen years. to me is clear that they genuinely love and care about eachother)

What’s beautiful about this interaction is that it’s fandom at its healthiest:

inspiration becoming compassion.

fiction motivating real-world good.

people channeling admiration into helping others.

Not entitlement.

Not “prove my interpretation is canon.”

Not trying to corner actors emotionally.

Not treating celebrities as fantasy objects instead of people.

As an OG fan, I dont like to see the family divided by ship-gate incidents, so hoping this helps. (For those of you too young to know the Watergate reference, Google it)

In 2005, Jensen Ackles agreed to let Dean Winchester possess his vessel. This gave Dean full access into Jensen's mind, but Jensen did not have full access into Dean's mind.

For the first few years, Jensen watched Dean's actions through their shared eyes. But then he got bored and started spending more and more time at the bar in his head during the hours when Dean was in control.

Jensen feels like Dean was his best friend for 15 years, but even best friends can keep secrets from each other. So doesn't that mean its possible that "Dean" was B/G/Q and Jensen never knew?

Jensen defends his interpretation of who and what Dean is, just as anyone would defend a friend they think is being mislabeled.

Although Jensen says Dean will always be a part of him, the truth is that with each new character that "possesses" Jensen, Dean slips further and further away.

That's life. Time goes on and things change. The beauty of art and fictional characters is that each and every fan can allow their own interpretation of Dean to live on. You don't need validation from the "vessel" (aka Dean's meatsuit/condom -- 🤣 sorry I just couldn't resist.)

Dean can live in all of our hearts as we (individually) choose to see him. At this point, his feelings are what you believe them to be. But dont ask for other's opinions and then judge/label them if their perspective is different from yours.

☮️ and ❤️ family